¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ^(A)Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ^(B)‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ ^(C)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ^17 (D)Do not listen to them; ^(E)serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city ^(F)become a desolation? ¹⁸ If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then ^(G)let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, ^(H)that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ^19 (I)For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, ^(J)when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(K)concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ^22 (L)They shall be carried to Babylon ^(M)and remain there ^(N)until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. ^(O)Then I will bring them back ^(P)and restore them to this place.”