Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹  They are always telling lies. ²  Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says, “The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’” ¹ 

As you stand in those places ¹  announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. ² 

For whenever I prophesy, ¹  I must cry out, ²  “Violence and destruction are coming!” ³  This message from the Lord ⁴  has made me an object of continual insults and derision.

Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. ¹  You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says. ² 

They continually say ¹  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ²  ‘Things will go well for you!’ ³  They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

So I, Jeremiah, tell you, ¹  “Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, ‘How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?’ ² 

So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem. ¹ 

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 

There is no reason why you and your people should die in war ¹  or from starvation or disease! ²  That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation ³  that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

So if a prophet prophesied ¹  peace and prosperity, it was only known that the Lord truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”

But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah.

Hear what the Lord has to say, O nations. Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea. Say, “The one who scattered Israel will regather them. He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.”

However, listen to what I, the Lord, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the Lord, promise that ¹  you will not die in battle or be executed. ² 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after Jehoiakim had burned the scroll containing what Jeremiah had spoken and Baruch had written down. ¹ 

Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah. ¹ 

Then Jeremiah answered, “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you. ¹  Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared. ² 

The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster.

“The Lord has told you people who remain in Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be very sure of this: I warn you ¹  here and now. ² 

I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over ¹  again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate. ²