The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ¹  Do not carry any loads ²  in through ³  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

Listen, you ¹  who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau. I am opposed to you,’ ²  says the Lord. ³  ‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us. No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” ⁴ 

Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle ¹  so they ²  could see and hear what he has to say? ³  Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

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 

But just listen to what the Lord has to say about ¹  the king who occupies David’s throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem ²  and were not carried off into exile with you.

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.”

The Lord says, “A sound is heard in Ramah, ¹  a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.” ² 

Therefore I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘I will indeed hand ²  this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. ³  They will capture it.

Now he has brought it about. The Lord has done just as he threatened to do. This disaster has happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. ¹ 

So Johanan son of Kareah, all the army officers, and all the rest of the people did not obey the Lord’s command to stay in the land.

However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he ¹  does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. ¹  If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

Then he said, “I am going to inform you about what will happen in the latter time of wrath, for the vision ¹  pertains to the appointed time of the end.

We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ¹  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ²  and to all the inhabitants ³  of the land as well.

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! ¹  For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit ²  against the people of Israel. ³  For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God. ⁴ 

Who is wise? Let him discern ¹  these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the Lord are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.

They sound like ¹  chariots rumbling ²  over mountain tops, like the crackling ³  of blazing fire consuming stubble, like the noise of ⁴  a mighty army ⁵  being drawn up for battle. ⁶ 

The Lord responded ¹  to his people, “Look! I am about to restore your grain ²  as well as fresh wine and olive oil. You will be fully satisfied. ³  I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.