People of Judah, I will make you slaves of your enemies. You will be slaves in a land that you never knew. I am very angry. My anger is like a hot fire, and you will be burned.”
I will throw you out of this country. I will force you to go to a foreign land. You will go to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you can serve false gods all you want to. I will not help you or show you any favors.’
You will lose the land I gave you. I will let your enemies take you to be their slaves. That is because I am very angry. My anger is like a hot fire, and you will be burned forever.”
When you appear, you will burn them up like a blazing furnace. In your anger, Lord, you will completely destroy them; they will be swallowed by flames of fire.
“The Lord will send you and your king away to a nation you don’t know. You and your ancestors have never seen that nation. There you will serve false gods made of wood and stone.
The Lord will scatter you among all the people in the world. He will scatter you from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve false gods made of wood and stone. They are false gods that you or your ancestors never worshiped.
I will make the people of Judah an example of something terrible for all the people on earth. I will do this to the people of Judah because of what Manasseh did in Jerusalem. Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah. Manasseh was a king of Judah.’
If I go into the country, I see the bodies of those killed in war. If I go into the city, I see people sick from hunger. The priests and prophets continue their work, but they don’t understand what is happening.’”
Become the Lord’s people. Change your hearts. Men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, if you don’t change, then I will become very angry. My anger will spread fast like a fire, and it will burn you up. No one will be able to put out that fire because of the evil you have done.”
So he poured out his anger on them and brought wars against them. It was as if there were fires all around them, but they didn’t know what was happening. It was as if they were burning, but they didn’t try to understand.
All the land will be useless—destroyed by burning sulfur and covered with salt. The land will have nothing planted in it. Nothing will be growing—not even weeds. The land will be destroyed like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, the cities the Lord destroyed when he was very angry.
“The Lord will let your enemies defeat you. You will go to fight against your enemies one way, but you will run away from them seven different ways. The bad things that happen to you will make all the people on earth afraid.