For the honor of your name, ¹  do not treat Jerusalem ²  with contempt. Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. ³  Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! ⁴ 

Do not listen to them, ¹  because their prophecies are lies. ²  Listening to them will only cause you ³  to be taken far away from your native land. I will drive you out of your country and you will die in exile. ⁴ 

For I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you ²  listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” ³ 

But Baruch son of Neriah is stirring you up against us. ¹  He wants to hand us over ²  to the Babylonians ³  so that they will kill us or carry us off into exile in Babylon.”

But the one who will rescue them ¹  is strong. He is known as the Lord who rules over all. ²  He will strongly ³  champion their cause. As a result ⁴  he will bring peace and rest to the earth, but trouble and turmoil ⁵  to the people who inhabit Babylonia. ⁶ 

When their appetites are all stirred up, ¹  I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out, ²  they will fall asleep forever, they will never wake up,” ³  says the Lord. ⁴ 

In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. ¹ 

so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹ 

They put him in a collar with hooks; ¹  they brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him to prison ²  so that his voice would not be heard any longer on the mountains of Israel.

I acted for the sake of my reputation, ¹  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ²  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ³ 

But I refrained from doing so, ¹  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

So hearts melt with fear and many stumble. At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter. Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!

Slanderous men shed blood within you. ¹  Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; ²  they commit obscene acts among you. ³ 

They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ¹  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ²  declares the sovereign Lord. ³ 

Set the empty pot on the coals, ¹  until it becomes hot and its copper glows, until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot ²  is consumed.

I will hand it over, ¹  along with the Ammonites, ²  to the tribes ³  of the east, so that the Ammonites will no longer be remembered among the nations.

I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

The prince will not take away any of the people’s inheritance by oppressively removing them from their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own possessions so that my people will not be scattered, each from his own property.’”

“So now, our God, accept ¹  the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to ²  your devastated sanctuary for your own sake. ³