² Thus the Lord said to me: Make for yourself yoke straps and bars and put them on your neck.^(A)

⁴ This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord God was calling for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.

Locusts, Fire, and a Plumb Line

7 This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings).^(A)

³ And utter an allegory to the rebellious house and say to them: Thus says the Lord God:

⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God:

⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God:

Judah’s Captivity Portrayed

12 The word of the Lord came to me: ² Mortal, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house who have eyes to see but do not see, who have ears to hear but do not hear,^{(A) 3} for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, mortal, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage, and go into exile by day in their sight; you shall go like an exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house.^{(B) 4} You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for exile, and you shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as those do who go into exile.^{(C) 5} Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry the baggage through it. ⁶ In their sight you shall lift the baggage on your shoulder and carry it out in the dark; you shall cover your face, so that you may not see the land, for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel.^(D)

⁷ I did just as I was commanded. I brought out my baggage by day, as baggage for exile, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my own hands; I brought it out in the dark, carrying it on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸ In the morning the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ Mortal, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, “What are you doing?”^{(E) 10} Say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem^[a] and all the house of Israel in it.”^{[b](F) 11} Say, “I am a sign for you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them; they shall go into exile, into captivity.”^{(G) 12} And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage on his shoulder in the dark and shall go out; he^[c] shall dig through the wall and carry it through; he shall cover his face so that he may not see the land with his eyes.^{(H) 13} I will spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there.^{(I) 14} I will scatter to every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops, and I will unsheathe the sword behind them.^{(J) 15} And they shall know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries.^{(K) 16} But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations where they go; then they shall know that I am the Lord.^(L)

Judgment Not Postponed

¹⁷ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸ Mortal, eat your bread with quaking and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness; ¹⁹ and say to the people of the land: “Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with fearfulness and drink their water in dismay, because their land shall be stripped of all it contains, on account of the violence of all those who live in it.^{(M) 20} The inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”^(N)

²¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ²² Mortal, what is this proverb of yours about the land of Israel that says, “The days are prolonged, and every vision comes to nothing”?^{(O) 23} Tell them therefore, “Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall use it no more as a proverb in Israel.” But say to them: “The days are near, and the fulfillment of every vision.^{(P) 24} For there shall no longer be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel.^{(Q) 25} But I the Lord will speak the word that I speak, and it will be fulfilled. It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and fulfill it, says the Lord God.”^(R)

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to me: ²⁷ Mortal, the house of Israel is saying, “The vision that he sees is for many years ahead; he prophesies for distant times.”^{(S) 28} Therefore say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: None of my words will be delayed any longer, but the word that I speak will be fulfilled, says the Lord God.”^(T)

The Siege of Jerusalem Portrayed

4 “And you, O mortal, take a brick and set it before you. On it portray a city, Jerusalem,^{(A) 2} and put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a ramp against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.^{(B) 3} Then take an iron plate and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.^(C)

⁴ “Then lie on your left side and place the guilt of the house of Israel upon it; you shall bear their guilt for the number of the days that you lie there.^{(D) 5} For I assign to you a number of days, three hundred ninety days, equal to the number of the years of their guilt, and so you shall bear the guilt of the house of Israel.^(E)

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it.^{(A) 11} And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: This is how I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went his way.^(B)

¹² Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:^{(C) 13} Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place of them!^{(D) 14} For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even given him the wild animals.^(E)

¹² I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah in the same way: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.^(A)

The Broken Earthenware Jug

19 Thus said the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jug. Take with you^[a] some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, ² and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.^{(A) 3} You shall say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.^{(B) 4} Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent^{(C) 5} and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind,^{(D) 6} therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of Slaughter.^{(E) 7} And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.^{(F) 8} And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.^{(G) 9} And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.^(H)

¹⁰ Then you shall break the jug in the sight of those who go with you ¹¹ and shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. In Topheth they shall bury until there is no more room to bury.^(I)