¹² When they fast, I am ^(A)not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer ^(B)burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to ^(C)put an end to them by the ^(D)sword, famine, and plague.”

² And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

³ And I will ^(B)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the ^(C)dogs to drag away, and the ^(D)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will ^(E)make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of ^(F)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

¹⁰ And I will send the ^(A)sword, the famine, and the plague upon them until they are eliminated from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’”

¹⁷ this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the ^(A)sword, famine, and plague; and I will make them like ^(B)rotten figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague; and I will ^(C)make them an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a ^(D)curse and an object of horror and ^[a](E)hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they have ^(F)not listened to My words,’ declares the Lord, ‘which I sent to them again and again by ^(G)My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,’ declares the Lord. ²⁰ ‘You, therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles, whom I have ^(H)sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹ ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are ^(I)prophesying to you falsely in My name: “Behold, I am going to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your eyes. ²² Because of them a ^(J)curse will be ^[b]used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon ^(K)roasted in the fire,’ ²³ because they ^(L)acted ^[c]foolishly in Israel, and ^(M)committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and falsely ^(N)spoke words in My name which I did not command them. I am He who ^(O)knows, and a witness,” declares the Lord.’”

²⁴ Now you shall speak to ^(P)Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have sent ^(Q)letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to ^(R)the priest Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶ “The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the ^[d](S)overseer of the house of the Lord for every ^(T)insane person who ^(U)prophesies, to ^(V)put him in the stocks and in the iron collar. ²⁷ So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of ^(W)Anathoth who prophesies to you, ²⁸ seeing that he has ^(X)sent word to us in Babylon, saying, ‘^[e]The exile will be ^(Y)long; ^(Z)build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their ^[f]produce’?”’”

²⁹ Now ^(AA)Zephaniah the priest read this letter ^[g]to Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ³¹ “Send word to ^(AB)all the exiles, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says concerning ^(AC)Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has ^(AD)prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has ^(AE)made you trust in a lie,” ³² therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to ^(AF)punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his ^[h]descendants; he will ^(AG)not have anyone living among this people, ^(AH)and he will not see the good that I am going to do for My people,” declares the Lord, “because he has ^(AI)spoken falsely against the Lord.”’”

¹² A third of you will die by ^(A)plague or perish by famine among you, a third will fall by the sword around you, and a third I will ^(B)scatter to every wind, and I will ^(C)unsheathe a sword behind them.

^17 (A)I will send on you famine and vicious animals, and they will bereave you of children; ^(B)plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

²¹ For this is what the Lord God says: “How much more when ^(A)I send My four ^[a]severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it!