²⁴ “Son of man, the people living in those ruins^(A) in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many;^(B) surely the land has been given to us as our possession.’^(C)

⁵ He gave him no inheritance here,^(A) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,^(B) even though at that time Abraham had no child.

²⁷ “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague.^(A)

⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’^(A) For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

⁴ therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys,^(A) to the desolate ruins^(B) and the deserted^(C) towns that have been plundered and ridiculed^(D) by the rest of the nations around you^(E)—

Gedaliah Assassinated^(A)

⁷ When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor^(B) over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest^(C) in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon,

¹² And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’^(A) I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.