Study Desk

You might have people in your kingdom who claim they can tell the future by magic or by talking with the dead or by dreams or messages from a god. But don't pay attention if any of them tell you not to obey Nebuchadnezzar.

But if you and your nation are willing to obey Nebuchadnezzar, I will let you stay in your country, and your people will continue to live and work on their farms.

But if you refuse, then you and your people will die from war, hunger, and disease, just as the Lord has warned.

Your prophets have told you that you don't need to obey Nebuchadnezzar, but don't listen to their lies.

Those prophets claim to be speaking for the Lord , but he didn't send them. They are lying! If you do what they say, he will have both you and them dragged off to another country and killed. The Lord has spoken.

If you choose to obey the king of Babylonia, you will live. But if you listen to those prophets, this whole city will be nothing but a pile of rubble.

After all, when Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin to Babylonia as a prisoner, he didn't take everything of value from Jerusalem. He left the bronze pillars, the huge bronze bowl called the Sea, and the movable bronze stands in the temple, and he left a lot of other valuable things in the palace and in the rest of Jerusalem. But now I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, say that all these things

But let me remind you and everyone else

to go back and say to Hananiah: I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel. You smashed a wooden yoke, but I will replace it with one made of iron. I will put iron yokes on all the nations, and they will have to do what King Nebuchadnezzar commands. I will even let him rule the wild animals.

Some of your people there in Babylonia are fortunetellers, and you have asked them to tell you what will happen in the future. But they will only lead you astray. And don't let the prophets fool you, either. They speak in my name, but they are liars. I have not spoken to them.

But I have been sending prophets to the people of Judah for a long time, and the king from David's family and the people who are left in Jerusalem and Judah still don't obey me. So I, the Lord All-Powerful, will keep attacking them with war and hunger and disease, until they are as useless as rotten figs. I will force them to leave the land, and all nations will be disgusted and shocked at what happens to them. The nations will sneer and make fun of them and use the names "Judah" and "Jerusalem" as curse words. And you have not obeyed me, even though

I had you taken from Jerusalem to Babylonia. But you had better listen to me now.

You think Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are prophets because they claim to speak for me. But they are lying! I haven't told them anything. They are also committing other horrible sins in your community, such as sleeping with the wives of their friends. So I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar, who will put them to death while the rest of you watch. And in the future, when you want to put a curse on someone, you will say, "I pray that the Lord will kill you in the same way the king of Babylonia burned Zedekiah and Ahab to death!"

My people, soon you will suffer worse than ever before, but I will save you.

Now you are slaves of other nations, but I will break the chains and smash the yokes that keep you in slavery.

Israel, you belong to me, so don't be afraid. You deserved to be punished; that's why I scattered you in distant nations. But I am with you, and someday I will destroy those nations.

But if your enemies try to rob or destroy you, I will rob and destroy them, and they will be led as captives to foreign lands.

No one wants you as a friend or cares what happens to you. But I will heal your injuries, and you will get well.

The Lord said: Israel, I will be kind to you and let you come home. Jerusalem now lies in ruins, but you will rebuild it, complete with a new palace.

Listen to me, you nations nearby or across the sea. I scattered the people of Israel, but I will gather them again. I will protect them like a shepherd guarding a flock;