4. The Lord has sent prophets to you time after time, but you refused to listen.
5. They told you that the Lord had said:Change your ways! If you stop doing evil, I will let you stay for ever in this land that I gave your ancestors.
6. I don't want to harm you. So don't make me angry by worshipping idols and other gods.
7. But you refused to listen to my prophets. So I, the Lord, say that you have made me angry by worshipping idols, and you are the ones who were hurt by what you did.
8. You refused to listen to me,
9. and now I will let you be attacked by nations from the north, and especially by my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. You and other nearby nations will be destroyed and left in ruins for ever. Everyone who sees what has happened will be shocked, but they will still make fun of you.
10. I will put an end to your parties and wedding celebrations; no one will grind grain or be here to light the lamps at night.
11. This country will be as empty as a desert, because I will make all of you the slaves of the king of Babylonia for seventy years.
12. When that time is up, I will punish the king of Babylonia and his people for everything they have done wrong, and I will turn that country into a wasteland for ever.
13. My servant Jeremiah has told you what I said I will do to Babylonia and to the other nations, and he wrote it all down in this book. I will do everything I threatened.
14. I will pay back the Babylonians for every wrong they have done. Great kings from many other nations will conquer the Babylonians and force them to be slaves.