Study Desk

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.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord .

This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: "Write down on a scroll all the words that I have spoken to you,^(a)

for the days are certainly coming"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"when I will restore the fortunes^[a] of My people Israel and Judah"^(b)—the Lord 's declaration. "I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it."

These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah.

Yes, this is what the Lord says: We have heard a cry of terror, of dread—there is no peace.

Ask and see whether a male can give birth. Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?

How awful that day will be!^(c) There will be none like it!^(d) It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be delivered out of it.

"On that day"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"I will break his yoke from your neck^(e) and tear off your chains^(f) so strangers will never again enslave him.^(g)

They will serve the Lord their God and I will raise up David their king for them."^(h)

As for you, My servant Jacob,⁽ⁱ⁾ do not be afraid— this is the Lord 's declaration— and do not be dismayed, Israel, for without fail I will save you from far away, your descendants, from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.^(j)

For I will be with you— this is the Lord 's declaration— to save you!^(k) I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have scattered you; however, I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you justly, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.^(l)

For this is what the Lord says: Your injury is incurable; your wound most severe.^(m)

No one takes up the case for your sores.⁽ⁿ⁾ There is no healing for you.

All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer look for you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline^(o) of someone cruel,^(p) because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.

Why do you cry out about your injury? Your pain has no cure! I have done these things to you because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.

Nevertheless, all who devoured you will be devoured,^(q) and all your adversaries—all of them— will go off into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered, and all who raid you will be raided.

But I will bring you health^(r) and will heal you of your wounds— this is the Lord 's declaration— for they call you Outcast, Zion whom no one cares about.

This is what the Lord says: I will certainly restore the fortunes^[b] of Jacob's tents^(s) and show compassion on his dwellings. Every city will be rebuilt on its mound; every citadel will stand on its proper site.

Thanksgiving will come out of them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not decrease;^(t) I will honor them, and they will not be insignificant.

His children will be as in past days; his congregation will be established in My presence. I will punish all his oppressors.^(u)

Jacob's leader will be one of them; his ruler will issue from him. I will invite him to Me, and he will approach Me,^(v) for who would otherwise risk his life to approach Me? This is the Lord 's declaration.

You will be My people, and I will be your God.^(w)

Look, a storm from the Lord !^(x) Wrath has gone out, a churning storm. It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.

The Lord 's burning anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it.^(y)