2 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, “You people saw the terrible happenings that I brought on the city of Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Those towns are empty piles of stones today.
2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and see, this day they are a desolation and no man dwells in them
2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
2 The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You have seen the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. They are now a wasteland with no one left
2 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all this evil that I have led over Jerusalem and over all the cities of Judah. And behold, they are desolate to this day, and there is no inhabitant in them,
But I will give the order,’ this message is from the Lord, ‘to bring the Babylonian army back to Jerusalem. That army will fight against Jerusalem. They will capture it and set it on fire and burn it down. And I will destroy the cities in the land of Judah. Those cities will become empty deserts. No people will live there.’”
“I (the Lord) will make the city of Jerusalem\par a pile of garbage.\par It will be a home for jackals. {\cf2\super [75]} \par I will destroy the cities in the land of Judah,\par so no one will live there.”\par
\{Leaders,\} because of you,\par Zion {\cf2\super [45]} will be destroyed.\par It will become a plowed field.\par Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks.\par Temple Mount will be an empty hill {\cf2\super [46]} overgrown with bushes.\par
A lion has come out of his cave.\par A destroyer of nations has begun to march.\par He has left his home\par to destroy your land.\par Your towns will be destroyed.\par There will be no people left to live in them.\par
The prophets were my servants. I used them to tell your ancestors about my laws and teachings. And your ancestors finally learned their lesson. They said, ‘The Lord All-Powerful did the things he said he would do. He punished us for the way we lived and for all the bad things we did.’ So they came back to God.”
“I cry about all these things.\par My eyes, my eyes run down with water.\par There is no comforter near me.\par There is no person that can make me feel better.\par My children are like a wasteland.\par They are like that because the enemy won.”\par
Jerusalem once was a city full of people.\par But now the city is so deserted!\par Jerusalem was one of the greatest cities\par in the world.\par But now she {\cf2\super [1]} has become like a widow.\par She was once a princess among cities.\par But now she has been made a slave.\par
Then the Lord could not be patient with you any longer. The Lord hated the terrible things you did. So the Lord made your country an empty desert. No person lives there now. Other people say bad things about that country.
I will stretch the measuring line of Samaria [262] and the plumb bob [263] of Ahab’s family over Jerusalem. A man wipes a dish, and then he turns it upside down. I will do that to Jerusalem.
Moses called together all the Israelite people. He said to them, “You saw all the things the Lord did in the land of Egypt. You saw the things he did to Pharaoh, to Pharaoh’s officers, and to his whole country.
“The land will be empty. The land will enjoy its time of rest. Then the survivors [454] will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they hated my laws and refused to obey my rules.
‘You people have seen what I can do to my enemies. You saw what I did to the people of Egypt. You saw that I carried you out of Egypt like an eagle and brought you here to me.
All of those bad things happened to you because you made sacrifices to other gods. You sinned against the Lord. You didn’t obey the Lord. You didn’t follow his teachings or the laws he gave you. You didn’t keep your part of the Agreement.” {\cf2\super [360]}
“God said those things would happen to us and our leaders—and he made them happen. He made terrible things happen to us. No other city suffered the way Jerusalem suffered.
“I will force the people of Judah to leave their homes and their land. The people will be taken away to foreign lands. Some of the people of Judah that were not killed in the war will wish that they had been killed.” This message is from the Lord.