¹⁸ Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(A) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(B)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(C) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(D) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive^(E) them; his wrath and zeal^(F) will burn^(G) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot^(H) out their names from under heaven.

²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign^(A) Lord says: My anger^(B) and my wrath will be poured^(C) out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.^(D)

¹⁹ They set fire^(A) to God’s temple^(B) and broke down the wall^(C) of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed^(D) everything of value there.^(E)

39 ¹ In the ninth year of Zedekiah^(A) king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar^(B) king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege^(C) to it. ² And on the ninth day of the fourth^(D) month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall^(E) was broken through.^{(F) 3} Then all the officials^(G) of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls,^(H) and headed toward the Arabah.^[a](I)

⁵ But the Babylonian^[b] army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah^(J) in the plains of Jericho. They captured^(K) him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah^(L) in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. ⁶ There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles^(M) of Judah. ⁷ Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes^(N) and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.^(O)

⁸ The Babylonians^[c] set fire^(P) to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls^(Q) of Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him,^(R) and the rest of the people.^(S)