For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. ¹  Moab will be trampled down where it stands, ²  as a heap of straw is trampled down in ³  a manure pile.

If the wicked are shown mercy, they do not learn about justice. ¹  Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; ²  they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.

Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals! You ¹  will see Jerusalem, ²  a peaceful settlement, a tent that stays put; ³  its stakes will never be pulled up; none of its ropes will snap in two.

Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where do they come from?” Hezekiah replied, “They come from the distant land of Babylon.”

Let the desert and its cities shout out, the towns where the nomads of Kedar live! Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully; let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

Then you will think to yourself, ¹  ‘Who bore these children for me? I was bereaved and barren, dismissed and divorced. ²  Who raised these children? Look, I was left all alone; where did these children come from?’”

But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them save you when you are in trouble. The sad fact is that ¹  you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped ¹  in the early days. See what I did to it ²  because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

Listen! News is coming even now. ¹  The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ²  from a land in the north. ³  It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble, places where only jackals live.

Many foreign rulers ¹  will ruin the land where I planted my people. ²  They will trample all over my chosen land. ³  They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wasteland.

So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

For the honor of your name, ¹  do not treat Jerusalem ²  with contempt. Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. ³  Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! ⁴ 

They will be like a shrub ¹  in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.

Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood ¹  in its courtyard and called out to all the people.

I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to ¹  a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there.

Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²  They will greatly increase in number.

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.’

‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

“The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. ¹  ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors ²  when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. ³  It stipulated, ⁴ 

So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ¹