Nebuzaradan set the Lord’s temple on fire. He also set fire to the royal palace and all the houses in Jerusalem. He burned down every important building.
Your country has been deserted. Your cities have been burned down. The food from your fields is being eaten up by outsiders. They are doing it right in front of you. Your land has been completely destroyed. It looks as if strangers have taken it over.
Wake up! Zion, wake up! Dress yourself with strength as if it were your clothes. Holy city of Jerusalem, put on your clothes of glory. Those who haven’t been circumcised will never enter you again. Neither will those who are “unclean.”
Then I said, “Lord, how long will it be like that?” He answered, “It will last until the cities of Israel are destroyed. It will last until no one is living in them. It will last until the houses are deserted. The fields will be completely destroyed.
Nebuzaradan set the Lord’s temple on fire. He also set fire to the royal palace and all the houses in Jerusalem. He burned down every important building.
Jerusalem’s people are suffering and wandering. They remember all the treasures they used to have. But they fell into the hands of their enemies. And no one was there to help them. Their enemies looked at them. They laughed because Jerusalem had been destroyed.
The man raised both hands toward heaven. I heard him make a promise in the name of the God who lives forever. He answered me, “Three and a half years. Then the power of the holy people will finally be broken. And all these things will come true.”
So because of what you have done, Zion will be plowed up like a field. Jerusalem will be turned into a pile of trash. The temple hill will be covered with bushes and weeds.
Some will be killed by the sword. Others will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be taken over by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles come to an end.