Nebuchadnezzar and his army set fire to God’s Temple and broke down Jerusalem’s wall and burned all the palaces. They took or destroyed every valuable thing in Jerusalem.
When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud, and his pride has made him do these evil things, so God will punish him.
So the Lord God All-Powerful will send a terrible disease upon Assyria’s soldiers. The strength of Assyria will be burned up like a fire burning until everything is gone.
You have sent your messengers to insult the Lord. You have said, “With my many chariots I have gone to the tops of the mountains, to the highest mountains of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its best pine trees. I have gone to its greatest heights and its best forests.
The Lord called you “a leafy olive tree, with beautiful fruit and shape.” But with the roar of a strong storm he will set that tree on fire, and its branches will be burned up.
So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon punish the men from Anathoth. Their young men will die in war. Their sons and daughters will die from hunger.
But I, the Lord, look into a person’s heart and test the mind. So I can decide what each one deserves; I can give each one the right payment for what he does.”
But you must obey me and keep the Sabbath day as a holy day. You must not carry any loads into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. If you don’t obey me, I will start a fire at the gates of Jerusalem, and it will burn until it burns even the strong towers. And it will not be put out.’ ”
They will chop down Egypt’s army as if it were a great forest,” says the Lord. “There are more enemy soldiers than locusts; there are too many to count.
Hear this, people of the earth: I am going to bring disaster to the people of Judah because of the evil they plan. They have not listened to my messages and have rejected my teachings.
In his anger he has removed all the strength of Israel; he took away his power from Israel when the enemy came. He burned against the people of Jacob like a flaming fire that burns up everything around it.
Say to Israel: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will pull my sword out of its holder, and I will cut off from you both the wicked and those who do right.