I also told them, ¹  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ²  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ³  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ⁴  to Babylon.

The following events occurred in that same year, early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. To be more precise, it was the fifth month of the fourth year of his reign. ¹  The prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to Jeremiah ²  in the Lord’s temple in the presence of the priests and all the people. ³ 

The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple and the people who were carried into exile.

“The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. ¹  He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling ²  any lunatic ³  who pretends to be a prophet. ⁴  And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks ⁵  with an iron collar around his neck. ⁶ 

I took them to the Lord’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. ¹  That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers ²  of the temple, stayed.

So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast ¹  in the Lord’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll. ² 

Some time later ¹  Zedekiah sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entrance ²  of the Lord’s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, “I would like to ask you a question. Do not hide anything from me when you answer.” ³ 

The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” and the movable stands ¹ ) was too heavy to be weighed.

ת (Tav) As if it were a feast day, you call ¹  enemies ²  to terrify me ³  on every side. ⁴  On the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has finished off those healthy infants whom I bore ⁵  and raised. ⁶ 

They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. ¹  Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s fury. ²  They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth ³  was the obstacle leading to their iniquity. ⁴ 

The cherubim spread ¹  their wings, and they rose up from the earth ²  while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

A wind ¹  lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. ² 

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, ¹  watch closely and listen carefully to ²  everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances ³  to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary.

This is what the Lord says: “Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They rejected the Lord’s law; ⁴  they did not obey his commands. Their false gods, ⁵  to which their fathers were loyal, ⁶  led them astray.

When their close relatives, the ones who will burn the corpses, ¹  pick up their bodies to remove the bones from the house, they will say to anyone who is in the inner rooms of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” He will respond, “Be quiet! Don’t invoke the Lord’s name!” ² 

He will assume his post ¹  and shepherd the people ²  by the Lord’s strength, by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. ³  They will live securely, ⁴  for at that time he will be honored ⁵  even in the distant regions of ⁶  the earth.

I must endure ¹  the Lord’s anger, for I have sinned against him. But then ²  he will defend my cause, ³  and accomplish justice on my behalf. He will lead me out into the light; I will experience firsthand ⁴  his deliverance. ⁵ 

But you will become drunk ¹  with shame, not majesty. ²  Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ³  The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ⁴  is coming to you, and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment. The whole earth ¹  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ²  Indeed, ³  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁴  on all who live on the earth.” ⁵ 

You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, ¹  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”