I will bring war on you and scatter you in foreign lands. Your land will be deserted, and your cities left in ruins.

"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 die in exile, swallowed up by the land of your enemies.

"The LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve gods made of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have ever worshiped before.

You will find no peace anywhere, no place to call your own; the LORD will overwhelm you with anxiety, hopelessness, and despair.

Burn up a third of it in the city when the siege is over. Take another third and chop it up with your sword as you move around outside the city. Scatter the remaining third to the winds, and I will pursue it with my sword.

A third of your people will die from sickness and hunger in the city; a third will be cut down by swords outside the city; and I will scatter the last third to the winds and pursue them with a sword.

and throughout the land two-thirds of the people will die.

And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God."

If any Israelites or any foreigners living in the community eat meat with blood still in it, the LORD will turn against them and no longer consider them his people.

Just as the LORD took delight in making you prosper and in making you increase in number, so he will take delight in destroying you and in bringing ruin on you. You will be uprooted from the land that you are about to occupy.

The LORD keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at war."

The LORD watches over the righteous and listens to their cries;

but he opposes those who do evil, so that when they die, they are soon forgotten.

I will watch over them and bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not pull them up.

"So then, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will turn against you and destroy all Judah.