7. All nations will serve Nebuchadnezzar and his son and his grandson. Then the time will come for Babylon to be defeated. Many nations and great kings will make Babylon their servant.
8. “‘But if some nations or kingdoms refuse to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and refuse to be put under his control, I will punish them, says the Lord. I will destroy them with war, hunger, and disease. I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy any nation that fights against him.
9. So don’t listen to your prophets. Don’t listen to those who use magic to tell what will happen in the future. Don’t listen to those who say they can interpret dreams. Don’t listen to those who talk to the dead or to people who practice magic. All of them tell you, “You will not be slaves to the king of Babylon.”
10. But they are telling you lies. They will only cause you to be taken far from your homeland. I will force you to leave your homes, and you will die in another land.
11. “‘But the nations that put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and obey him will live. I will let them stay in their own country and serve the king of Babylon,’ says the Lord. ‘The people from those nations will live in their own land and farm it.’”
12. I gave the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. I said, “Zedekiah, you must place your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and obey him. If you serve the king of Babylon and his people, you will live.
13. If you don’t agree to serve the king of Babylon, you and your people will die from war, hunger, and disease. This is what the Lord said would happen.
14. But the false prophets are saying, ‘You will never be slaves to the king of Babylon.’ “Don’t listen to those prophets, because they are telling you lies.
15. ‘I didn’t send them,’ says the Lord. ‘They are telling lies and saying that the message is from me. So I will send you people of Judah away. You will die, and the prophets who spoke to you will die also.’”
16. Then I told the priests and all the people that this is what the Lord says: “Those false prophets are saying, ‘The Babylonians took many things from the Lord’S Temple. These things will be brought back soon.’ Don’t listen to them because they are telling you lies.
17. Don’t listen to those prophets. Serve the king of Babylon. Accept your punishment, and you will live. There is no reason for you to cause this city of Jerusalem to be destroyed.
18. If they are prophets and their message is from the Lord, let them pray. Let them pray to the Lord about the things that are still in the Lord’S Temple, in the king’s palace, and in Jerusalem. Let them pray that all those things will not be taken away to Babylon.