¹¹ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ¹² “Say now to ^(A)the rebellious house, ^(B)Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold, ^(C)the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon. ^13 (D)And he took one of the royal offspring^{[a] (E)}and made a covenant with him, ^(F)putting him under oath (^(G)the chief men of the land he had taken away), ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up, and keep his covenant that it might stand. ^15 (H)But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors ^(I)to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army. ^(J)Will he thrive? Can one escape who does such things? Can he ^(K)break the covenant and yet escape?

^16 (L)“As I live, declares the Lord God, surely ^(M)in the place where the king dwells ^(N)who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. ^17 (O)Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, ^(P)when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. ¹⁸ He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head. ^20 (Q)I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon ^(R)and enter into judgment with him there ^(S)for the treachery he has committed against me. ²¹ And all the pick^[b] of his troops shall fall by the sword, ^(T)and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that ^(U)I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

²² Thus says the Lord God: ^(V)“I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. ^(W)I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and ^(X)I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ^23 (Y)On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. ^(Z)And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. ²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; ^(AA)I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up ^(AB)the green tree, and make ^(AC)the dry tree flourish. ^(AD)I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”