Study Desk

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)