5. By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please.
6. So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him.
7. All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.
8. “As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “until through him I have destroyed it.
9. But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, fortune-tellers, or sorcerers who say to you, ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon! ’
10. for they prophesy a lie to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish.
11. But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate it and reside in it.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
12. I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live!
13. Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?
14. Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.