Jeremiah 47 - 52 — Legacy Standard Bible

Word Against Philistia

47That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the ^aPhilistines, before Pharaoh struck down ^bGaza. ²Thus says Yahweh: “Behold, waters are going to rise from ^athe northAnd become an overflowing torrent,And ^boverflow the land as well as its fullness,The city and those who inhabit it;And the men will ^ccry out,And every inhabitant of the land will wail.

³“Because of the noise of the ¹^,^agalloping hoofs of his ²valiant steeds,The quaking of his chariots, and the tumult of his wheels,The fathers have not turned back for their children,Because of the limpness of their hands,⁴On account of the day that is comingTo ^adestroy all the Philistines,To cut off from ^bTyre and SidonEvery ally that is left;For Yahweh is going to destroy the Philistines,The remnant of the coastland of ^cCaphtor.⁵“^aBaldness has come upon Gaza;^bAshkelon has been ruined.O remnant of their valley,How long will you ^cgash yourself?⁶“Ah, ^asword of Yahweh,How long will you not be quiet?Withdraw into your sheath;¹Be at rest and stay still.⁷“How can ¹it be quiet?Yahweh has ^agiven it a command;Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast—There He has ^bassigned it.”

Word Against Moab

48Concerning ^aMoab. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Woe to ^bNebo, for it has been destroyed;^cKiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and ¹shattered.

²“There is praise for Moab no longer;In ^aHeshbon they have devised calamity against her:‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’You too, ¹Madmen, will be silenced;The sword will follow after you.³“The sound of an outcry from ^aHoronaim,‘¹Devastation and great destruction!’⁴“Moab is broken;Her little ones have made their cry of distress heard.⁵“For by the ascent of ^aLuhithThey will ascend with continual weeping;For at the descent of HoronaimThey have heard the distressed cry of destruction.⁶“^aFlee, escape with your lives,That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.⁷“For because of your ^atrust in your own works and treasures,Even you yourself will be captured;And ^bChemosh will go off into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.⁸“A destroyer will come to every city,So that no city will escape;The valley also will perish,And the ^aplateau will be destroyed,As Yahweh has said.⁹“Give ¹^,^awings to Moab,For she will ²flee away;And her cities will become a ^bdesolation,Without inhabitants in them.¹⁰“^aCursed be the one who does the work of Yahweh ^bwith a slack hand,And cursed be the one who restrains his ^csword from blood.¹¹“Moab has been ^aat ease since his youth;He has also had ^bquiet, like wine on ¹its dregs,And he has not been ^cemptied from vessel to vessel,Nor has he gone into exile.Therefore ²he retains his flavor,And his aroma has not changed.

¹²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter ¹his jars. ¹³“And Moab will be ^aashamed of ^bChemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of ^cBethel, their trust.

¹⁴“How can you say, ‘We are ^amighty warriors,And men valiant for battle’?¹⁵“Moab has been destroyed, and ¹men have gone up to ²his cities;His choicest ³^,^ayoung men have also gone down to the slaughter,”Declares the ^bKing, whose name is Yahweh of hosts.¹⁶“The disaster of Moab will ^asoon come,And his calamity has quickly hastened.¹⁷“Mourn for him, all you who live around him,Even all of you who know his name;Say, ‘How has the strong ¹^,^ascepter been broken,A staff of beauty!’¹⁸“^aCome down from your gloryAnd inhabit ¹the parched ground,O inhabitant of the ^bdaughter of ^cDibon;For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,He has ruined your strongholds.¹⁹“Stand by the road and keep watch,O inhabitant of ^aAroer;^bAsk him who flees and her who escapesAnd say, ‘What has happened?’²⁰“Moab has been put to shame, for it has been ¹shattered.Wail and cry out;Declare by the ^aArnonThat Moab has been destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, upon ^aJahzah, and against ^bMephaath, ²²and against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³and against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and ^aBeth-meon, ²⁴and against ^aKerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵“The ^ahorn of Moab has been cut in pieces and his ^barm broken,” declares Yahweh. ²⁶“^aMake him drunk, for he has ^bmagnified himself against Yahweh; so Moab will ¹wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock. ²⁷“Now was not Israel a ^alaughingstock to you? Or was he ¹^,^bcaught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you ^cshake your head in scorn.

²⁸“Leave the cities and dwell among the ^acrags,O inhabitants of Moab,And be like a ^bdove that nestsBeyond the mouth of the chasm.²⁹“^aWe have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—Of his haughtiness, his ^bpride, his arrogance, and the exaltedness of his heart.³⁰“I know his ^afury,” declares Yahweh,“But it is nothing;His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.³¹“Therefore I will ^awail for Moab,Even for all Moab will I cry out;¹I will moan for the men of ^bKir-heres.³²“More than the ^aweeping for ^bJazerI will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!Your branches stretched across the sea,They reached to the sea of Jazer;Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvestThe destroyer has fallen.³³“So ^agladness and joy are gathered upFrom the fruitful orchard, even from the land of Moab.And I have made the wine to ^bcease from the wine presses;No one will tread them with shouting,The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

³⁴“^aFrom the outcry at Heshbon even to ^bElealeh, even to Jahaz they have given forth their voice, from ^cZoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate. ³⁵“I will make Moab cease,” declares Yahweh, “the one who offers offerings on the ^ahigh place and the one who ^boffers offerings in smoke to his gods.

³⁶“Therefore My ^aheart moans for Moab like flutes; My heart also moans like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have ^blost the abundance it produced. ³⁷“For ^aevery head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and ^bsackcloth on the loins. ³⁸“On all the ^arooftops of Moab and in its open squares ¹there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable ^bvessel,” declares Yahweh. ³⁹“How ¹shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an ^aobject of terror to all around him.”

⁴⁰For thus says Yahweh: “Behold, one will ^aswoop like an eagleAnd ^bspread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹“Kerioth has been captured,And the strongholds have been seized,So the ^ahearts of the mighty men of Moab in that dayWill be like the heart of a ^bwoman in labor.⁴²“Moab will be ^adestroyed from being a peopleBecause he has ^bmagnified himself against Yahweh.⁴³“^aPanic and pit and pitfall are coming upon you,O inhabitant of Moab,” declares Yahweh.⁴⁴“The one who ^aflees from the panicWill fall into the pit,And the one who climbs up out of the pitWill be caught in the pitfall;For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab,The year of their ^bpunishment,” declares Yahweh.⁴⁵“In the shadow of HeshbonThose who flee stand without strength;For a fire has gone forth from HeshbonAnd a ^aflame from the midst of ^bSihon,And it has devoured the ^ctop of the head of MoabAnd the scalps of ¹those who rumble.⁴⁶“^aWoe to you, Moab!The people of ^bChemosh have perished;For your sons have been taken away captiveAnd your daughters into captivity.⁴⁷“Yet I will ¹^,^areturn the ²fortunes of MoabIn the last days,” declares Yahweh.Thus far the judgment on Moab.

Word Against Ammon

49Concerning the sons of ^aAmmon. Thus says Yahweh: “Does Israel have no sons?Or has he no one who can take possession?Why then has ¹Malcam taken possession of GadAnd his people settled in its cities?

²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,“That I will cause a ¹^,^atrumpet blast of war to be heardAgainst ^bRabbah of the sons of Ammon;And it will become a desolate heap,And her ^ctowns will be set on fire.Then Israel will take ^dpossession of his possessors,”Says Yahweh.³“Wail, O ^aHeshbon, for ^bAi has been destroyed!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah,^cGird yourselves with sackcloth and lament,And rush back and forth inside the walls;For ¹Malcam will ^dgo into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.⁴“How ^aboastful you are about the valleys!Your valley is flowing away,O ^bfaithless daughterWho trusts in her ^ctreasures, saying,‘^dWho will come against me?’⁵“Behold, I am going to bring ^adread upon you,”Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts,“From all around you;And each of you will be ^bbanished ¹headlong,With no one to gather the ^cone who flees.⁶“But afterward I will ¹^,^areturnThe ²fortunes of the sons of Ammon,”Declares Yahweh.

Word Against Edom

⁷Concerning ^aEdom.Thus says Yahweh of hosts,“Is there no longer any ^bwisdom in ^cTeman?Has counsel been lost to the understanding?Has their wisdom decayed?⁸“Flee away, turn back, inhabit the depths,O inhabitants of ^aDedan,For I ¹will bring the ^bdisaster of Esau upon himAt the time I ²punish him.⁹“^aIf grape gatherers came to you,Would they not have gleanings remain?If thieves came by night,They would ruin only ¹until they had enough.¹⁰“But I have ^astripped Esau bare;I have uncovered his hiding places,So that he will not be able to conceal himself;His seed has been destroyed along with his ¹relativesAnd his neighbors, and ^bhe is no more.¹¹“Leave your ¹^,^aorphans behind, I will keep them alive;And let your ^bwidows trust in Me.”

¹²For thus says Yahweh, “Behold, those who are not under judgment to drink the ^acup will certainly drink it, but are you the one who will go ^bcompletely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will certainly drink it. ¹³“For I have ^asworn by Myself,” declares Yahweh, “that ^bBozrah will become an ^cobject of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and an imprecation; and all its cities will become perpetual ¹ruins.”

¹⁴I have ^aheard a message from Yahweh,And an ^benvoy is sent among the nations, saying,“^cGather yourselves together and come against her,And rise up for battle!”¹⁵“For behold, I have made you small among the nations,Despised among men.¹⁶“As for the terror of you,The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,O you who dwell in the clefts of ¹the ^arock,Who seize the height of the hill.Though you make your nest as ^bhigh as an eagle’s,I will ^cbring you down from there,” declares Yahweh.

¹⁷“Edom will become ¹an ^aobject of horror; everyone who passes by it will ²be horrified and will ^bhiss at all its wounds. ¹⁸“Like the ^aoverthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says Yahweh, “^bno one will live there, nor will a son of man sojourn in it. ¹⁹“^aBehold, one will come up like a lion from the ¹^,^bthickets of the Jordan against an enduring pasture; for in an instant I will make him run away from it, and whoever is ^cchosen I shall appoint over it. For who is ^dlike Me, and who will ²summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd ^ewho can stand against Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the ^acounsel of Yahweh which He has counseled against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture ^bdesolate because of them. ²¹The ^aearth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The noise of it has been heard at the ¹Red Sea. ²²Behold, ¹He will mount up and ^aswoop like an eagle and spread out His wings ²against Bozrah; and the ^bhearts of the mighty men of Edom in that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Word Against Damascus

²³Concerning ^aDamascus.“^bHamath and ^cArpad are put to shame,For they have heard a bad report;They are ^dmelting away.There is anxiety by the sea,It ^ecannot be quieted.²⁴“Damascus has become limp in their hands;She has turned away to flee,And panic has taken hold of her;^aDistress and pangs have seized herLike a woman in childbirth.²⁵“How ¹the ^acity of praise has not been forsaken,The town of My joy!²⁶“Therefore, her ^ayoung men will fall in her open squares,And all the men of war will be ¹silenced in that day,” declares Yahweh of hosts.²⁷“I will ^aset fire to the wall of Damascus,And it will devour the ¹fortified towers of ^bBen-hadad.”

Word Against Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning ^aKedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down. Thus says Yahweh, “Arise, go up to KedarAnd destroy the ¹^,^bmen of the east.

²⁹“They will take away their tents and their flocks;They will carry off for themselvesTheir tent ^acurtains, all their goods, and their ^bcamels,And they will call out to one another, ‘^cTerror on every side!’³⁰“Run away, flee earnestly! Inhabit the depths,O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares Yahweh;“For ^aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against youAnd purposed a purpose against you.³¹“Arise, go up against a nation which is ^aat ease,Which inhabits its land securely,” declares Yahweh.“It has ^bno gates or bars;They ^cdwell alone.³²“Their camels will become plunder,And their many cattle for spoil,And I will ^ascatter to all the winds those who ^bcut the corners of their hair;And I will bring their ¹disaster from every side,” declares Yahweh.³³“Hazor will become a ^ahaunt of jackals,A desolation forever;No one will inhabit there,Nor will a son of man sojourn in it.”

Word Against Elam

³⁴That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning ^aElam, ^bin the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

³⁵“Thus says Yahweh of hosts,‘Behold, I am going to ^abreak the bow of Elam,The ¹finest of their might.³⁶‘I will bring upon Elam the ^afour windsFrom the four ends of heaven,And I will ^bscatter them to all these winds;And there will be no nationTo which the banished ones of Elam will not go.³⁷‘So I will ¹shatter Elam before their enemiesAnd before those who seek their lives;And I will ^abring calamity upon them,Even My ^bburning anger,’ declares Yahweh,‘And I will ^csend out the sword after themUntil I have consumed them.³⁸‘Then I will set My throne in ElamAnd cause king and princes from there to perish,’Declares Yahweh.³⁹‘But it will be in the last daysThat I will ¹^,^areturn the ²fortunes of Elam,’”Declares Yahweh.

Word Against Babylon

50The word which Yahweh spoke concerning ^aBabylon, the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:

²“^aDeclare and make it heard among the nations.Make it heard and ^blift up a standard.Do not conceal it but say,‘^cBabylon has been captured;^dBel has been put to shame; ¹Marduk has been ²shattered;Her ^eimages have been put to shame; her idols have been shattered.’

³“For a nation has come up against her out of the ^anorth; it will make her land ^ban object of horror, and there will be ^cno inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off; they have gone away!

⁴“In those days and at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah ^aas well; they will go along ^bweeping as they go, and it will be ^cYahweh their God they will seek. ⁵“They will ^aask for the way to Zion—turning their faces ¹in its direction and saying, ‘²Come!’—in order that they may join themselves to Yahweh in an ^beverlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

⁶“My people have become ^alost sheep;^bTheir shepherds have led them astray.They have made them turn away on the ^cmountains;They have gone along from mountain to hillAnd have forgotten their ^dresting place.⁷“All who came out against them have devoured them;And their adversaries have said, ‘^aWe are not guilty,Inasmuch as they have sinned against Yahweh, who is the ^babode of righteousness,Even Yahweh, the ^chope of their fathers.’⁸“Wander away from the ^amidst of BabylonAnd ¹go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;Be also like male goats ²at the head of the flock.⁹“For behold, I am going to ^aarouse and bring up against BabylonAn assembly of great nations from the land of the north,And they will arrange their battle lines against her;From there she will be taken captive.Their arrows will be like ¹a warrior who makes one childlessWho does not return empty-handed.¹⁰“¹^,^aChaldea will become spoil;All who take her spoil will have enough,” declares Yahweh.¹¹“Because you are glad, because you exult,O you who ^aplunder My inheritance,Because you skip about ¹like a threshing ^bheiferAnd neigh like ²valiant steeds,¹²Your ^amother ¹will be greatly ashamed;She who gave you birth ²will be humiliated.Behold, she will be the least of the nations,A ^bwilderness, a parched land, and a desert.¹³“Because of the wrath of Yahweh she will ^anot be inhabited,But she will be ^bcompletely desolate;Everyone who passes by Babylon ^cwill be in desolationAnd will hiss because of all her wounds.¹⁴“Arrange your battle lines against Babylon on every side,All you who ¹bend the bow;Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,For she has ^asinned against Yahweh.¹⁵“Raise a loud shout against her on every side!She has ^agiven ¹herself up, her pillars have fallen,Her ^bwalls have been pulled down.For this is the ^cvengeance of Yahweh:Take vengeance on her;^dAs she has done to others, so do to her.¹⁶“Cut off the ^asower from BabylonAnd the one who seizes the sickle at the time of harvest;From before ¹the ^bsword of the oppressor^cThey will each turn back to his own people,And they will each flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is a ^ascattered ¹flock; the ^blions have banished them away. The first one who devoured him was the ^cking of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is ^dNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. ¹⁸“Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I ^apunished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹‘And I will ¹^,^areturn Israel back to his pasture, and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his ²desire will be satisfied in the ^bhill country of Ephraim and Gilead. ²⁰‘In those days and at that time,’ declares Yahweh, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but ^athere will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those ^bwhom I leave as a remnant.’

²¹“Against the land of ¹Merathaim, go up against it,And against the inhabitants of ²^,^aPekod.Put them to the sword and ³devote them to destruction,” declares Yahweh,“And do according to all that I have commanded you.²²“The ^anoise of battle is in the land,And great destruction.²³“How the ^ahammer of the whole earthHas been cut in pieces and broken!How Babylon has becomeAn object of horror among the nations!²⁴“I ^aset a snare for you, and you were also ^bcaught, O Babylon,But you yourself did not know;You have been found and also seizedBecause you have engaged in ^cconflict with Yahweh.”²⁵Yahweh has opened His armoryAnd has brought forth the ^aweapons of His indignation,For it is a ^bwork of Lord Yahweh of hostsIn the land of the Chaldeans.²⁶Come to her from the ¹farthest border;^aOpen up her barns;Pile her up like heaps,And ²^,^bdevote her to destruction;Let nothing of her remain.²⁷^aPut all her young bulls to the sword;Let them ^bgo down to the slaughter!Woe be upon them, for their ^cday has come,The time of their punishment.²⁸There is a ^asound of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon,To declare in Zion the ^bvengeance of Yahweh our God,Vengeance for His ^ctemple.²⁹“Summon ¹many against Babylon,All those who ²bend the bow:Encamp against her on every side,Let there be no escape³.Repay her according to her work;^aAccording to all that she has done, so do to her;For she has become ^barrogant against Yahweh,Against the Holy One of Israel.³⁰“Therefore her ^ayoung men will fall in her open squares,And all her men of war will be ¹^,^bsilenced in that day,” declares Yahweh.³¹“Behold, ^aI am against you, O ¹arrogant one,”Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts,“For your day has come,The time ²when I will punish you.³²“The ¹^,^aarrogant one will stumble and fallWith no one to raise him up;And I will ^bset fire to his cities,And it will devour him on every side.”

³³Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “The sons of Israel are oppressed,And the sons of Judah as well;And ^aall who took them captive have held them fast;They have refused to let them go.

³⁴“Their ^aRedeemer is strong, ^bYahweh of hosts is His name;He will vigorously ^cplead their caseSo that He may ^dbring relief to ¹the earth,But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.³⁵“A ^asword against the Chaldeans,” declares Yahweh,“And against the inhabitants of BabylonAnd against her ^bofficials and her ^cwise men!³⁶“A sword against the ^aoracle priests, and they will become fools!A sword against her ^bmighty men, and they will be ¹^,^cshattered!³⁷“A sword against ¹their ^ahorses and against ²their chariotsAnd against all the ³^,^bforeigners who are in the midst of her,And they will become ^cwomen!A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!³⁸“A ¹^,^adrought on her waters, and they will be dried up!For it is a land of ^bgraven images,And they are mad over terrifying idols.³⁹“Therefore the ^adesert creatures will live there along with the jackals;The ostriches also will live in it,And it will ^bnever again be lived inOr dwelt in from generation to generation.⁴⁰“As when God overthrew ^aSodomAnd Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares Yahweh,“No man will live there,Nor will any son of man sojourn in it.⁴¹“Behold, a people is coming ^afrom the north,And a great nation and many kingsWill be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.⁴²“They ^aseize their bow and ¹javelin;They are ^bcruel and have no compassion.Their ^cvoice roars like the sea;And they ride on ^dhorses,^eArranged like a man for the battleAgainst you, O daughter of Babylon.⁴³“The ^aking of Babylon has heard the report about them,And his hands hang limp;^bDistress has taken hold of him,Agony like a woman in childbirth.

⁴⁴“^aBehold, one will come up like a lion from the ¹thicket of the Jordan to an enduring pasture; for in an instant I will make them run away from it, and whoever is ^bchosen I will appoint over it. For who is ^clike Me, and who will ²summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can ^dstand before Me?” ⁴⁵Therefore hear the ^acounsel of Yahweh which He has counseled against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: ^bsurely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their ¹pasture desolate because of them. ⁴⁶At the sound, “Babylon has been seized!” the ^aearth is shaken, and an ^boutcry is heard among the nations.

Yahweh Sends Calamity to Babylon

51Thus says Yahweh: “Behold, I am going to arouse against BabylonAnd against the inhabitants of ¹Leb-kamai²The ^aspirit of a destroyer.

²“I will send ¹strangers to Babylon that they may ^awinnow herAnd may empty her land to destruction;For on every side they will be against herIn the day of her calamity.³“¹Let not ²him who ³^,^abends his bow ⁴bend it,⁵Nor let him rise up in his ^bscale-armor;So do not spare her young men;Devote all her army to destruction.⁴“They will fall down ¹slain in the land of the Chaldeans,And ^apierced through in their streets.”⁵For ^aneither Israel nor Judah has been widowedBy his God, by Yahweh of hosts,Although their land is ^bfull of guilt¹Before the Holy One of Israel.⁶^aFlee from the midst of Babylon,And each of you escape with his life!Do not be ¹^,^bsilenced in her ²iniquity,For this is ^cYahweh’s time of vengeance;He is going to ^drender recompense to her.⁷Babylon has been a golden ^acup in the hand of Yahweh,Intoxicating all the earth.The ^bnations have drunk of her wine;Therefore the nations are ^cgoing mad.⁸Suddenly ^aBabylon has fallen and been broken;^bWail over her!^cTake ¹balm for her pain;Perhaps she may be healed.⁹We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;Forsake her and ^alet us each go to his own country,For her judgment has ^btouched heavenAnd lifts up to the very skies.¹⁰Yahweh has ^abrought ¹about our righteousness;Come and let us ^brecount in ZionThe work of Yahweh our God!¹¹^aSharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!Yahweh has aroused the spirit of the kings of the MedesBecause His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it;For it is the ^bvengeance of Yahweh, vengeance for His temple.¹²^aLift up a standard against the walls of Babylon;Make strong the watch;Raise up ¹watchmen;Establish men in ambush!For Yahweh has both ^bpurposed and performedWhat He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.¹³O you who ^adwell by abundant waters,Abundant in ^btreasures,Your end has come,The ¹measure of your ²^,^cend.¹⁴^aYahweh of hosts has sworn by Himself:“Surely I will fill you with a ¹population like ^blocusts,And they will cry out with ²shouts of victory over you.”¹⁵It is ^aHe who made the earth by His power,Who established the world by His wisdom,And by His understanding He ^bstretched out the heavens.¹⁶When He gives forth His ^avoice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,And He causes the ^bclouds to ascend from the end of the earth;He makes lightning for the rainAnd brings forth the ^cwind from His storehouses.¹⁷^aAll mankind is senseless, devoid of knowledge;Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image,For his molten images are ^ba lie,And there is no breath in them.¹⁸They are ^avanity, a work of mockery;In the time of their punishment they will perish.¹⁹The ^aportion of Jacob is not like these;For the ¹Maker of all is He,And of the ²tribe of His inheritance;^bYahweh of hosts is His name.²⁰He says, “You are My ^ainstrument of shattering, My weapon of war;And with you I ^bshatter nations,And with you I destroy kingdoms.²¹“With you I ^ashatter the horse and his rider,And with you I shatter the ^bchariot and its rider,²²And with you I shatter ^aman and woman,And with you I shatter old man and ^byouth,And with you I shatter choice man and virgin,²³And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,And with you I shatter the farmer and his pair of oxen,And with you I shatter governors and prefects.

²⁴“But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of ^aChaldea for ^ball their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares Yahweh.

²⁵“Behold, ^aI am against you, ^bO destroying mountain,Who destroys the whole earth,” declares Yahweh,“And I will stretch out My hand against youAnd roll you down from the crags,And I will make you a ^cburnt out mountain.²⁶“They will not take from you even a stone for a cornerNor a stone for foundations,But you will be a perpetual ^adesolation,” declares Yahweh.²⁷^aLift up a standard in the land,Blow a trumpet among the nations!Set apart the nations against her;Summon against her the ^bkingdoms of ^cArarat, Minni, and ^dAshkenaz;Appoint a marshal against her;Bring up the ^ehorses like bristly locusts.²⁸Set apart the nations against her,The kings of the Medes,¹Their governors and all ²their ³prefectsAnd every land of ⁴their rule.²⁹So the ^aland quakes and writhes,For the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand,To make the land of Babylon¹A ^bdesolation without inhabitants.³⁰The ^amighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting;They inhabit the strongholds;^bTheir might is dried up;They are becoming ^clike women;Their dwelling places are set on fire;The ^dbars of her gates are broken.³¹One ^arunner runs to meet ¹another,And one ^bmessenger to meet ²another,To give a message to the king of BabylonThat his city has been captured from end to end;³²The fords also have been seized,And they have burned the marshes with fire,And the men of war are terrified.

³³For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a ^athreshing floorAt the time ¹it is stamped firm;Yet in a little while the time of ^bharvest will come for her.”

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has ^adevoured me and brought me into confusion;He has set me down like an ^bempty vessel;He has ^cswallowed me like a sea monster;He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;He has rinsed me away.³⁵“May the ^aviolence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”The ¹inhabitant of Zion will say;And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”Jerusalem will say.

³⁶Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am going to ^aplead your caseAnd ^bexact full vengeance for you;And ^cI will dry up her ¹seaAnd make her fountain dry.

³⁷“^aBabylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,An ^bobject of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.³⁸“They will roar together like ^ayoung lions;They will growl like lions’ cubs.³⁹“When they become heated up, I will set before them their feastAnd ^amake them drunk, that they may exultAnd may ^bsleep a perpetual sleepAnd not wake up,” declares Yahweh.⁴⁰“I will bring them down like ¹lambs ^ato the slaughter,Like rams together with male goats.⁴¹“How ¹^,^aSheshak has been captured,And ^bthe praise of the whole earth been seized!How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!⁴²“The ¹^,^asea has come up over Babylon;She has been covered with its tumultuous waves.⁴³“Her cities have become an ^aobject of horror,A parched land, and a desert,A land in which ^bno man livesAnd through which no son of man passes.⁴⁴“^aI will punish Bel in Babylon,And I will make what he has swallowed ^bcome out of his mouth;And the nations will no longer ^cstream to him.Even the ^dwall of Babylon has fallen down!⁴⁵“^aCome forth from her midst, My people,And each of you ^bescape with his lifeFrom the burning anger of Yahweh.⁴⁶“Now ^alest your heart grow faint,And you fear the ^breport that will be heard in the land—For the report will come ¹one year,And after that ²another report in ³another year,And violence will be in the landWith ^cruler against ruler—⁴⁷Therefore behold, days are comingWhen I will punish the ^agraven images of Babylon;And her whole land will be ^bput to shame,And all her slain will fall in her midst.⁴⁸“Then ^aheaven and earth and all that is in themWill shout for joy over Babylon,For ^bthe destroyers will come to her from the north,”Declares Yahweh.⁴⁹^aIndeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,As also for Babylon ^bthe slain of all the earth have fallen.⁵⁰You ^awho have escaped the sword,Go! Do not stand around!^bRemember Yahweh from afar,And let Jerusalem come upon your heart.⁵¹^aWe are ashamed because we have heard reproach;Dishonor has covered our faces,For ^bstrangers have enteredThe holy places of the house of Yahweh.⁵²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,“When I will punish her ^agraven images,And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.⁵³“Though Babylon should ^aascend to the heavens,And though she should fortify ¹her lofty stronghold,From ^bMe destroyers will come to her,” declares Yahweh.⁵⁴The ^asound of an outcry from Babylon,And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!⁵⁵For Yahweh is going to destroy Babylon,And He will make her loud ¹noise ²vanish from her.And their ^awaves will roar like many waters;The rumbling of their voices ³sounds forth.⁵⁶For the ^adestroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,And her mighty men will be captured;Their ^bbows are shattered;For Yahweh is a God of ^crecompense,He will fully repay.⁵⁷“I will ^amake her princes and her wise men drunk,Her governors, her prefects, and her mighty men,That they may sleep a ^bperpetual sleep and not wake up,”^cDeclares the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “The broad ^awall of Babylon will be completely razed,And her high ^bgates will be set on fire;So the peoples will ^ctoil for nothing,And the nations become ^dweary only for fire.”

⁵⁹The ¹message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of ^aNeriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with ^bZedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (Now Seraiah was quartermaster.) ⁶⁰So Jeremiah ^awrote in a single ¹scroll all the calamity which would come upon Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words aloud, ⁶²and then you will say, ‘You, O Yahweh, have ¹promised concerning this place to ^acut it off, so that there will be ^bnothing inhabiting it, ²whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation.’ ⁶³“And as soon as you finish reading this ¹scroll, you will tie a stone to it and ^athrow it into the middle of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴and then you will say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and ^anot rise again because of the calamity that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become ^butterly weary.’” ^cThus far are the words of Jeremiah.

The Anger of Yahweh Towards Judah

52^aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ¹^,^bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of ^cLibnah. ²And he did ^awhat was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that ^bJehoiakim had done. ³For through the ^aanger of Yahweh this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah ^brebelled against the king of Babylon. ⁴^aNow it happened in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem, and they camped against it and built a ^bsiege wall all around ¹it. ⁵^aSo the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶On the ninth day of the ^afourth month, the ^bfamine was so strong in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷Then the city was ^abreached, and all the ^bmen of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were ¹^,^call around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. ⁸But the military force of the Chaldeans pursued the king and ^aovertook Zedekiah in the ¹plains of Jericho, and all his military force was scattered from him. ⁹Then they seized the king and ^abrought him up to the king of Babylon at ^bRiblah in the land of ^cHamath, and he ¹spoke his judgment on him. ¹⁰Then the king of Babylon ^aslaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the ¹princes of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹Then he ^ablinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹²^aNow on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the ^bnineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ^cNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³And he ^aburned the house of Yahweh, the ^bking’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire. ¹⁴So all the military force of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ^atore down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard ^atook away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the ¹^,^bdefectors who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the artisans. ¹⁶But ^aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard had some of the poorest of the land remain to be vinedressers and ¹plowmen.

¹⁷Now the bronze ^apillars which belonged to the house of Yahweh and the ^bstands and the bronze ^csea, which were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans shattered and carried all their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸They also took away the ^apots, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the ¹pans, and all the bronze vessels which were used to minister. ¹⁹And the captain of the guard also took away the ^acups, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the ¹pans, and the offering bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver. ²⁰The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under ¹the sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh—the bronze of all these vessels was ^abeyond weight. ²¹As for the pillars, the ^aheight of each pillar was ¹eighteen cubits, and ²it was twelve cubits in ^bcircumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow. ²²Now a ^acapital of bronze was on it; and the height of each capital was five cubits, with network and ^bpomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates. ²³There were ninety-six ¹exposed pomegranates; all ^athe pomegranates numbered one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴Then the captain of the guard took ^aSeraiah the chief priest and ^bZephaniah the second priest, with the three ¹^,^cdoorkeepers of the temple. ²⁵And from the city he took one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven ¹of the ^aking’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and ^aled them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷Then the king of Babylon ^astruck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah ^bwent into exile from its land.

²⁸These are the people whom ^aNebuchadnezzar took away into exile: in the ¹seventh year 3,023 Jews; ²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, ^aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away into exile 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.

³¹^aNow it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that ¹Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, ^blifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison; ³²^aand he spoke to him good words, and he set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³So ¹Jehoiachin ^achanged his prison clothes and ²^,^bhad his meals in ³the king’s presence continually all the days of his life. ³⁴For his allowance, a ^acontinual allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.