23. And they entered it and possessed it. But they did not obey your voice, and they did not walk in your law. And they did not do all of the things that you commanded them to do. And so, all of these evils have happened to them.
24. Behold, fortifications were built against the city, so as to capture it. And the city was given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, before the face of the sword, and of famine, and of pestilence. And what you have spoken has occurred, just as you yourself discern.
25. So why, O Lord God, are you saying to me: 'Buy a field with money, and summon witnesses,' while the city is being given into the hands of the Chaldeans?"
26. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
27. "Behold, I am the Lord God; I am above all flesh. Can any word be difficult for me?
28. Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I will deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of the king of Babylon, and they will capture it.
29. And the Chaldeans fighting against this city will advance, and set fire to it, and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs they were offering sacrifice to Baal and were pouring out libations to strange gods, so that they provoked me to wrath.
30. For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, from their youth, have continually done evil in my eyes. The sons of Israel, even until now, have been provoking me with the work of their hands, says the Lord.
31. For this city has been a cause of fury and indignation to me, from the day when they built it, until this day, in which it will be taken away from my sight,
32. because of all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done, provoking me to wrath, they and their kings, their leaders and their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.