¹⁶ But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed^(A) at his prophets until the wrath^(B) of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.^{(C) 17} He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,^[a](D) who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men^(E) or young women, the elderly or the infirm.^(F) God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.^{(G) 18} He carried to Babylon all the articles^(H) from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. ¹⁹ They set fire^(I) to God’s temple^(J) and broke down the wall^(K) of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed^(L) everything of value there.^(M)

²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign^(A) Lord says: My anger^(B) and my wrath will be poured^(C) out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.^(D)