The Lord did this because Manasseh killed many innocent people. Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with their blood. And the Lord would not forgive {those sins}.
We have been guilty of many, many sins from the days of our ancestors until now. We sinned so our kings and priests were punished. Foreign kings attacked us and took our people away. Those kings took away our wealth and made us ashamed. It is the same even today.
Sometimes people are not immediately punished for the bad things they do. Their punishment is slow to come. And that makes other people want to do bad things too.
There at the town of Riblah, the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons, while Zedekiah watched. And Nebuchadnezzar killed all the royal officials of Judah while Zedekiah watched.
Now, the Lord our Master says these things, ‘Those dead bodies are the meat. And the city is the pot. But he (Nebuchadnezzar) will come and take you out of this safe pot!
Then I will punish you. I will punish you as a murderer and a woman that did the sin of adultery. You will be punished as if by an angry and jealous husband.
They will burn your house (temple). They will punish you so all the other women can see. I will stop you from living like a prostitute. I will stop you from paying money to your lovers.
I will pour out my anger against you. My anger will burn you like a hot wind. I will hand you over to cruel men. {\cf2\super [168]} Those men are skilled at killing people.
People in Jerusalem will be so hungry that parents will eat their own children and children will eat their own parents. I will punish you in many ways. And the people that are left alive, I will scatter them to the winds.
A ruler is God’s servant to help you. But if you do wrong, then be afraid. The ruler has the power to punish, and he will use that power. He is God’s servant to punish people that do wrong.
“The Lord will send you and your king away to a nation you don’t know. You and your ancestors [183] have never seen that nation. There you will serve false gods made of wood and stone.