The LORD said to his people, "I scattered you in all directions. But now, you exiles, escape from Babylonia and return to Jerusalem.

The LORD will appear above his people; he will shoot his arrows like lightning. The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms from the south.

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

The LORD will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive.

A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment.

"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.

Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds; in his fierce anger God will blow them away while they are still living.

The nations advance like rushing waves, but God reprimands them and they retreat, driven away like dust on a mountainside, like straw in a whirlwind.

This is a message about Babylonia. Like a whirlwind sweeping across the desert, disaster will come from a terrifying land.

The LORD will come with fire. He will ride on the wings of a storm to punish those he is angry with.

The time is coming when the people of Jerusalem will be told that a scorching wind is blowing in from the desert toward them. It will not be a gentle wind that only blows away the chaff---

the wind that comes at the LORD's command will be much stronger than that! It is the LORD himself who is pronouncing judgment on his people.

His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked,

The LORD Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth.

On that day the bodies of those whom the LORD has killed will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, and they will not be taken away and buried. They will lie on the ground like piles of manure.

The LORD's anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked. It will not end until he has done all that he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly.

Then they told him, "You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are."

So I will send fire upon the city walls of Rabbah and burn down its fortresses. Then there will be shouts on the day of battle, and the fighting will rage like a storm.

The LORD does not easily become angry, but he is powerful and never lets the guilty go unpunished. Where the LORD walks, storms arise; the clouds are the dust raised by his feet!

Your arrows pierced the commander of his army when it came like a storm to scatter us, gloating like those who secretly oppress the poor.

A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment.

The LORD will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle.

People of Israel, the LORD is bringing a nation from far away to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know.

I will send dangerous animals among you, and they will kill your children, destroy your livestock, and leave so few of you that your roads will be deserted.

And so what the LORD had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed."

and in his twenty-third year, 745---taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.

You have defended us in the past, so do not be angry with Jerusalem any longer. It is your city, your sacred hill. All the people in the neighboring countries look down on Jerusalem and on your people because of our sins and the evil our ancestors did.

Listen to us, O God; look at us and see the trouble we are in and the suffering of the city that bears your name. We are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done right.

The LORD says, "I have wiped out whole nations; I have destroyed their cities and left their walls and towers in ruins. The cities are deserted; the streets are empty---no one is left.

Out of one of these four horns grew a little horn, whose power extended toward the south and the east and toward the Promised Land.