6
You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead.
7
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it.
8
You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign LORD.
9
I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and inflict punishment on you.
10
You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
11
This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel.
12
And you will know that I am the LORD, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”
13
Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?”
The Promise of Israel’s Return
14 The word of the LORD came to me:
15
“Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the LORD; this land was given to us as our possession.’
16
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’