21
Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoulder, and your neck, and serve the king of Babylon: and you shall remain in the land which I have given to your fathers.
22
But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon: I will cause you to depart out of the cities of Juda, and from without Jerusalem.
23
And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and all the land shall be without any footstep of inhabitants.
24
And they hearkened not to thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spokest by the hands of thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be removed out of their place:
25
And behold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine, and by the sword, and in banishment.
26
And thou hast made the temple, in which thy name was called upon, as it is at this day, for the iniquity of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda.
27
And thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, according to all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine:
28
As thou spokest by the hand of thy servant Moses, in the day when thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel,
29
Saying: If you will not hear my voice, this great multitude shall be turned into a very small number among the nations, where I will scatter them:
30
For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity:
31
And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear.