9. “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:“Will it thrive?Will he not pull up its roots,Cut off its fruit,And leave it to wither?All of its spring leaves will wither,And no great power or many peopleWill be needed to pluck it up by its roots.
10. Behold, it is planted,Will it thrive?Will it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it?It will wither in the garden terrace where it grew.” ’ ”
11. Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
12. “Say now to the rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon.
13. And he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant with him, and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land,
14. that the kingdom might be brought low and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.
15. But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?
16. ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17. Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, when they heap up a siege mound and build a wall to cut off many persons.