Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Cut down the trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.

if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,

Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.

Say, “This is what the Lord declares: “‘Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.’”

The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.

I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you.

This is what the Lord says to you, house of David: “‘Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.

This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”

I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations.

Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the Lord’s fierce anger.

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.

Their children will be as in days of old, and their community will be established before me; I will punish all who oppress them.

great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve.

“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”

Gedaliah Assassinated

When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon,

Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

They will stumble repeatedly; they will fall over each other. They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back to our own people and our native lands, away from the sword of the oppressor.’

There they will exclaim, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity.’

Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the reaper with his sickle at harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor let everyone return to their own people, let everyone flee to their own land.

I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the Lord.

The Lord has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.

Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go.