16. But I have not pestered you to bring disaster.I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation.You know that.You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken.
17. Do not cause me dismay!You are my source of safety in times of trouble.
18. May those who persecute me be disgraced.Do not let me be disgraced.May they be dismayed.Do not let me be dismayed.Bring days of disaster on them.Bring on them the destruction they deserve.”
19. The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem.
20. As you stand in those places announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says.
21. The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! Do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
22. Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, as I commanded your ancestors.
23. Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’
24. The Lord says, ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day.