therefore, prophesy and say,‘ This is what the Lord GOD says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you from every side, so that you became a possession for the rest of the nations and an object of people’s gossip and slander,

所以要发预言说，主耶和华如此说：因为敌人使你荒凉，四围吞吃，好叫你归与其余的外邦人为业，并且多嘴多舌的人提起你来，百姓也说你有臭名。

所以你要预言，说：主耶和华如此说：因为敌人使你荒凉，四围践踏你，要叫你归其余的列国为业，使你们成为各族的话柄与百姓的笑谈；

所以你要预言，说：主耶和华如此说：因为敌人使你荒凉，四围践踏你，要叫你归其余的列国为业，使你们成为各族的话柄与百姓的笑谈；

所以你要发预言，宣告主耶和华这样说，‘你们被蹂躏、掠夺，归了列国所有，成了外族人的话柄和笑谈。

所以你要说预言：主耶和华这样说：因为敌人使你们荒凉，四围践踏你们，好使你们归给列国中余剩的人为业，成为人们提说和嘲笑的对象，

所以要發預言說，主耶和華如此說：因為敵人使你荒涼，四圍吞吃，好叫你歸與其餘的外邦人為業，並且多嘴多舌的人提起你來，百姓也說你有臭名。

所以你要預言，說：主耶和華如此說：因為敵人使你荒涼，四圍踐踏你，要叫你歸其餘的列國為業，使你們成為各族的話柄與百姓的笑談；

所以你要預言，說：主耶和華如此說：因為敵人使你荒涼，四圍踐踏你，要叫你歸其餘的列國為業，使你們成為各族的話柄與百姓的笑談；

所以你要發預言，宣告主耶和華這樣說，『你們被蹂躪、掠奪，歸了列國所有，成了外族人的話柄和笑談。

所以你要說預言：主耶和華這樣說：因為敵人使你們荒涼，四圍踐踏你們，好使你們歸給列國中餘剩的人為業，成為人們提說和嘲笑的對象，

所以你要傳神言說：主永恆主這麼說：因為敵人真地使你們淒涼，四圍蹂躪你們，要使你們歸於其餘的外國人為業，被鼓舌傷人者的嘴和暴民的讒誹所取笑；

故爾當預言曰、主耶和華云、敵人使爾荒涼、四周吞噬、俾為列國遺民之業、為喋喋者談論、被人毀謗、

爾當以我言告之云、主耶和華曰、敵縱橫噬、使山荒寂、為他邦之人所得、虛誕之徒、播其流言、

故爾當預言曰、主天主如是云、爾四周之敵、使爾荒蕪、使爾荒蕪或作毀滅爾吞噬爾、致爾為未滅未滅原文作所餘下同之異邦人所得、又為人所談論、所譏刺、

Therefore prophesy and say,‘ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because they ravaged and crushed you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s malicious talk and slander,

Ezekiel, prophesy. Say,‘ The Lord and King says,“ Your enemies destroyed you. They crushed you from every side. So the rest of the nations took over your land. People talked about you. They told lies about you.” ’ ”

therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people,

Therefore, son of man, give the mountains of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: Your enemies have attacked you from all directions, making you the property of many nations and the object of much mocking and slander.

therefore prophesy and say,‘ This is what the Lord God says:“ For good reason they have made you desolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the talk and the rumor of the people.” ’ ”

therefore prophesy, and say,‘ Thus says the Lord GOD:“ Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people”—

therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;

therefore, prophesy and say: This is what the Lord God says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you from every side, so that you became a possession for the rest of the nations and an object of people’s gossip and slander,

Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made[ you] desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and[ are] an infamy of the people:

So prophesy and say:‘ This is what the sovereign LORD says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip and slander among the people,

therefore prophesy, and say,‘ The Lord Yahweh says:“ Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;”

You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors, a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.You make us a joke among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

All who pass by scornfully clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying,“ We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it.”

They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by it will be appalled and shake their heads.

I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for my name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.Though this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff. They will say,“ Why did the LORD do this to this land and this temple?”

Do not let them say in their hearts,“ Aha! Just what we wanted.” Do not let them say,“ We have swallowed him up!”

In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate a meal together there in Mizpah,but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.On the day after he had killed Gedaliah, when no one knew yet,eighty men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who had shaved their beards, torn their clothes, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the LORD.Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said,“ Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!”But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.However, there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael,“ Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field— wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions.Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one that King Asa had made in the encounter with King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people of Mizpah including the daughters of the king— all those who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,they took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him by the great pool in Gibeon.When all the people held by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced.All the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and rejoined Johanan son of Kareah.But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him then took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam— men, soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom he brought back from Gibeon.They left, stopping in Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, in order to make their way into Egypt,away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their headsand saying,“ You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him and said,“ He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.He trusts in God; let God rescue him now— if he takes pleasure in him! For he said,‘ I am the Son of God.’”In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him taunted him.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.Because of the LORD’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around.The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered.The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered the Judean commanders.Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day.On the tenth day of the fifth month— which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon— Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon.He burned the LORD’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses.The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the LORD’s temple and the water carts and the bronze basin that were in the LORD’s temple, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.The captain of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls— whatever was gold or silver.As for the two pillars, the one basin, with the twelve bronze oxen under it, and the water carts that King Solomon had made for the LORD’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.One pillar was 27 feet tall, had a circumference of 18 feet, was hollow— four fingers thick—and had a bronze capital on top of it. One capital, encircled by bronze grating and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates.Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the grating numbered one hundred.The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers.From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people who were found within the city.Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;in his eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were deported.On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.How she sits alone, the city once crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has been put to forced labor.She weeps bitterly during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, not one from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.Judah has gone into exile following affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places.The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is bitter.Her adversaries have become her masters; her enemies are at ease, for the LORD has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary.

“‘ Since they have led my people astray by saying,“ Peace,” when there is no peace, and since when a flimsy wall is being built, they plaster it with whitewash,

But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them.Emaciated from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, the desolate wasteland by night.They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.They were banished from human society; people shouted at them as if they were thieves.They are living on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.They bray among the shrubs; they huddle beneath the thistles.Foolish men, without even a name. They were forced to leave the land.Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them.They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In his wrath he has demolished the fortified cities of Daughter Judah. He brought them to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.

God, hear my cry; pay attention to my prayer.

But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; they gathered against me. Assailants I did not know tore at me and did not stop.With godless mockery they gnashed their teeth at me.

“ Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say,‘ The LORD has rejected the two families he had chosen.’ My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them.

Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, may your anger and wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us.

For the land abandoned by them will make up for its Sabbaths by lying desolate without the people, while they make amends for their iniquity, because they rejected my ordinances and abhorred my statutes.

Let’s swallow them alive, like Sheol, whole, like those who go down to the Pit.

In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.In the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into.All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar, Nebusarsechim the chief of staff, Nergal-sharezer the chief soothsayer, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon’s king.When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the fighting men saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the city gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah.However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him there.At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all Judah’s nobles.Then he blinded Zedekiah and put him in bronze chains to take him to Babylon.The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported the rest of the people to Babylon— those who had remained in the city and those deserters who had defected to him along with the rest of the people who remained.However, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.Speaking through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah:“ Take him and look after him. Don’t do him any harm, but do for him whatever he says.”Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, Nebushazban the chief of staff, Nergal-sharezer the chief soothsayer, and all the captains of Babylon’s kinghad Jeremiah brought from the guard’s courtyard and turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he settled among his own people.Now the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah when he was confined in the guard’s courtyard:“ Go tell Ebed-melech the Cushite,‘ This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words for disaster and not for good against this city. They will take place before your eyes on that day.But I will rescue you on that day— this is the LORD’s declaration— and you will not be handed over to the men you dread.Indeed, I will certainly deliver you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in me, you will retain your life like the spoils of war. This is the LORD’s declaration.’”

“ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty dish; he has swallowed me like a sea monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has vomited me out.

I will make them an object of horror and a disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, an example for disgrace, scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them.

Those who sit at the city gate talk about me, and drunkards make up songs about me.

Why should the nations ask,“ Where is their God?” Before our eyes, let vengeance for the shed blood of your servants be known among the nations.

The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within Daughter Judah.

when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage.

You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you.