Study Desk

This is what the Lord says: "You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.

But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David's throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon.

But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah's letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him.

For I am with you and will save you," says the Lord . "I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished."

"But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked.

But now this is what the Lord says: "Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you," says the Lord . "Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.

I turned away from God, but then I was sorry. I kicked myself for my stupidity! I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.'

"Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?" says the Lord . "I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That's why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.

In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord , have spoken!

"The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children's mouths pucker at the taste.'

"But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days," says the Lord . "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation's sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.

Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds," says the Lord .

"From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.

"Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.' But this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says:

You expect to fight the Babylonians, but the men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my terrible anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness.

But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky.

You will not escape his grasp but will be captured and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face. Then you will be exiled to Babylon.

"‘But listen to this promise from the Lord , O Zedekiah, king of Judah. This is what the Lord says: You will not be killed in war