Study Desk

The ^(F1)command that Jeremiah the prophet ^(F2)gave Seraiah the son of ^(C1)Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with ^(C2)Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (And Seraiah was quartermaster.)

Jeremiah ^(C1)wrote ^(F1)on a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon.

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,

and say, 'You, LORD, have ^(F1)promised concerning this place to ^(C1)cut it off, so that there will be ^(C2)nothing living in it, ^(F2)whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.'

"And as soon as you finish reading this ^(F1)scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and ^(C1)throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,

and say, 'Just so shall Babylon sink down and ^(C1)not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become ^(C2)exhausted.'" ^(C3)To this point are the words of Jeremiah.