But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹  Obey the Lord your God. If you do, the Lord will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would. ² 

Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the disaster I intend to bring on them, they will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. ¹  If they do, I will forgive their sins and the wicked things they have done.” ² 

Perhaps then they will ask the Lord for mercy and will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. ¹  For the Lord has threatened to bring great anger and wrath against these people.” ² 

The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting. They will remain in their fortified cities. They will lose their strength to do battle. ¹  They will be as frightened as women. ²  The houses in her cities will be set on fire. The gates of her cities will be broken down. ³ 

Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky ¹  and fortifies her elevated stronghold, ²  I will send destroyers against her,” ³  says the Lord. ⁴ 

I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries ¹  will be desecrated.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations.

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ¹  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ²  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ³  he examines ⁴  animal livers. ⁵ 

The one advancing against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand before him. He will prevail in the beautiful land, and its annihilation will be within his power. ¹ 

His forces ¹  will rise up and profane the fortified sanctuary, ²  stopping the daily sacrifice. In its place they will set up ³  the abomination that causes desolation.

Plead earnestly ¹  with your ²  mother (for ³  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that ⁴  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ⁵  and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ⁶ 

Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with ¹  another man, and I also will wait for you.”

I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear them to pieces, then I will carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them!

He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea to make the sea quiet down, ¹  because I know it’s my fault you are in this severe storm.”

Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly ¹  to God, and everyone ²  must turn from their ³  evil way of living ⁴  and from the violence that they do. ⁵ 

When God saw their actions – they turned ¹  from their evil way of living! ²  – God relented concerning the judgment ³  he had threatened them with ⁴  and he did not destroy them. ⁵ 

Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open ¹  to your enemies; fire will consume ²  the bars of your gates. ³ 

Do not plan evil in your hearts against one another. Do not favor a false oath – these are all things that I hate,’ says the Lord.”

Then I will stop the plague ¹  from ruining your crops, ²  and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all.

The ¹  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ²  choke the word, ³  so it produces nothing.