The leaders of Israel lived in Jerusalem. But the rest of the people threw lots to choose one person out of every ten to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city. The other nine could stay in their own cities.
At that time some people will be left alive in Israel from the family of Jacob. They will not continue to depend on the person who defeated them. They will learn truly to depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
Have you forgotten the Lord who made you, who stretched out the skies and made the earth? Why are you always afraid of those angry people who trouble you and who want to destroy? But where are those angry people now?
Wake up, wake up, Jerusalem! Become strong! Be beautiful again, holy city of Jerusalem. The people who do not worship God and who are not pure will not enter you again.
But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols. He made everything, and he chose Israel to be his special people. The Lord All-Powerful is his name.
They said, “Ask the Lord for us what will happen, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will do miracles for us as he did in the past so Nebuchadnezzar will stop attacking us and leave.”
But hear the word of the Lord. Listen, all you Jews living in Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I have sworn by my great name: The people of Judah now living in Egypt will never again use my name to make promises. They will never again say in Egypt, “As surely as the Lord God lives . . . ”
“God has ordered four hundred ninety years for your people and your holy city for these reasons: to stop people from turning against God; to put an end to sin; to take away evil; to bring in goodness that continues forever; to bring about the vision and prophecy; and to appoint a most holy place.
Its judges take money to decide who wins in court. Its priests only teach for pay, and its prophets only look into the future when they get paid. But they lean on the Lord and say, “The Lord is here with us, so nothing bad will happen to us.”
But do not measure the yard outside the temple. Leave it alone, because it has been given to those who are not God’s people. And they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.
And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away that one’s share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are written about in this book.