A Call to Repentance

⁴ “Baruch, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted.

²⁸ 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!

²⁵ Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven^[a] will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One^[b]—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses,^[c] despite the perilous times.

²⁶ “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven,^[d] the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. ²⁷ The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven,^[e] but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds,^[f] he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration,^[g] until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

²⁵ If someone sins against another person, God^[a] can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death.

¹² Upon hearing this, the angel of the Lord prayed this prayer: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for seventy years now you have been angry with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. How long until you again show mercy to them?”