7. So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage on my shoulder while they watched.
8. The word of the Lord came to me in the morning:
9. “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’
10. Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel within it.’
11. Say, ‘I am an object lesson for you. Just as I have done, it will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity.’
12. “The prince who is among them will raise his belongings onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.
13. But I will throw my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans (but he will not see it), and there he will die.
14. All his retinue – his attendants and his troops – I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.
15. “Then they will know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among foreign countries.
16. But I will let a small number of them survive the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they can confess all their abominable practices to the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
17. The word of the Lord came to me: