The runners, riding on royal horses, went out, hastened and pressed on by the sovereign’s command. And the decree was given out in the citadel of Shushan.
“But still, there is a tenth part in it, and it shall again be for a burning, like a terebinth tree and like an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. The set-apart seed is its stump!”
And these are the words of the letter which Yirmeyah the prophet sent from Yerushalayim to the rest of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets and to all the people whom Neḇ
“Return, O backsliding children,” declares יהוה, “for I shall rule over you, and shall take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and shall bring you to Tsiyon.
“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Master יהוה, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wrong, but that the wrong turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Yisra’ĕ
“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back to Me,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and I shall turn back to you,” declares יהוה of hosts.
“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not obey or give heed to Me,” declares יהוה.