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 

Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹  in order to capture it. War, ²  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ³  who are attacking it. ⁴  Lord, ⁵  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ⁶ 

So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. ¹  Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom ²  to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! ³  I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. ⁴ 

Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘The Lord says, “You burned the scroll. You asked ¹  Jeremiah, ‘How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?’” ² 

So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ²  This ³  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ⁴ 

and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹  on all their wrists ²  and make headbands ³  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁴  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; ¹  the end of your years has come. ²  Therefore I will make ³  you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands.

I will direct ¹  my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, ²  and your survivors will die ³  by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire.

Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary – the source of your confident pride, ¹  the object in which your eyes delight, ²  and your life’s passion. ³  Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die ⁴  by the sword.

“This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ¹  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.

Then Daniel went in to see ¹  Arioch (whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon). He came ²  and said to him, “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon! Escort me ³  to the king, and I will disclose the interpretation to him!” ⁴ 

Even now they persist in sin! ¹  They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion ²  from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: ³  “Those who sacrifice ⁴  to the calf idol are calf kissers!” ⁵ 

So they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. ¹  After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” ² 

He will arbitrate ¹  between many peoples and settle disputes between many ²  distant nations. ³  They will beat their swords into plowshares, ⁴  and their spears into pruning hooks. ⁵  Nations will not use weapons ⁶  against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.

“I am against you!” declares ¹  the Lord who commands armies: ²  “I will burn your chariots ³  with fire; ⁴  the sword will devour your young lions; ⁵  you will no longer prey upon the land; ⁶  the voices of your messengers ⁷  will no longer be heard.”

But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother ¹  will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults ²  a brother will be brought before ³  the council, ⁴  and whoever says ‘Fool’ ⁵  will be sent ⁶  to fiery hell. ⁷ 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ¹  the God of our forefathers, ²  has glorified ³  his servant ⁴  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ⁵  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ⁶  to release him.

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ ¹  the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.

If then I am in the wrong ¹  and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, ²  but if not one of their charges against me is true, ³  no one can hand me over to them. ⁴  I appeal to Caesar!” ⁵ 

Then Saul said, “Scatter out among the army and say to them, ‘Each of you bring to me your ox and sheep and slaughter them in this spot and eat. But don’t sin against the Lord by eating the blood.” So that night each one brought his ox and slaughtered it there. ¹