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But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and will not serve the king of Babylon,
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I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the region about Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the whole land will be a desolation without inhabitants."
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"`But we did not obey thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon; and thou hast confirmed thy words, which thou didst speak by thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be brought out of their graves;
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and behold, they have been cast out to the heat of day and the frost of night. They perished in great misery, by famine and sword and pestilence.
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And the house which is called by thy name thou hast made as it is today, because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
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"`Yet thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, in all thy kindness and in all thy great compassion,
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as thou didst speak by thy servant Moses on the day when thou didst command him to write thy law in the presence of the people of Israel, saying,
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"If you will not obey my voice, this very great multitude will surely turn into a small number among the nations, where I will scatter them.
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For I know that they will not obey me, for they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their exile they will come to themselves,
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and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I will give them a heart that obeys and ears that hear;
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and they will praise me in the land of their exile, and will remember my name,