Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles

⁶ Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.^(A)

²¹ All the pick^[a] of his troops shall fall by the sword, and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken.^(A)

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

¹⁶ Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far away among the nations and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a little while^[a] in the countries where they have gone.^(A)

⁶⁴ The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^(A)

¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, they^[a] said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”^(A)

¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we^[a] are the temple of the living God, as God said,