May that man be like the cities ¹  that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon.

“But ¹  tell the people of Jerusalem ²  that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. ³ 

So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery. They will stumble and fall headlong. For I will bring disaster on them. A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ¹  The Lord affirms it! ² 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah ¹  early in the reign of Josiah’s son, King Zedekiah of Judah. ² 

The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. ¹  Yet, in spite of this, ²  you, Lord God, ³  have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.”’” ⁴ 

Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

I will bring terror on you from every side,” says the Lord God who rules over all. ¹  “You will be scattered in every direction. ²  No one will gather the fugitives back together.

I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. ¹  I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. ²  For I, the Lord God who rules over all, ³  have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia. ⁴ 

צ (Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! ¹  Yes, I rebelled against his commands. ²  Please listen, all you nations, ³  and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.

The people ¹  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ²  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ³ 

“Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, ¹  and I will execute judgment ²  among you while the nations watch. ³ 

“You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ¹ 

Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped ¹  in the midst of the city ²  are the meat, and this city ³  is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. ⁴ 

Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, ¹  and all the house of Israel within it.’ ² 

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing!

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury.

those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem ¹  and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace,” declares the sovereign Lord.’

“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.

Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own sons or daughters – they would save only their own lives.

I will set ¹  my face against them – although they have escaped from the fire, ²  the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.