I am sending you to speak to them, but they are very stubborn. They are very hardheaded, but you must speak to them. You must say, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’

Then go to all of your people in exile and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says ….’ They will not listen, and they will not stop sinning, but you must still tell them my message.”

But I will talk to you, and then I will allow you to speak. But you must say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ If a person wants to listen, fine. If a person refuses to listen, fine. But those people always turn against me.

So the Lord God says, “I will do this because you did not obey my laws and commands. You broke more of my laws than the people who lived around you, and you did what even they know is wrong!”

So the Lord God says, “So now, even I am against you! I will punish you while those other people watch.

The Lord God says, “Jerusalem, I promise by my life that I will punish you! I promise that I will punish you, because you did terrible things to my Holy Place. You did horrible things that made it dirty. I will punish you. I will not show any mercy or feel sorry for you.

Tell them this: ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to this message from the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the hills and mountains and to the ravines and valleys: Look! I am bringing the enemy to fight against you. I will destroy your high places.

Now, the Lord God says this: ‘The dead bodies are the meat, and the city is the pot. But someone will come and take you out of this safe pot.

“So tell them this: The Lord God says, ‘It is true, I forced my people to go far away to other nations. I did scatter them among many countries. But I will be their temple for a short time while they are in those other countries.

You must say this to the common people: ‘This is what the Lord God says to the people living in Jerusalem and in the other parts of Israel. You will be very worried while you eat your food. You will be terrified while you drink your water, because everything in your country will be destroyed! This will happen because the people living there are so violent.

So you must tell them this: ‘The Lord God says, I will not delay any longer. If I say something will happen, it will happen!’” This is what the Lord God said.

This is what the Lord God says. Bad things will happen to you foolish prophets. You are following your own spirits. You are not telling people what you really see in visions.

So now, the Lord God really will speak. He says, “You told lies. You saw visions that were not true. So now I am against you!” This is what the Lord God said.

The Lord God says, “I am angry and I will send a storm against you. I am angry and I will send a strong rain. I am angry and I will make hail fall from the sky and completely destroy you!

‘This is what the Lord God says: Bad things will happen to you women. You sew cloth bracelets for people to wear on their arms. You make special scarves for people to wear on their heads. You say those things have magic powers to control people’s lives. You trap the people only to keep yourselves alive!

So this is what the Lord God says to you: You make those cloth bracelets to trap people, but I will set them free. I will tear those bracelets off your arms, and the people will be free from you. They will be like birds flying from a trap.

But I will give them an answer. You must tell them this: ‘This is what the Lord God says: If any Israelites come to a prophet and ask me for advice, I myself will answer their questions. I, the Lord, will answer them even if they still have their filthy idols, even if they kept the things that made them sin, and even if they still worship those statues. I will speak to them in spite of all their filthy idols.

“So tell the family of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Come back to me and leave your filthy idols. Turn away from those terrible, false gods.

You must say, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: Look at your history. You were born in Canaan. Your father was an Amorite. Your mother was a Hittite.

This is what the Lord God says: “You have spent your money and let your lovers and filthy gods see your naked body and have sex with you. You have killed your children and poured out their blood. This was your gift to those false gods.

Tell them that this is what the Lord God says: “‘A large eagle with big wings came to Lebanon. He had feathers covered with spots.

This is what the Lord God says: “Do you think that plant will succeed? No, the new eagle will pull the plant from the ground, and the bird will break the plant’s roots. It will eat up all the grapes. Then the new leaves will wilt. That plant will be very weak. It will not take strong arms or a powerful nation to pull that plant up by the roots.

The Lord God says, “By my life, I swear that this new king will die in Babylonia! Nebuchadnezzar made this man the new king of Judah, but he broke his promise with Nebuchadnezzar. This new king ignored that agreement.

This is what the Lord God says: “I will take a branch from a tall cedar tree. I will take a small branch from the top of the tree, and I myself will plant it on a very high mountain.

But the Lord God says, “By my life, I swear that people in Israel will not think this proverb is true anymore!