“Take some large stones, and bury them under the brick pavement at the entrance to the Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Do this while the people of Judah watch you.
He brought out the troops who were there and put them to work with saws, hoes, and axes. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.
They made their lives bitter with back-breaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard.
Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones that I buried, and I will spread his royal canopy above them.
This is what the Lord says: I’m going to hand Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to his enemies and to those who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to those who wanted to kill him.’ ”
During his visit he took Paul’s belt and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to people who are not Jewish.’ ”
Then a powerful angel picked up a stone that was like a large millstone. He threw it into the sea and said, “The important city Babylon will be thrown down with the same force. It will never be found again.