⁸ “‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(A)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(B)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand.

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 (A)I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon ^(B)and enter into judgment with him there ^(C)for the treachery he has committed against me. ²¹ And all the pick^[a] of his troops shall fall by the sword, ^(D)and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that ^(E)I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

²¹ “For thus says the Lord God: How much more ^(A)when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, ^(B)sword, ^(C)famine, ^(D)wild beasts, and ^(E)pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(A)If you will surrender to ^(B)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(C)then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not surrender to ^(D)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(E)then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(F)and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” ¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^(G)who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.”

¹⁰ And I will send ^(A)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

³ For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ^4 (A)And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. ⁵ So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

¹⁰ If you will remain in this land, ^(A)then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; ^(B)for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. ^11 (C)Do not fear the king of Babylon, ^(D)of whom you are afraid. ^(E)Do not fear him, declares the Lord, ^(F)for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ^12 (G)I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ^13 (H)But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God ¹⁴ and saying, ‘No, ^(I)we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or ^(J)hear the sound of the trumpet or ^(K)be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ ¹⁵ then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(L)If you set your faces to enter Egypt ^(M)and go to live there, ¹⁶ then the sword ^(N)that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, ^(O)and there you shall die. ¹⁷ All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have ^(P)no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

¹⁸ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(Q)As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. ^(R)You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more.

⁹ Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, ^(A)and it shall be well with you.

²⁸ “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(A)You must drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(B)I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^(C)for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’