Though I have many other ¹  things to write to you, I do not want to do so with ²  paper and ink, ³  but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, ⁴  so that our joy may be complete. ⁵ 

“After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord,

When you come, bring with you the cloak I left in Troas with Carpas and the scrolls, especially the parchments.

“While doing this very thing, ¹  as I was going ²  to Damascus with authority and complete power ³  from the chief priests,

along with the plants by the mouth of the river. ¹  All the cultivated land near the river will turn to dust and be blown away. ² 

and here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison ¹  all who call on your name!” ² 

If the second husband rejects ¹  her and then divorces her, ²  gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies,

I took both copies of the deed of purchase ¹  and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence ²  of my cousin ³  Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and all the Judeans who were housed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

She also saw ¹  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ²  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ³  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁴ 

The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet ¹  and inscribe these words ²  on it with an ordinary stylus: ³  ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ ⁴ 

Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ¹  your agreement ²  with Sheol will not last. ³  When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ⁴  you will be overrun by it. ⁵ 

There were two copies of the deed of purchase. One was sealed and contained the order of transfer and the conditions of purchase. ¹  The other was left unsealed.

Therefore they will disappear like ¹  the morning mist, ²  like early morning dew that evaporates, ³  like chaff that is blown away ⁴  from a threshing floor, like smoke that disappears through an open window.

“It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.’ ¹ 

They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” ¹ 

who made us adequate ¹  to be servants of a new covenant ²  not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

“This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put ¹  my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” ² 

Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.

‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, “Take these documents, both the sealed copy of the deed of purchase and the unsealed copy. Put them in a clay jar so that they may be preserved for a long time to come.”’ ² 

But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless ¹  basic forces? ²  Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? ³