¹⁶ “After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:^{(A) 17} Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth^(B) by your great power^(C) and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!^{(D) 18} You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers’ iniquity on their sons’ laps after them,^(E) great and mighty God^(F) whose name is the Lord of Armies, ¹⁹ the one great in counsel and powerful in action. Your eyes are on all the ways of the children of men^[a] in order to reward each person according to his ways and as the result of his actions.^{(G) 20} You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt^(H) and still do today, both in Israel and among all mankind. You made a name^(I) for yourself, as is the case today. ²¹ You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.^{(J) 22} You gave them this land you swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(K) 23} They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey you or live according to your instructions.^(L) They failed to perform all you commanded them to do,^(M) and so you have brought all this disaster on them. ²⁴ Look! Siege ramps^(N) have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you have spoken has happened. Look, you can see it! ²⁵ Yet you, Lord God, have said to me, ‘Purchase the field and call in witnesses’—even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!”