¹⁶ “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(A)we will not listen to you.

²⁷ But ^(A)as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^(B)slaughter them before me.’”

¹⁴ But ^(A)his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵ Now if you are ready when ^(A)you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good.^[a] But if you do not worship, ^(B)you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And ^(C)who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

⁴ Then the officials said to the king, ^(A)“Let this man be put to death, ^(B)for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking ^(C)the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

¹⁸ Then they said, ^(A)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^(B)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^(C)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

¹⁵ but ^(A)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel ^(B)out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For ^(C)I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶ “Behold, ^(D)I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out ^(E)of the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷ For ^(F)my eyes are on all their ways. ^(G)They are not hidden from me, ^(H)nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

¹⁰ They have turned back to ^(A)the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. ^(B)They have gone after other gods to serve them. ^(C)The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.

^8 (A)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, ^(B)but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all ^(C)the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”