1. The Word which was to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when King Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to him, saying,
2. Please inquire of Jehovah for us. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us. Perhaps Jehovah will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that he may go up from us.
3. Then Jeremiah said to them, You shall say this to Zedekiah,
4. So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war in your hand, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall. And I will gather them together in the middle of the city.
5. And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched arm and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6. And I will strike the people of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great plague.
7. And afterward, says Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And he shall strike them with the mouth of the sword; he shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have compassion.
8. And you shall say to this people, So says Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9. He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague. But he who goes out and falls to the Chaldeans who are besieging you, he shall live, and his life shall be for a prize to him.
10. For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, says Jehovah. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11. And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear the Word of Jehovah,
12. O house of David, so says Jehovah: Do justice in the morning, and deliver the plundered one out of the hand of the oppressor, that My fury not go out like fire and burn so that none can put it out, because of the evil of your doings.
13. Behold, I am against you, one dwelling in the valley, rock of the plain, says Jehovah, those who say, Who can come down against us? Or, Who can enter our dwellings?
14. But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Jehovah. And I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.