So, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will assuredly ¹  make these people stumble to their doom. ²  Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ³  Friends and neighbors will die.’

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Beware! An army ¹  is coming from a land in the north. A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ²  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ³ 

Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, ¹  “We are safe! ²  The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” ³ 

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ¹  is to be a hideout for robbers? ²  You had better take note! ³  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

You also have done all these things, says the Lord, and I have spoken to you over and over again. ¹  But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent! ² 

So,” the Lord God ¹  says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. ²  It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. ³  And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”

The Lord says, “I have rejected them because ¹  the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. ²  They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple ³  which I have claimed for my own ⁴  and have defiled it.

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all. ² 

The Lord said to me, ¹  “Tell them, ‘The Lord says, Do people not get back up when they fall down? Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? ² 

The Lord says, ¹  “Yes indeed, ²  I am sending an enemy against you that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away. ³  And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.” ⁴ 

Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, ¹  “I will now purify them in the fires of affliction ²  and test them. The wickedness of my dear people ³  has left me no choice. What else can I do? ⁴ 

I said, ¹  “So now, ²  you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. ³  Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor ⁴  this lament.

¹ The Lord says, “Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ²  Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ³ 

The Lord says, “Do not start following pagan religious practices. ¹  Do not be in awe of signs that occur ²  in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe.

For the Lord says, “I will now throw out those who live in this land. I will bring so much trouble on them that they will actually feel it.” ¹ 

And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. ¹  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ ²  says the Lord.”

Then tell them that the Lord says, ¹  ‘It is because your ancestors ²  rejected me and paid allegiance to ³  other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. ⁴ 

The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ²  and whose hearts ³  have turned away from the Lord.

As you stand in those places ¹  announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. ²