Nothing was left of Jehoahaz’s army except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers. The king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like chaff.
Nebuchadnezzar took away all the people of Jerusalem, including all the leaders, all the wealthy people, and all the craftsmen and metal workers. There were ten thousand prisoners in all. Only the poorest people in the land were left.
Then I asked, “Lord, how long should I do this?” He answered, “Until the cities are destroyed and the people are gone, until there are no people left in the houses, until the land is destroyed and left empty.
One-tenth of the people will be left in the land, but it will be destroyed again. These people will be like an oak tree whose stump is left when the tree is chopped down. The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again.”
They said to him, “Jeremiah, please listen to what we ask. Pray to the Lord your God for all the people left alive from the family of Judah. At one time there were many of us, but you can see that there are few of us now.
I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will take your children away from you and destroy your cattle. They will make you so few in number the roads will be empty.
This is what the Lord God says: “If a thousand soldiers leave a city, only a hundred will return; if a hundred soldiers leave a city, only ten will return.”
God has decided to make that terrible time short. Otherwise, no one would go on living. But God will make that time short to help the people he has chosen.
The Lord will scatter you among the other nations. Only a few of you will be left alive, and those few will be in other nations where the Lord will send you.