¹⁵ But if you will not hearken to the Lord’s voice, but rebel against His commandment, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

¹⁶ So stand still and see this great thing the Lord will do before your eyes now.

¹⁷ Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord and He will send thunder and rain; then you shall know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord in asking for a king for yourselves.

¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord, and He sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ And [they] all said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil—to ask for a king.

²⁰ And Samuel said to the people, Fear not. You have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve Him with all your heart.

²¹ And turn not aside after vain and worthless things which cannot profit or deliver you, for they are empty and futile.

²² The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, for it has pleased Him to make you a people for Himself.

²³ Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.

²⁴ Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider how great are the things He has done for you.

²⁵ But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away.

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah—which was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon—

² Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:

³ For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you persistently early and late, but you have not listened and obeyed.

⁴ Although the Lord persistently sent you all the prophets, His servants, yet you have not listened and obeyed or [even] inclined your ear to hear.

⁵ [The prophets came on My behalf] saying, Turn again now every one from his evil way and wrongdoing; [that you may not forfeit the right to] dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and to your fathers from of old and forevermore.

⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.

⁷ Yet you have not listened to and obeyed Me, says the Lord, that you might provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) made by your hands to your own hurt.

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard and obeyed My words,

⁹ Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, and I will send for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant [or agent to fulfill My designs], and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will devote them [to God] and utterly destroy them and make them an amazement, a hissing, and perpetual and agelong desolations.

¹⁰ Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones [grinding out the meal] and the light of the candle [which every home burned throughout the night].^(A)

¹¹ And this whole land shall be a waste and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^[a]seventy years.^(B)

¹² Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, says the Lord, for their iniquity, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.^(C)

¹³ And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴ For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them, even them [the Chaldeans who enslaved other nations]; and I will recompense [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.

^35 [a]Sky and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶ But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

³⁷ As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

³⁸ For just as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, [men] marrying and [women] being given in marriage, until the [very] day when Noah went into the ark,

³⁹ And they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away—so will be the coming of the Son of Man.^(A)

⁴⁰ At that time two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

⁴² Watch therefore [^[b]give strict attention, be cautious and active], for you do not know in what kind of a day [^[c]whether a near or remote one] your Lord is coming.

⁴³ But understand this: had the householder known in what [part of the night, whether in a ^[d]night or a morning] watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be ^[e]undermined and broken into.

⁴⁴ You also must be ready therefore, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.

⁴⁵ Who then is the faithful, thoughtful, and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household to give to the others the food and supplies at the proper time?

⁴⁶ Blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[f]to be envied) is that servant whom, when his master comes, he will find so doing.

⁴⁷ I solemnly declare to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

⁴⁸ But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, My master is delayed and is going to be gone a long time,

⁴⁹ And begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken,

⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he is not aware,

⁵¹ And will punish him [^[g]cut him up by scourging] and put him with the pretenders (hypocrites); there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.