sent and had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guardhouse. They turned him over to Gedaliah, ¹  the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home with him. ²  But Jeremiah stayed among the people. ³ 

Why do you brag about your great power? Your power is ebbing away, ¹  you rebellious people of Ammon, ²  who trust in your riches and say, ‘Who would dare to attack us?’

But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture. They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan. They will eat until they are full ¹  on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead. ² 

ח (Khet) Jerusalem committed terrible sin; ¹  therefore she became an object of scorn. ²  All who admired ³  her have despised her ⁴  because they have seen her nakedness. ⁵  She groans aloud ⁶  and turns away in shame. ⁷ 

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹  Whom have you ever afflicted ²  like this? Should women eat their offspring, ³  their healthy infants? ⁴  Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s ⁵  sanctuary?

“Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ¹  to kill both people and animals!

“And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times! It is a sword for slaughter, a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.

Can your heart endure, ¹  or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? ²  I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!

When I turn the land of Egypt into desolation and the land is destitute of everything that fills it, when I strike all those who live in it, then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Their ¹  graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. ²  Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

“Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. ¹  All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living.

I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: ¹  I will multiply their people like sheep. ² 

Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem ¹  during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations.

Again he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was now knee deep. Once more he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was waist deep.

So Arioch quickly ushered Daniel into the king’s presence, saying to him, “I ¹  have found a man from the captives of Judah who can make known the interpretation to the king.”

While I was contemplating all this, ¹  a male goat ²  was coming from the west over the surface of all the land ³  without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn ⁴  between its eyes.

Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. ¹  As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars.