³ “From the ^(A)thirteenth year of ^(B)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, ^[a]these ^(C)twenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you ^(D)again and again, but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His ^(E)servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, ⁵ saying, ‘^(F)Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers ^(G)forever and ever; ⁶ and ^(H)do not follow other gods to ^[b]serve them and to ^[c]worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will do you no harm.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the Lord, “in order to ^(I)provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸ “Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, ⁹ behold, I will ^(J)send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(K)My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will ^[d]completely destroy them and ^(L)make them an object of horror and ^[e]hissing, and an everlasting place of ruins. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will ^(M)eliminate from them the voice of jubilation and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the ^(N)sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ^11 (O)This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for ^(P)seventy years.