The people were being bad and the Lord sent an army to scare them to come back to the Lord.

Some men came to Jeremiah from the king in Jerusalem and asked him to go ask the Lord, saying, Remember how you always saved us before from our enemies in special ways. Save us again now.

But the Lord said, Tell king Zedekiah, I will take the swords and spears in your hands that you are going to fight the enemy king with, and I will fight against you Myself in the middle of the city. I am so mad at you.

 

 

 

I will strike down this city with big trouble

 

 

 

and then I will give the ones who are left to this enemy king.

 

 

Tell all this people, I set in front of you the road of life and the road to death.

The ones of you who stay in the city will be killed, but the ones who go out to the enemy king instead of fighting against him, I will keep alive. I will give his life back to him as a present.

 

But I set my face against this city for bad and not for good, says the Lord. The king of Babylon will burn it with fire.

Listen to me, all the family of Judah, Do right and fair judgments in the morning and save the ones who are having their stuff taken away from them so that I won’t get mad and spank you.

 

I will do back to you what hurt you are doing to other people. I will set the forest on fire and it will eat up everything all around.

Go down to the house of the king of Judah and say this, Listen to what the Lord says, you who sit on the throne of David to be the judge.

Judge the right way. Be fair to each person and do right. Don’t let people get away with stealing and hurting other people but stop them.

 

And don’t hurt people from other countries, or take stuff from women who don’t have husbands and children who don’t have dads.

 

 

 

 

Be kind, and don’t be mean to people.

If you do these things I say, then I will keep kings on the throne of David, and riding in chariots and on horses, all the people will have lots of everything they need.

 

 

But if you won’t change and do the right stuff, you will be ruined and no one will live here.

 

 

And people will go by this city and say, Why has the Lord done this to this great city?

 

 

 

Then they will tell them, Because they turned away from the Lord their God

 

 

 

and bowed down to bad ones.

 

Bad things will come to ones who build up their house by bad stuff and doing wrong and don’t pay money the friends and workers who help them.

Are you a good king or leader because you have a big house with pretty walls made from wood that smells pretty? or because you help the poor ones who need help?

 

 

You only want lots of stuff, and you are hurting people to take their stuff, and don’t care anything about doing what is right.

 

 

You will be embarrassed and mixed up because of all this bad stuff you do.

 

 

Trouble will sneak up on you real quick. And I will throw you out of My special land.

 

 

 

O earth, earth, earth, let your ears hear what the Lord says.