¹²“Ask these rebellious people, ‘Don’t you know what this means?’ Tell them, ‘The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and captured its king and its leaders. He brought them home with him to Babylon. ¹³Then he took someone from the royal family, made a treaty with him, and made him promise to be loyal. He took away the leading citizens from Judah ¹⁴so that it would remain a humiliated country and be unable to regain its power. The country could only survive by keeping the treaty. ¹⁵But the king of Judah rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his messengers to Egypt to get horses and many soldiers. Will the king of Judah succeed? Will anyone who does such things escape? He can’t break a treaty and go unpunished.

¹⁶“ ‘As I live, declares the Almighty Lord, the king of Judah will die in Babylonia. He will die in the country of the king who appointed him king of Judah. The king of Judah broke his promise and his treaty with the king of Babylon. ¹⁷Even with a large army and many people, Pharaoh will not be able to help him in battle when the Babylonians put up dirt ramps and set up blockades to kill many people. ¹⁸The king of Judah broke the promise and the treaty that he pledged to keep. He did all these things, and he can’t go unpunished.

¹⁹“ ‘So this is what the Almighty Lord says: As I live, I will certainly punish you for rejecting my promise and hating my treaty. ²⁰I will spread my net over you to catch you in my trap. I will take you to Babylon and judge you there for rebelling against me. ²¹The best of your troops will die in battle. Anyone who remains will be scattered in every direction that the wind blows. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.

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