For this is what the Lord God says: “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it!

Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done without reason whatever I did to it,” declares the Lord God.

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

So I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’” declares the Lord God.

God’s Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord God.

Then your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.

Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God.

“Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God),

“How feverish is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the action of a bold prostitute!

This is what the Lord God says: “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene practices with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to idols,

Since you have not remembered the days of your youth but have caused Me unrest by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this outrageous sin in addition to all your other abominations.

As I live,” declares the Lord God, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done!

For this is what the Lord God says: “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

so that you may remember and be ashamed, and not open your mouth again because of your disgrace, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,” the Lord God declares.

saying, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “A great eagle with great wings, long pinions, and a full plumage of many colors came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar.

Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers—so that all its sprouting shoots wither? And neither by great strength nor by many people can it be raised from its roots again.

As I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘In the country of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon he shall certainly die.

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “As I live, My oath which he despised and My covenant which he broke, I will certainly inflict on his head.

This is what the Lord God says: “I will also take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out; I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

God Deals Justly with Individuals

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

As I live,” declares the Lord God, “you certainly are not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore.

if he walks in My statutes and keeps My ordinances so as to deal faithfully—he is righteous and will certainly live,” declares the Lord God.

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he would turn from his ways and live?