¹² ‘Israel's people have turned against me. Say to them, “Surely you must understand the meaning of this story.” Then say to them, “Listen! The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. He took away Israel's king and his officers. He took them with him as his prisoners to Babylon. ¹³ He made an agreement with one man from the king of Israel's family. He made that man promise to serve Babylon's king. Then he could rule as king in Jerusalem.^[a]

The king of Babylon also took away the leaders of Jerusalem as his prisoners. ¹⁴ He wanted to make their kingdom weak. He did not want it to become strong enough to fight against him. He wanted them to obey his agreement with him.