¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malkijah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying:

²Inquire of Yahweh on our behalf, please, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us; perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wonders, and he will go up from us.

³Jeremiah said to them: Thus you shall say to Zedekiah:

⁴Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to turn around the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are hemming you in from outside the wall; and I will gather them into the middle of this city.

⁵And I myself will fight against you with a hand stretched out and with a mighty arm, in anger, in burning rage, and in great wrath.

⁶And I will strike down the dwellers of this city, humans and livestock; by a great pestilence they will die.

⁷And after that, the utterance of Yahweh, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his slaves and the people, those who remain in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their being; he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not have pity on them, and will not spare, and will not have compassion.

⁸And to this people you will say: Like this Yahweh said: Look, I am setting before your face the way of life and the way of death.

⁹The one who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but the one who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who hem you in will live, and his being will belong to him as plunder.

¹⁰For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, the utterance of Yahweh; into the hand of the king of Babylon it will be given, and he will burn it with fire.

¹¹And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of Yahweh.

¹²House of David, like this Yahweh said: Execute justice in the morning, and snatch away the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest my burning anger go out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

¹³Look, I am against you, O dweller of the valley, rock of the level ground, the utterance of Yahweh, you who say: Who will come down against us, and who will enter our refuges?

¹⁴And I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your deeds, the utterance of Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will consume all around her.