4 You will lose the land I gave you.\par I will let your enemies take you\par to be their slaves.\par Why? Because I am very angry.\par My anger is like a hot fire,\par and you will be burned forever.”\par
4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
4 And you, through your own fault, will loosen your hand and discontinue from your heritage which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn throughout the ages.
4 And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever.
4 You will lose the inheritance that I gave you. I will make you slaves of your enemies in a land you don’t know, for my anger blazes like a fire that won’t go out.
4 And you will be left behind without your inheritance, which I gave to you. And I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land that you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in my fury; it shall burn, even unto eternity."
4 And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance which I gave thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou knowest not. Because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it shall burn for ever.
Then, as soon as our ancestors {\cf2\super [56]} were rested,\par they started doing terrible things again!\par So you let the enemy defeat them\par and punish them.\par They called to you for help,\par and in heaven you heard them\par and helped them.\par You are so kind!\par That happened so many times!\par
The Lord will take away your hard work, and he will comfort you. \{In the past,\} you were slaves. Men forced you to do very hard work. But the Lord will end this hard work for you.
Topheth {\cf2\super [287]} has been made ready for a long time. It is ready for the king. {\cf2\super [288]} It was made very deep and wide. There is a very big pile of wood and fire there. And the Lord’s breath (Spirit) will come like a stream of burning sulfur and burn it.
So the Lord has become very angry with his people. And the Lord will raise his hand and punish them. Even the mountains will be frightened. Dead bodies will lie in the streets like garbage. But God will still be angry. His hand will still be raised \{to punish the people\}.
“Look, \{you people want to live your own ways\}. You light your own fires and torches (lights). So, \{live your own way\}. But, you will be punished! You will fall into your fires and torches and you will be burned. I will make that happen.”
“\{These people will be in my holy city.\} And if they go out \{of the city\} they will see the dead bodies of the people that sinned against me. \{There will be worms in those bodies\}—and the worms will never die. \{Fires will burn those bodies\}—and the fires will never stop.”
“I (the Lord) have abandoned my house.\par I have left my own property. {\cf2\super [101]} \par I have given the one I love (Judah)\par to her enemies.\par
People of Judah, I will make you slaves\par of your enemies.\par You will be slaves in a land\par that you never knew.\par I am very angry.\par My anger is like a hot fire,\par and you will be burned.”\par
So I will throw you out of this country. I will force you to go to a foreign country. You will go to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. In that land you can serve false gods all you want to. I will not help you or show you any favors.’
Lord, you know about their plans\par to kill me.\par Don’t forgive their crimes.\par Don’t erase their sins.\par Destroy my enemies!\par Punish those people while you are angry!\par
“Have the people of Israel become slaves?\par Have they become like a person\par that was born a slave?\par Why did people take the wealth\par from the people of Israel?\par
Family of David, {\cf2\super [169]} \par the Lord says these things:\par ‘You must judge people fairly every day.\par Protect the victims {\cf2\super [170]} from the criminals.\par If you don’t do that,\par then I will become very angry.\par My anger will be like a fire\par that no person will be able to put out.\par This will happen because you\par have done evil things.’\par
Coniah (Jehoiachin) is like a broken pot\par that some person threw away.\par He is like a pot that no person wants.\par Why will Jehoiachin and his children\par be thrown out?\par Why will they be thrown away\par into a foreign land?\par
The people of Judah will ask you,\par ‘Jeremiah, why has the Lord our God\par done this bad thing to us?’\par Give them this answer:\par ‘You people of Judah have left the Lord,\par and you have served foreign idols\par in your own land.\par You did those things, so now\par you will serve foreigners in a land\par that doesn’t belong to you.’”\par
Should I punish the people of Judah\par for doing these things?”\par This message is from the Lord.\par “You know that I should punish a nation\par such as this.\par I should give them the punishment\par that they deserve.”\par
So the Lord says this: “I will show my anger against this place. I will punish people and animals. I will punish the trees in the field and the crops that grow in the ground. My anger will be like a hot fire—and no person will be able to stop it.”
All you people that pass by on the road,\par you don’t seem to care.\par But look at me and see.\par Is there any pain like my pain?\par Is there any pain like the pain\par that has come to me?\par Is there any pain like the pain\par that the Lord has punished me with?\par He has punished me on the day\par of his great anger.\par
I will pour out my anger against you. My anger will burn you like a hot wind. I will hand you over to cruel men. {\cf2\super [168]} Those men are skilled at killing people.
I will bring evil people from other nations. And those evil people will get all the houses of the people of Israel. I will stop all of you powerful people from being so proud. Those people from other nations will get all your places of worship. {\cf2\super [56]}
“The Lord will let your enemies defeat you. You will go to fight against your enemies one way, but you will run away from them seven different ways. The bad things that happen to you will make all the people on earth afraid.