Study Desk

This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines^(a) before Pharaoh defeated Gaza.^(b)

This is what the Lord says: Look, waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing wadi. They will overflow the land and everything in it,^(c) the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and every inhabitant of the land will wail.

At the sound of the stomping hooves of his stallions,^(d) the rumbling of his chariots, and the clatter of their wheels,^(e) fathers will not turn back for their sons, because they will be utterly helpless^[a]

on account of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally.^(f) Indeed, the Lord is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the islands of Caphtor.^[b](g)

Baldness is coming to Gaza.^(h) Ashkelon will become silent,⁽ⁱ⁾ a remnant of their valley. How long will you gash yourself?

Oh, sword of the Lord !^(j) How long will you be restless? Go back to your sheath; be still; be silent!

How can it^[c] rest when the Lord has given it a command?^(k) He has assigned it^(l) against Ashkelon and the shore of the sea.

About Moab,^(a) this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Woe to Nebo,^(b) because it is about to be destroyed; Kiriathaim will be put to shame;^(c) it will be taken captive. The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!

There is no longer praise for Moab; they plan harm against her in Heshbon:^(d) Come, let's cut her off from nationhood. Also, Madmen,^[a] you will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.

A voice cries out from Horonaim,^(e) "devastation and great disaster!"

Moab will be shattered; her little ones will cry out.

For on the Ascent to Luhith they will be weeping continually,^[b] and on the descent to Horonaim will be heard cries of distress over the destruction:^(f)

Flee! Save your lives! Be like a juniper bush^[c](g) in the wilderness.

Because you trust in your works^[d] and treasures, you will be captured also. Chemosh^(h) will go into exile with his priests and officials.

The destroyer will move against every town; not one town will escape. The valley will perish, and the plain will be annihilated,⁽ⁱ⁾ as the Lord has said.

Make Moab a salt marsh,^[e](j) for she will run away;^[f] her towns will become a desolation, without inhabitant.

The one who does the Lord 's business deceitfully^[g] is cursed,^(k) and the one who withholds his sword from bloodshed is cursed.

Moab has been left quiet since his youth, settled like wine on its dregs.^(l) He hasn't been poured from one container to another or gone into exile. So his taste has remained the same, and his aroma hasn't changed.

Therefore look, the days are coming— this is the Lord 's declaration— when I will send those to him, who will pour him out. They will empty his containers and smash his jars.

Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was put to shame because of Bethel^(m) that they trusted in.

How can you say, "We are warriors— mighty men ready for battle"?

The destroyer of Moab and its towns has come up,^[h] and the best of its young men have gone down to slaughter. This is the King's declaration; Yahweh of Hosts is His name.⁽ⁿ⁾

Moab's calamity is near at hand; his disaster is rushing swiftly.

Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations, everyone who knows his name. Say: How the mighty scepter^(o) is shattered, the glorious staff!

Come down from glory; sit on parched ground, resident of the daughter of Dibon,^(p) for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.

Stand by the highway and look, resident of Aroer!^(q) Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping:^(r) What happened?

Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

"Judgment has come to the land of the plateau^(s)—to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath,

Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim,

Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,^(t)

Kerioth,^(u) Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near.

Moab's horn is chopped off;^(v) his arm is shattered." This is the Lord 's declaration.

"Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the Lord .^(w) Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.

Wasn't Israel a laughingstock to you?^(x) Was he ever found among thieves?^(y) For whenever you speak of him you shake your head."

Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs, residents of Moab! Be like a dove that nests inside the mouth of a cave.^(z)

We have heard of Moab's pride, great pride, indeed— his insolence, arrogance, pride, and haughty heart.

I know his outburst. This is the Lord 's declaration. It is empty. His boast is empty.

Therefore, I will wail over Moab. I will cry out for Moab, all of it; he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah, with more than the weeping for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they have reached to the sea and to Jazer.^[i] The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

Joy and celebration are taken from the fertile field and from the land of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses; no one will tread with shouts of joy. The shouting is not a shout of joy.^(aa)

"There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices as far as Jahaz^(ab)—from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah—because even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate.

In Moab, I will stop"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods.^(ac)

Therefore, My heart moans like flutes for Moab,^(ad) and My heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished.

Indeed, every head is bald and every beard clipped;^(ae) on every hand is a gash and sackcloth around the waist.

On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants."^(af) This is the Lord 's declaration.

"How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughingstock and a shock to all those around him."^(ag)

For this is what the Lord says: He will swoop down like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab.^(ah)

The towns have^[j] been captured, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.^(ai)

Moab will be destroyed as a people because he has exalted himself against the Lord .^(aj)

Panic, pit, and trap await you, resident of Moab. This is the Lord 's declaration.

He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit, and he who climbs from the pit will be captured in the trap, for I will bring against Moab the year of their punishment. This is the Lord 's declaration.^(ak)

Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon's shadow because fire has come out from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It will devour Moab's forehead and the skull of the noisemakers.

Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished because your sons have been taken captive and your daughters have gone into captivity.^(al)

Yet, I will restore the fortunes^[k] of Moab in the last days.^(am) This is the Lord 's declaration. The judgment on Moab ends here.

About the Ammonites,^(a) this is what the Lord says: Does Israel have no sons? Is he without an heir? Why then has Milcom^[a][b] dispossessed Gad^(b) and his people settled in their cities?

Therefore look, the days are coming— this is the Lord 's declaration— when I will make the shout of battle^(c) heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its villages will be burned down. Israel will dispossess their dispossessors, says the Lord .

Wail, Heshbon,^(d) for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth,^(e) and lament; run back and forth within your walls,^[c] because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.^(f)

Why do you brag about your valleys, your flowing valley,^[d] you faithless daughter? You who trust in your treasures and boast, "Who can attack me?"

Look, I am about to bring terror on you^(g)— this is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts— from all those around you. You will be banished, each man headlong, with no one to gather up the fugitives.

But after that, I will restore the fortunes^[e] of the Ammonites.^(h) This is the Lord 's declaration.

About Edom, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?^[f] Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom rotted away?⁽ⁱ⁾

Run! Turn back! Lie low, residents of Dedan,^(j) for I will bring Esau's calamity on him at the time I punish him.^(k)

If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleanings?^(l) Were thieves to come in the night, they would destroy only what they wanted.^(m)

But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his secret places.⁽ⁿ⁾ He will try to hide himself, but he will be unable. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors. He will exist no longer.

Abandon your fatherless; I will preserve them; let your widows trust in Me.^(o)

"For this is what the Lord says: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too.

For by Myself I have sworn"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"Bozrah^[g] will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will become ruins forever."^(p)

I have heard a message from the Lord ; a messenger has been sent among the nations: Assemble yourselves to come against her. Rise up for war!

Look, I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations, despised among humanity.

As to the terror you cause,^[h] your presumptuous heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock,^[i] you who occupy the mountain summit, though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down. This is the Lord 's declaration.^(q)

"Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.^(r)

As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,"^(s) says the Lord , "no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.^(t)

"Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets^[j] of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me?^(u) Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?"

Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman:^(v) The flock's little lambs will certainly be dragged away,^(w) and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; the sound of her cry will be heard at the Red Sea.^(x)

Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.^(y)

About Damascus:^(z) Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,^(aa) for they have heard a bad report and are agitated; in the sea there is anxiety that cannot be calmed.

Damascus has become weak; she has turned to run; panic has gripped her. Distress and labor pains have seized her like a woman in labor.

How can the city of praise not be abandoned,^(ab) the town that brings Me joy?

Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will perish in that day. This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.^(ac)

I will set fire to the wall of Damascus; it will consume Ben-hadad's citadels.^(ad)

About Kedar^(ae) and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar,^(af) Babylon's king, defeated, this is what the Lord says: Rise up, go against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!

They will take their tents and their flocks along with their tent curtains and all their equipment. They will take their camels for themselves. They will call out to them: Terror is on every side!^(ag)

Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, residents of Hazor— this is the Lord 's declaration— for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.

Rise up, go up against a nation at ease, one living in security. This is the Lord 's declaration. They have no doors, not even a gate bar; they live alone.^(ah)

Their camels will become plunder, and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil.^(ai) I will scatter them to the wind in every direction, those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them across all their borders. This is the Lord 's declaration.

Hazor will become a jackals' den,^(aj) a desolation forever. No one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.^(ak)

This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam^[k] at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.^(al)

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to shatter Elam's bow,^(am) the source^[l] of their might.

I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam's banished ones will not go.

I will devastate Elam before their enemies, before those who want to take their lives. I will bring disaster on them, My burning anger. This is the Lord 's declaration. I will send the sword after them^(an) until I finish them off.

I will set My throne in Elam, and I will destroy the king and officials from there. This is the Lord 's declaration.

In the last days, I will restore the fortunes^[m] of Elam.^(ao) This is the Lord 's declaration.

The word the Lord spoke about Babylon,^(a) the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

Announce to the nations; proclaim and raise up a signal flag;^(b) proclaim, and hide nothing. Say: Babylon is captured; Bel^(c) is put to shame; Marduk is devastated; her idols are put to shame; her false gods, devastated.

For a nation from the north will come against her;^(d) it will make her land desolate. No one will be living in it— both man and beast will escape.^[a]

In those days and at that time— this is the Lord 's declaration— the Israelites and Judeans will come together, weeping as they come, and will seek the Lord their God.^(e)

They will ask about Zion, turning their faces to this road. They will come and join themselves^[b] to the Lord in an everlasting covenant^(f) that will never be forgotten.

My people are lost sheep;^(g) their shepherds have led them astray, guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.^(h) They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.

All who found them devoured them. Their adversaries said, "We're not guilty; instead, they have sinned against the Lord , their righteous grazing land,⁽ⁱ⁾ the hope of their ancestors,^(j) the Lord ."

Escape from Babylon;^(k) depart from the Chaldeans' land. Be like the rams that lead the flock.

For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country. They will line up in battle formation against her; from there she will be captured. Their arrows will be like those of a skilled^[c] warrior who does not return empty-handed.

The Chaldeans will become plunder; all Babylon's plunderers will be fully satisfied. This is the Lord 's declaration.

Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph— you who plundered My inheritance— because you frolic like a young cow treading grain and neigh like stallions,^(l)

your mother will be utterly humiliated; she who bore you will be put to shame. Look! She will lag behind all^[d] the nations— a dry land, a wilderness,^(m) an Arabah.

Because of the Lord 's wrath, she will not be inhabited; she will become a desolation, every bit of her. Everyone who passes through Babylon will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.⁽ⁿ⁾

Line up in battle formation around Babylon, all you archers! Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow, for she has sinned against the Lord .

Raise a war cry against her on every side! She has thrown up her hands in surrender; her defense towers have fallen; her walls are demolished.^(o) Since this is the Lord 's vengeance,^(p) take out your vengeance on her; as she has done, do the same to her.

Cut off the sower from Babylon as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time. Because of the oppressor's sword,^(q) each will turn to his own people,^(r) each will flee to his own land.

Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.^(s) The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria; the last one who crushed his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.^(t)

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to punish the king of Babylon^(u) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.

I will return Israel to his grazing land, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan; he will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.^(v)

In those days and at that time— this is the Lord 's declaration— one will search for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for Judah's sins, but they will not be found, for I will forgive^(w) those I leave as a remnant.^(x)

"Go against the land of Merathaim, and against those living in Pekod. Put them to the sword; completely destroy them— this is the Lord 's declaration— do everything I have commanded you.^(y)

The sound of war is in the land^(z)— a great destruction.

How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and smashed! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!^(aa)

Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,^(ab) but you did not even know it. You were found and captured because you fought against the Lord .

The Lord opened His armory and brought out His weapons of wrath,^(ac) because it is a task of the Lord God of Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

Come against her from the most distant places.^[e] Open her granaries; pile her up like mounds of grain and completely destroy her. Leave her no survivors.

Put all her young bulls to the sword; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, because their day has come, the time of their punishment.^(ad)

"There is a voice of fugitives and those who escape from the land of Babylon announcing in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance for His temple.^(ae)

Summon the archers to Babylon, all who string the bow; camp all around her; let none escape. Repay her according to her deeds;^(af) just as she has done, do the same to her, for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord , against the Holy One of Israel.^(ag)

Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will perish in that day. This is the Lord 's declaration.^(ah)

Look, I am against you, you arrogant one— this is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts— because your day has come, the time when I will punish you.

The arrogant will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. I will set fire to his cities, and it will consume everything around him."^(ai)

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed. All their captors hold them fast;^(aj) they refuse to release them.

Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case^(ak) so that He might bring rest to the earth but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.^(al)

A sword is over the Chaldeans— this is the Lord 's declaration— against those who live in Babylon, against her officials, and against her sages.

A sword is against the diviners, and they will act foolishly. A sword is against her heroic warriors, and they will be terrified.

A sword is against his horses and chariots and against all the foreigners among them,^(am) and they will be like women.^(an) A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.

A drought will come on her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of carved images, and they go mad because of terrifying things.^[f](ao)

Therefore, desert creatures^[g] will live with hyenas, and ostriches will also live in her. It will never again be inhabited or lived in through all generations.^(ap)

Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns^(aq)— this is the Lord 's declaration— so no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.^(ar)

Look! A people comes from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the remote regions of the earth.^(as)

They grasp bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea,^(at) and they ride on horses, lined up like men in battle formation against you, Daughter Babylon.

The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands fall helpless. Distress has seized him— pain, like a woman in labor.^(au)

"Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets^[h](av) of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon^[i] away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?"

Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock's little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

At the sound of Babylon's conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.^(aw)

This is what the Lord says: I am about to stir up a destructive wind^[a] against Babylon^(a) and against the population of Leb-qamai.^[b][c]

I will send strangers to Babylon who will scatter her and strip her land bare,^(b) for they will come against her from every side in the day of disaster.

Don't let the archer string his bow; don't let him put on^[d] his armor.^(c) Don't spare her young men; completely destroy her entire army!

Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, those who were pierced through, in her streets.^(d)

For Israel and Judah are not left widowed by their God, the Lord of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.^(e)

Leave Babylon;^(f) save your lives, each of you!^(g) Don't perish because of her guilt. For this is the time of the Lord 's vengeance— He will pay her what she deserves.^(h)

Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord 's hand,⁽ⁱ⁾ making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine;^(j) therefore, the nations go mad.^(k)

Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered. Wail for her; get balm^(l) for her wound— perhaps she can be healed.

We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land,^(m) for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches as far as the clouds.⁽ⁿ⁾

The Lord has brought about our vindication;^(o) come, let's tell in Zion what the Lord our God has accomplished.^(p)

Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The Lord has put it into the mind of the kings of the Medes because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the Lord 's vengeance, vengeance for His temple.^(q)

Raise up a signal flag^(r) against the walls of Babylon; fortify the watch post; set the watchmen in place; prepare the ambush. For the Lord has both planned and accomplished what He has threatened against those who live in Babylon.

You who reside by many waters,^(s) rich in treasures, your end has come, your life thread is cut.

The Lord of Hosts has sworn by Himself: I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will sing the victory song over you.

He made the earth by His power, established the world^(t) by His wisdom,^(u) and spread out the heavens by His understanding.^(v)

When He thunders,^[e] the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,^(w) and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.^(x)

Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,^(y) for his cast images are a lie;^(z) there is no breath in them.^(aa)

They are worthless,^(ab) a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.^(ac)

Jacob's Portion^[f] is not like these because He is the One who formed all things.^(ad) Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;^(ae) Yahweh of Hosts is His name.^(af)

You are My battle club, My weapons of war. With you I will smash nations; with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.

With you I will smash the horse and its rider; with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.

With you I will smash man and woman;^(ag) with you I will smash the old man and the youth; with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.

With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock; with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team.^[g] With you I will smash governors and officials.

"I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes."^(ah) This is the Lord 's declaration.

Look, I am against you, devastating mountain— this is the Lord 's declaration— you devastate the whole earth. I will stretch out My hand against you,^(ai) roll you down from the cliffs, and turn you into a charred mountain.

No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you, because you will become desolate forever. This is the Lord 's declaration.

Raise a signal flag^(aj) in the land; blow a ram's horn among the nations; set apart the nations against her.^(ak) Summon kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like a swarm^[h] of locusts.

Set apart the nations for battle against her— the kings of Media, her governors and all her officials, and all the lands they rule.

The earth quakes^(al) and trembles because the Lord 's intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.

Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting;^(am) they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon's homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.^(an)

Messenger races to meet messenger,^(ao) and herald to meet herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.

The fords have been seized,^(ap) the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled.^(aq) In just a little while her harvest time will come.^(ar)

"Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty dish; he has swallowed me like a sea monster;^(as) he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has vomited me out,"^[i]

says the inhabitant of Zion; "Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon. Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to plead your case^(at) and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea^(au) and make her fountain run dry.

Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a jackals' den, a desolation and an object of scorn,^(av) without inhabitant.

They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.

While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they revel.^[j](aw) Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up. This is the Lord 's declaration.

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams together with male goats.^(ax)

How Sheshach has been captured, the praise^(ay) of the whole earth seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!^(az)

The sea has risen over Babylon;^(ba) she is covered with its turbulent waves.

Her cities have become a desolation,^(bb) a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no human being passes through.

I will punish Bel^(bc) in Babylon. I will make him vomit what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even Babylon's wall will fall.

Come out from among her, My people!^(bd) Save your lives, each of you, from the Lord 's burning anger.

May you not become cowardly and fearful when the report is proclaimed in the land, for the report will come one year, and then another the next year. There will be violence in the land with ruler against ruler.

Therefore, look, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon's carved images.^(be) Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.^(bf)

Heaven and earth and everything in them will shout for joy^(bg) over Babylon because the destroyers from the north will come against her. This is the Lord 's declaration.

Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel, even as the slain of all the earth fell because of Babylon.

You who have escaped the sword,^(bh) go and do not stand still! Remember the Lord from far away, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.

We are ashamed because we have heard insults.^(bi) Humiliation covers our faces because foreigners have entered the holy places of the Lord 's temple.^(bj)

Therefore, look, the days are coming— this is the Lord 's declaration— when I will punish her carved images, and the wounded will groan throughout her land.

Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens^(bk) and fortify her tall fortresses, destroyers will come against her from Me. This is the Lord 's declaration.

The sound of a cry from Babylon!^(bl) The sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

For the Lord is going to devastate Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. Their waves roar like abundant waters; the tumult of their voice resounds,

for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, their bows shattered, for the Lord is a God of retribution; He will certainly repay.

I will make her princes and sages drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up.^(bm) This is the King's declaration; Yahweh of Hosts is His name.^(bn)

This is what Yahweh of Hosts says: Babylon's thick walls will be totally demolished, and her high gates consumed by fire. The peoples will have labored for nothing;^(bo) the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire.

This is what Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah,^(bp) the quartermaster, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign.

Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon;^(bq) all these words were written against Babylon.

Jeremiah told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud.

You must say, ‘ Lord , You have threatened to cut off^(br) this place so that no one will live in it—man or beast. Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.'

When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.^(bs)

Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord 's sight just as Jehoiakim had done.^(a)

Because of the Lord 's anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He finally banished them from His presence. Nevertheless, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.^(b)

In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall all around it.

The city was under siege until King Zedekiah's eleventh year.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food.

Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.^(c)

The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah's entire army was scattered from him.

The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes and also slaughtered the Judean commanders.

Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody^[a] until his dying day.^(d)

On the tenth day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of^[b] the king of Babylon.

He burned the Lord 's temple, the king's palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the nobles.

The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.^(e)

Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

But some of the poorest people of the land Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left to be vinedressers and farmers.^(f)

Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the Lord 's temple and the water carts and the bronze reservoir that were in the Lord 's temple,^(g) and carried all the bronze to Babylon.

They took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.

The commander of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls^(h)—whatever was gold or silver.

As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, and the 12 bronze bulls under the water carts that King Solomon had made for the Lord 's temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.

One pillar was 27 feet^[c] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,^[d] was hollow—four fingers thick—

and had a bronze capital on top of it.⁽ⁱ⁾ One capital, encircled by bronze latticework and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet^[e] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates.

Each capital had 96 pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the latticework numbered 100.

The commander of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers.

From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides^[f] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people who were found within the city.

Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.^(j)

These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported:^(k) in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

in his eighteenth year,^[g] 832 people from Jerusalem;

in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported 745 Jews. All together 4,600 people were deported.

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah's King Jehoiachin, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.

As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.^(l)