²⁸So the Lord says, “I am about to hand this city over to the armies of Babylonia. I will give it to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. He will capture it. ²⁹The armies of Babylonia are now attacking this city. They will come in and set it on fire. They will burn it down. They will burn up the houses where the people made me very angry. They burned incense on their roofs to the god Baal. And they poured out drink offerings to other gods.

³⁰“The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight. They have done it since the nation was young. In fact, they have done nothing but make me very angry. They have worshiped statues of gods their own hands have made,” announces the Lord. ³¹“This city has always stirred up my burning anger. It has done it since the day it was built. Now I must remove it from my sight.

³²“The people of Israel and Judah have made me very angry. They have done many evil things. They, their kings and officials have sinned. So have their priests and prophets. And the people of Judah and Jerusalem have also sinned. ³³They turned their backs to me. They would not face me. I taught them again and again. But they would not listen or pay attention when they were corrected.

³⁴“They set up statues of their gods. They did it in the house where I have put my Name. They made my house ‘unclean.’ I hate those statues.

³⁵“The people built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. That is where they sacrifice their children to Molech in the fire. That is something I did not command. It did not even enter my mind. They did something I hate. They made Judah sin.”

³⁶You people of Judah are saying about this city, “By war, hunger and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylonia.”

But the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ³⁷“You can be sure that I will gather my people again. I will bring them from all of the lands where I send them when my burning anger blazes out against them. I will bring them back to this place. And I will let them live in safety.

³⁸“They will be my people. And I will be their God. ³⁹I will give them a single purpose in life. Then, they will always have respect for me. I will do it for their own good. And it will be for the good of their children after them.

⁴⁰“I will make a covenant with them that will last forever. I promise that I will never stop doing good to them. I will cause them to respect me. Then they will never turn away from me again. ⁴¹I will take pleasure in doing good things for them. I will certainly plant them in this land. I will do those things with all my heart and soul.”

⁴²The Lord says, “I have brought all of this horrible trouble on these people. But now I will give them all of the good things I have promised them.

⁴³“Once more fields will be bought in this land. It is the land about which you now say, ‘It is a dry and empty desert. It doesn’t have any people or animals in it. It has been handed over to the armies of Babylonia.’ ⁴⁴Fields will be bought with silver. Deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed. That will be done in the territory of Benjamin. It will be done in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah. It will also be done in the towns of the central hill country. And it will be done in the towns of the western hills and the Negev Desert. I will bless their people with great success again,” announces the Lord.

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