21 It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity. It was on the fifth day of the tenth month. A person who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me. He said, “Jerusalem has been defeated.”
22 Now I had felt the power of the Lord on me the evening before. The Lord had made me able to talk again. He did this before the person came to me in the morning. I could speak. I was not without speech anymore.
23 Then the Lord spoke his word to me. He said:
24 “Human being, people who live in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying: ‘Abraham was only one person. Yet he was given the land as his own. Surely the land has been given to us, who are many, as our very own.’
25 So say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: You eat meat with the blood still in it. You ask your idols for help. You murder people. Should you then have the land as your very own?
26 You depend on your sword. You do terrible things which I hate. Each of you commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. So should you have the land?’
27 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, this is true. Those who are among the city ruins in Israel will be killed in war. Those who live in the country will be eaten by wild animals. People hiding in the strong places and caves will die of disease.