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¹ The Word that Jehovah spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet:² Declare among the nations, and make them hear, and lift up a banner. Make them hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is broken in pieces, her images are put to shame, her idols are broken in pieces.³ For a nation comes up against her from the north, which shall make her land a desert. Yea, no one shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall go, both man and animal.⁴ In these days, and at that time, the sons of Israel shall come, declares Jehovah, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go and seek Jehovah their God.⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces pointing there, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.⁶ My people are lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they turned them away on the mountains, they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.⁷ All who have found them have devoured them. And their foes said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, and Jehovah, their fathers' hope.⁸ Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.

⁹ For, behold, I am stirring up and bringing up a company of great nations from a northern land against Babylon. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there; their arrows skillful man; they shall not return empty.¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a prize; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, declares Jehovah.¹¹ Because you rejoice, because you exult, O destroyers of My inheritance, because you are fat like the heifer in grass, and neigh like strong ones,¹² your mother shall be deeply ashamed, she who bore you shall turn pale. Behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.¹³ Because of the wrath of Jehovah, it shall not be inhabited, but all of it shall be a waste. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be amazed and hiss at all her plagues.¹⁴ Put yourselves in order against Babylon all around. All you who tread a bow, shoot at her. Do not spare arrows, for she has sinned against Jehovah.¹⁵ Shout against her all around. She has given her hand, her foundations have fallen, her walls have been thrown down, for it is Jehovah's vengeance. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her.¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one handling the sickle in the time of harvest. They shall turn from a sword of the oppressor, each one to his people. And they shall flee, each one to his own land.¹⁷ Israel is a scattered sheep, driven away by lions. First, the king of Assyria devoured him. And last, this King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon crunched him .¹⁸ So Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says this: Behold, I am punishing the king of Babylon and his land as I have punished the king of Assyria.¹⁹ And I will again bring Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.²⁰ In those days, and at that time, states Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and it is not; and the sins of Judah, and they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it and against the dwellers of Pekod. Waste and destroy after them, says Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded you.²² A sound of battle is in the land and of great ruin.²³ How the hammer of all the earth is cut off and broken! How Babylon has become a ruin among the nations!²⁴ I have laid a trap for you, and you also are captured, Babylon, and you did not know. You were found and also caught, because you stirred up yourself against Jehovah.²⁵ Jehovah has opened His armory and has brought out the weapons of His fury. For this is a work of Jehovah, God of Hosts, in the land of the Chaldeans.²⁶ Come against her from the end, open her granaries, pile her up as heaps and utterly destroy her. Do not let a remnant be left.²⁷ Put the sword to all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.²⁸ The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of His temple.²⁹ Make the archers hear against Babylon. All you who tread a bow camp against it all around. Let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work, according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, againstthe Holy One of Israel.³⁰ So her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be silenced in that day, declares Jehovah.³¹ Behold, I am against you, O proud one, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, for your day has come, the time I will punish you.³² And the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall burn up everything all around him.

³³ So says Jehovah of Hosts, The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together. Yea, all who captured them held them fast, they refused to let them go.³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of Hosts is His name. Pleading He shall plead their cause, so that He may give rest to the land, and make to tremble the dwellers of Babylon.³⁵ A sword is on the Chaldeans, states Jehovah, and on those living in Babylon, and on her rulers, and on her wise men.³⁶ A sword is on the liars, and they shall become fools; a sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be broken.³⁷ A sword is on his horses and his chariots, and to all the mixed people in her midst. And they shall become as women. A sword is to her treasuries, and they shall be robbed.³⁸ A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they boast themselves in idols.³⁹ So the beasts of the desert shall dwell there with jackals. And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell in her again. And it shall not again have anyone in it forever; it shall not be lived in until generation and generation.⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, states Jehovah, so no man shall live there, nor shall a son of man stay in it.⁴¹ Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.⁴² They lay hold of a bow and a javelin, they shall be cruel and will show no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and arrayed like a man for the battle, they shall ride on horses against you, O daughter of Babylon.⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard their report, and his hands became feeble; anguish seized him, pangs like a woman giving birth.⁴⁴ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the home of the strong. But I will make them suddenly run away from it. And who is a chosen one I will appoint over it? For who is like Me? Andwho will summon Me? And who is a shepherd who will stand before Me?⁴⁵ So hear the counsel of Jehovah that He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them, the least of the flock. Surely He will make their dwelling desolate over them.⁴⁶ At the sound of Babylon's capture, the earth shall tremble, and a cry is heard among the nations.