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One-sentence summary: Jeremiah prophesies the destruction of Babylon; Jerusalem's besiegement and captivity is retold.
The Lord says He will raise up a destroying wind against Babylon, and her land will be emptied. All the nations around her will be against her in "the day of doom." He says Israel and Judah are not forsaken by Him, even though their land has been filled with sin. The Lord tells everyone to flee from Babylon and save their lives. He says Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, and the nations drank her wine and became deranged. She will fall and be destroyed. He says to take balm for her, and perhaps she may be healed. However, her judgment reaches to the heavens. Jeremiah says to declare in Zion the work of the Lord. He has raised up kings to destroy Babylon in vengeance for His temple. The Lord has done what He has promised against her. Jeremiah says the Lord has made the earth and the heavens by His wisdom and understanding, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord calls them His battle ax and weapon of war and says He will break the nations in pieces with them and repay Babylon and Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion. The land will become a desolation without inhabitants. Judah and Jerusalem will cry to Him, and He will hear and plead their case and take vengeance for them. The Lord tells His people to go out from the midst of Babylon and says if their hearts faint because of the rumors of violence they hear, to know that He will bring judgment on Babylon's idols; they will be ashamed, and all their slain will fall. Then, the heavens and the earth and all in them will "sing joyously over Babylon." Because they have caused the slain of Israel to fall, the slain of all the earth will fall at Babylon. Strangers have come into the sanctuary of the Lord's house, and Israel and Judah have been ashamed. However, Babylon is doomed of the Lord. "The Lord is the God of recompense. He will surely repay." "The King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts," says this. Jeremiah prophesies this in Babylon, and writes all these words in a book. He tells Seraiah, one of the surviving officials, that when he arrives in Babylon and reads the words, he is to tie a stone to the book and throw it into the River Euphrates and prophesy, "Thus Babylon will sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I (the Lord) will bring upon her!"
Zedekiah is 21 when he becomes king and reigns eleven years in Jerusalem and does evil in the Lord's sight, like Jehoiakim had done. Finally, the Lord His people out from His presence. Zedekiah rebels against the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem and encamps against it, building a besiege wall. There is a severe famine and no food, and then the city wall is broken through. The men of war flee, and the Chaldeans pursue them. They are scattered, and the king is brought to the king of Babylon, who judges him. He kills his sons in front of him and the princes of Judah. He puts out Zedekiah's eyes and binds him in fetters and takes him to Babylon and puts him in prison until the day of his death. A captain of the guard comes to Jerusalem and burns all the houses of the great, the king's house, and the house of the Lord. The Chaldeans break down Jerusalem's walls, and they carry away some of the people that remain in the city. But the captain leaves some of the poor as vinedressers and farmers. They take all the articles and treasures from the house of the Lord. He takes Seraiah the chief priest and others of the king's men and brings them to Babylon. Then, the king kills them. And so, Judah is taken captive from their own land. Later, evil Merodach, king of Babylon, brings Jehoiakin of Judah out of prison and has favor on him, and he eats with the king and is given daily provisions all the days of his life.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
The Lord can use evil people to fulfill His purposes, but it does not mean they will go unpunished.