‘ The Lord is the God of Israel. He says,“ The king of Babylon and his armies are all around this city. They are getting ready to attack you. You have weapons of war in your hands to fight against them. But I am about to turn your weapons against you. And I will bring your enemies inside this city.I myself will fight against you. I will reach out my powerful hand and mighty arm. I will come against you with all my great anger.
“‘ “But their children refused to obey me. They did not follow my rules. They were not careful to keep my laws. The person who obeys them will live by them. They misused my Sabbath days. So I said I would pour out all my great anger on them in the desert.But I kept myself from punishing them at that time. I wanted my name to be honored. So I kept it from being treated as if it were not holy. I did not want that to happen in front of the nations. They had seen me bring Israel out of Egypt.I also raised my hand and made a promise in the desert. I told my people I would scatter them among the nations. I would send them to other countries.They had not obeyed my laws. They had turned their backs on my rules. They had misused my Sabbath days. They only wanted to worship the statues of their parents’ gods.