Moreover, you will come away from Egypt with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame ¹  because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful and you will not gain any help from them. ² 

But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, ¹  like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” ²  says the Lord.

From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters.

So, mourn, ¹  you people of this nation. ²  Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject ³  and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!’” ⁴ 

You people of Israel should tell those nations this: ‘These gods did not make heaven and earth. They will disappear ¹  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ² 

And I cried out, ¹  “We are doomed! ²  Our wound is severe! We once thought, ‘This is only an illness. And we will be able to bear it!’ ³ 

“I will abandon my nation. ¹  I will forsake the people I call my own. ²  I will turn my beloved people ³  over to the power ⁴  of their enemies.

A destructive army ¹  will come marching over the hilltops in the desert. For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ²  against ³  everyone from one end of the land to the other. No one will be safe. ⁴ 

This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you, because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.” ¹ 

I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder. I will give it away free of charge for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ² 

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”

Now there was another man ¹  who prophesied as the Lord’s representative ²  against this city and this land just as Jeremiah did. His name was Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim. ³ 

I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ¹  of my servant, ²  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ³ 

From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably ¹  prophesied war, disaster, ²  and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.

Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie! ¹ 

Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ¹  and the sounds of laughter and merriment. I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ²  I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

For after we turned away from you we repented. After we came to our senses ¹  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ²  We are ashamed and humiliated because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ³ 

“I, the Lord, affirm: ¹  ‘The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah. ²