You are to proclaim concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have burned the scroll, asking, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without people or animals? ’
I am about to give the command #– #this is the Lord’s declaration #– #and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it. I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.’
Then I said, ‘Until when, Lord? ’ And he replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate,
This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Jeremiah, and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until seventy years were fulfilled.
Then the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky #– #for I regret that I made them.’
Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Look, my anger #– #my burning wrath #– #is about to be poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.’
Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgement on Joash.
The Lord has done what he planned; he has accomplished his decree, which he ordained in days of old. He has demolished without compassion, letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your adversaries.