Now, look, I have made every effort to supply what is needed to build the Lord’s temple. ¹  I have stored up 100,000 talents ²  of gold, 1,000,000 ³  talents of silver, and so much bronze and iron it cannot be weighed, as well as wood and stones. Feel free to add more!

They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought to God’s temple. The Levites who guarded the door had collected it from the people of ¹  Manasseh and Ephraim and from all who were left in Israel, as well as from all the people of ²  Judah and Benjamin and the residents of ³  Jerusalem.

Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ¹  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ¹  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

For he says: “By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, ¹  and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, ²  I brought down rulers. ³ 

The Lord swears an oath by his right hand, by his strong arm: ¹  “I will never again give your grain to your enemies as food, and foreigners will not drink your wine, which you worked hard to produce.

We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹  We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.

If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this: “Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease. Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war. Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation. Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” ¹ 

I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that ¹  the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. ²  But they are prophesying a lie to you.

But then you turned right around ¹  and showed that you did not honor me. ²  Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again. ³ 

Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, ¹  and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters ²  in the Middle Gate. ³ 

“From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed. It has never been taken into exile. Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs, never poured out from one jar to another. They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged. ¹ 

So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Edom, what I intend to do to ¹  the people who live in Teman. ²  Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. ³ 

Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. ¹  Her towers ²  will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the Lord, am wreaking revenge, ³  take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done!

So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. ¹  Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.

And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ¹  has never entered my mouth.”

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize ¹  how I was crushed by their unfaithful ²  heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves ³  because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage ¹  on my shoulder while they watched.

refrains from wrongdoing, ¹  does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; ²  he will surely live.

“I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ¹  I killed your young men with the sword, along with the horses you had captured. I made the stench from the corpses ²  rise up into your nostrils. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!