For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation ¹  too. I will repay them for all they have done!’” ² 

Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. ¹  If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them ²  as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. ³ 

I will make a lasting covenant ¹  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ²  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ³  they will never again turn ⁴  away from me.

Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹ 

Baruch answered, “Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.” ¹ 

The population of Egypt is like a vast, impenetrable forest. But I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that the enemy will cut them down. For those who chop them down will be more numerous than locusts. They will be too numerous to count. ² 

Their tents and their flocks will be taken away. Their tent curtains, equipment, and camels will be carried off. People will shout ¹  to them, ‘Terror is all around you!’” ² 

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove ¹  them, for they are a rebellious house.

They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, ¹  and with it they made their abominable images – their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them.

so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹ 

“Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ¹  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ²  me?

“‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them ¹  as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,

I gave them my statutes ¹  and revealed my regulations to them. The one ²  who carries ³  them out will live by them! ⁴ 

I also gave them my Sabbaths ¹  as a reminder of our relationship, ²  so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them. ³ 

I also swore ¹  to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. ² 

For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, ¹  they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. ² 

On that day you will be able to speak again; ¹  you will talk with the fugitive and be silent no longer. You will be an object lesson for them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Realize ¹  that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. ²  They hear your words, but they do not obey them. ³ 

“‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely ¹  in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. ² 

I will prepare for them a healthy ¹  planting. They will no longer be victims ²  of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations.