¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.^(A) You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you^(A) that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.^(B) Now choose life, so that you and your children may live

¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful,^(A) following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(B)(C)

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers^(D) again and again,^(E) because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed^(F) at his prophets until the wrath^(G) of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.^{(H) 17} He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,^[a](I) who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men^(J) or young women, the elderly or the infirm.^(K) God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.^{(L) 18} He carried to Babylon all the articles^(M) from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. ¹⁹ They set fire^(N) to God’s temple^(O) and broke down the wall^(P) of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed^(Q) everything of value there.^(R)

²⁰ He carried into exile^(S) to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants^(T) to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

A Rebellious Nation