the LORD had said, "The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you.

Zion, the mountain of God, is high and beautiful; the city of the great king brings joy to all the world.

God has shown that there is safety with him inside the fortresses of the city.

The city that once was faithful is behaving like a whore! At one time it was filled with righteous people, but now only murderers remain.

Then over Mount Zion and over all who are gathered there, the LORD will send a cloud in the daytime and smoke and a bright flame at night. God's glory will cover and protect the whole city.

Let everyone who lives in Zion shout and sing! Israel's holy God is great, and he lives among his people."

Sing and shout for joy, people of Israel! Rejoice with all your heart, Jerusalem!

The time is coming when they will say to Jerusalem, "Do not be afraid, city of Zion! Do not let your hands hang limp!

The Lord in his anger has covered Zion with darkness. Its heavenly splendor he has turned into ruins. On the day of his anger he abandoned even his Temple.

In his fury he shattered the strength of Israel; He refused to help us when the enemy came. He raged against us like fire, destroying everything.

Like an enemy, the Lord has destroyed Israel; He has left her forts and palaces in ruins. He has brought on the people of Judah unending sorrow.

The Lord rejected his altar and deserted his holy Temple; He allowed the enemy to tear down its walls. They shouted in victory where once we had worshiped in joy.

How much worse it will be for evil men who murder an innocent man asleep in his own house! I will now take revenge on you for murdering him and will wipe you off the face of the earth!"

David gave the order, and his soldiers killed Rechab and Baanah and cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up near the pool in Hebron. They took Ishbosheth's head and buried it in Abner's tomb there at Hebron.

God shines from Zion, the city perfect in its beauty.

Bow down before the Holy One when he appears; tremble before him, all the earth!

If your sons are true to my covenant and to the commands I give them, their sons, also, will succeed you for all time as kings."

The LORD has chosen Zion; he wants to make it his home:

But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him.

After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.

He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem;

Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the LORD has made their wealth repulsive to them.

I will not interfere when my treasured Temple is profaned, when robbers break into it and defile it.

The living creatures began to fly, and the wheels went with them. The dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel was over them.

Then the dazzling light left the city and moved to the mountain east of it.

to give you Israelites this message: You are proud of the strength of the Temple. You like to look at it and to visit it, but the LORD is going to profane it. And the younger members of your families who are left in Jerusalem will be killed in war.

The LORD said, "Now, mortal man, I will take away from them the strong Temple that was their pride and joy, which they liked to look at and to visit. And I will take away their sons and daughters.

"I will make those of you who are in exile so terrified that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you run. You will run as if you were being pursued in battle, and you will fall when there is no enemy near you.

You will stumble over one another when no one is chasing you, and you will be unable to fight against any enemy.

"The LORD will give your enemies victory over you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in all directions, and all the people on earth will be terrified when they see what happens to you.

Why were a thousand defeated by one, and ten thousand by only two? The LORD, their God, had abandoned them; their mighty God had given them up.

This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They retreat from them because they themselves have now been condemned to destruction! I will not stay with you any longer unless you destroy the things you were ordered not to take!

Get up! Purify the people and get them ready to come before me. Tell them to be ready tomorrow, because I, the LORD God of Israel, have this to say: 'Israel, you have in your possession some things that I ordered you to destroy! You cannot stand against your enemies until you get rid of these things!'

But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated; you no longer march out with our armies.

You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep; you scattered us in foreign countries.

"The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those people whom he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia:

and the towns and fortresses will be captured. On that day Moab's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.

The Babylonian soldiers have stopped fighting and remain in their forts. They have lost their courage and have become helpless. The city gates are broken down, and the houses are on fire.

The enemy have captured the river crossing and have set the fortresses on fire. The Babylonian soldiers have panicked.

the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley.

In the field the mother deer abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals; their eyesight fails them because they have no food.

They will hear the hoofbeats of horses, the clatter of chariots, the rumble of wheels. Parents will not turn back for their children; their hands will hang limp at their sides.