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Then Nebuchadnezzar made an agreement with a man from the king's family. Nebuchadnezzar forced that man to make a promise. So this man promised to be loyal to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar made this man the new king of Judah. Then he took all the powerful men away from Judah.

So Judah became a weak kingdom that could not turn against King Nebuchadnezzar. The people were forced to keep the agreement Nebuchadnezzar made with the new king of Judah.

He obeys my laws and studies my rules so that he can learn to be fair and dependable. He is good, so he will live." This is what the Lord God said.

"You might ask, ‘Why will the son not be punished for his father's sins?' The reason is that the son was fair and did good things. He very carefully obeyed my laws, so he will live.

God will not remember all the bad things they did. He will remember only their goodness, so they will live!"

The Lord God says, "I don't want evil people to die. I want them to change their lives so that they can live!

"Now, maybe good people might stop being good. They might change their lives and begin to do all the terrible things that evil people have done in the past. (The evil people changed, so they can live.) So if those good people change and become bad, God will not remember all the good things they did. He will remember that they turned against him and began to sin. So they will die because of their sin.

They saw how wicked they were and came back to me. They stopped doing the evil things they did in the past. So they will live! They will not die!"

Why? Because, family of Israel, I will judge each of you only for what you do!" This is what the Lord God said. "So come back to me! Stop committing those crimes and do away with those things that cause you to sin!

"‘The mother lion had hoped that cub would become the leader, but now she has lost all hope. So she took another of her cubs and trained him to be a lion.

They put hooks on him and locked him up. They had him in their trap, so they took him to the king of Babylon. And now, you cannot hear his roar on the mountains of Israel.

"‘Your mother is like a grapevine planted near the water. She had plenty of water, so she grew many strong vines.

A fire started in the large branch and spread to destroy all of its vines and fruit. So there was no strong walking stick. There was no king's scepter.' This was a sad song about death, and it was sung as a sad song about death."

But they turned against me and refused to listen to me. They did not throw away their horrible idols. They did not leave their filthy statues in Egypt. So I decided to destroy them in Egypt—to let them feel the full force of my anger.

But I did not destroy them. I had already told the Egyptians that I would bring my people out of Egypt. I did not want to ruin my good name, so I did not destroy Israel in front of those other people.

But I did not destroy them. The other nations saw me bring Israel out of Egypt. I did not want to ruin my good name, so I did not destroy Israel in front of those other people.

But I felt sorry for them, so I did not destroy them. I did not completely destroy them in the desert.

"‘But the children turned against me and did not obey my laws. They did not keep my commands—even though people who obey my laws live because of them. They treated my special days of rest as though they were not important. So I decided to destroy them completely in the desert—to let them feel the full force of my anger.

But I stopped myself. The other nations saw me bring Israel out of Egypt. I did not want to ruin my good name, so I did not destroy Israel in front of those other people.

So I made another promise to those people in the desert. I promised to scatter them among the nations, to send them to many different countries.