therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because (A)they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and (B)you became the talk and evil gossip of the people,

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13 You have made us (A)the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and (B)scorn of those around us.
14 You have made us (C)a byword among the nations,
    (D)a laughingstock[a] among the peoples.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head

15 All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
(A)they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    (B)the perfection of beauty,
    (C)the joy of all the earth?”

16 (D)All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We (E)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; (F)we see it!”

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13 when slandered, we entreat. (A)We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, (B)the refuse of all things.

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39 And (A)those who passed by (B)derided him, (C)wagging their heads 40 and saying, (D)“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! (E)If you are (F)the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 (G)“He saved others; (H)he cannot save himself. (I)He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 (J)He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 (K)And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

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16 “O Lord, (A)according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, (B)your holy hill, (C)because for our sins, and for (D)the iniquities of our fathers, (E)Jerusalem and your people have become (F)a byword among all who are around us.

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10 Precisely because they have misled my people, (A)saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, (B)these prophets smear it with whitewash,[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 13:10 Or plaster; also verses 11, 14, 15

(A)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    (B)he has swallowed up Israel;
(C)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    (D)mourning and lamentation.

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The Lord (A)has swallowed up (B)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath (C)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought (D)down to the ground (E)in dishonor
    the kingdom (F)and its rulers.

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The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted

52 (A)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, (B)according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. (C)And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at (D)Riblah. 11 (E)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison (F)till the day of his death.

The Temple Burned

12 (G)In the fifth month, on (H)the tenth day of the month—that was (I)the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who (J)served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13 And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and (K)the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

17 And the (L)pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the (M)bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and (N)carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 And they took away (O)the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service; 19 (P)also the small bowls and the fire pans and the basins and the pots and (Q)the lampstands and (R)the dishes for incense (S)and the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 20 As for the two pillars, the one sea, (T)the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea,[a] and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. 21 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,[b] (U)its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. 22 On it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was (V)five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.

The People Exiled to Babylon

24 And the captain of the guard took (W)Seraiah the chief priest, and (X)Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; 25 and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and (Y)seven men of the king's council, who were found in the city; and the secretary 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. 26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at (Z)Riblah. 27 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at (AA)Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: (AB)in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; 29 (AC)in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

31 (AD)And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed[c] (AE)Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of (AF)the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, 34 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.

How Lonely Sits the City

(AG)How lonely sits the city
    that was full of people!
How like (AH)a widow has she become,
    she who was great among the nations!
She who was (AI)a princess among the provinces
    has become (AJ)a slave.

(AK)She weeps bitterly in the night,
    with tears on her cheeks;
(AL)among all her lovers
    she has (AM)none to comfort her;
(AN)all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
    they have become her enemies.

(AO)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction[d]
    and hard servitude;
(AP)she dwells now among the nations,
    (AQ)but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.[e]

The roads to Zion mourn,
    for none come to (AR)the festival;
(AS)all her gates are desolate;
    her priests (AT)groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,[f]
    and she herself suffers bitterly.

(AU)Her foes have become the head;
    her (AV)enemies prosper,
because (AW)the Lord has afflicted her
    (AX)for the multitude of her transgressions;
(AY)her children have gone away,
    captives before the foe.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 52:20 Hebrew lacks the sea
  2. Jeremiah 52:21 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
  3. Jeremiah 52:31 Hebrew reign, lifted up the head of
  4. Lamentations 1:3 Or under affliction
  5. Lamentations 1:3 Or in the narrow passes
  6. Lamentations 1:4 Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away

34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon (A)has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
    (B)he has swallowed me like (C)a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:34 Or he has expelled me

Gedaliah Murdered

41 (A)In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at (B)Mizpah. As they (C)ate bread together there at Mizpah, (D)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, (E)whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at (F)Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, eighty men arrived from (G)Shechem and (H)Shiloh and (I)Samaria, with (J)their beards shaved and (K)their clothes torn, and (L)their bodies gashed, (M)bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from (N)Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have (O)stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.

Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with[a] Gedaliah was the large cistern that (P)King Asa had made for defense against (Q)Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, (R)the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom (S)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to (T)the Ammonites.

11 But when (U)Johanan the son of Kareah and (V)all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12 they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at (W)the great pool that is in (X)Gibeon. 13 And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and (Y)all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. 14 (Z)So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to (AA)the Ammonites. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and (AB)all the leaders of the forces with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—soldiers, (AC)women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from (AD)Gibeon. 17 And they went and stayed at Geruth (AE)Chimham near (AF)Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, (AG)whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 41:9 Hebrew by the hand of

The Fall of Jerusalem

39 (A)In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. Then all (B)the officials of the king of Babylon came (C)and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim (D)the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward (E)the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in (F)the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at (G)Riblah, in the land of Hamath; (H)and he passed sentence on him. The king of Babylon (I)slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at (J)Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon (K)slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. (L)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. (M)The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, (N)and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then (O)Nebuzaradan, the (P)captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, (Q)those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. 10 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, (R)left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

The Lord Delivers Jeremiah

11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, 12 (S)“Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” 13 So (T)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, (U)and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14 sent and took Jeremiah from (V)the court of the guard. They entrusted him to (W)Gedaliah the son of (X)Ahikam, son of (Y)Shaphan, that he should take him home. So (Z)he lived among the people.

15 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah (AA)while he was shut up in the court of the guard: 16 “Go, and say to (AB)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (AC)Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and (AD)not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. 17 But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men (AE)of whom you are afraid. 18 For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your (AF)life as a prize of war, (AG)because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

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24 “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.

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I will make them (A)a horror[a] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be (B)a reproach, (C)a byword, (D)a taunt, and (E)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 24:9 Compare Septuagint; Hebrew horror for evil

12 like Sheol let us (A)swallow them alive,
    and whole, like (B)those who go down to the pit;

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10 (A)Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
Let (B)the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
    be known among the nations before our eyes!

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12 I am the talk of those who (A)sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make (B)songs about me.

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Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with (A)stringed instruments. Of David.

61 Hear my cry, O God,
    (B)listen to my prayer;

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25 Let them not say in their hearts,
    (A)“Aha, our heart's desire!”
Let them not say, (B)“We have swallowed him up.”

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15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
    they gathered together against me;
(A)wretches whom I did not know
    tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,[a]
    they (B)gnash at me with their teeth.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 35:16 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain

30 “But now they (A)laugh at me,
    men who are (B)younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.
What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
    (C)men whose (D)vigor is gone?
Through want and hard hunger
    they (E)gnaw (F)the dry ground by night in (G)waste and desolation;
they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
    and the roots of the broom tree for their food.[a]
(H)They are driven out from human company;
    they shout after them as after a thief.
In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
    in holes of the earth and of (I)the rocks.
Among the bushes they (J)bray;
    under (K)the nettles they huddle together.
A senseless, a nameless brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

“And now I have become their (L)song;
    I am (M)a byword to them.
10 They (N)abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to (O)spit at the sight of me.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:4 Or warmth

(A)then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, (B)and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, (C)and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins.[a] Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, (D)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:8 Syriac, Old Latin; Hebrew will become high

37 And you shall become (A)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.

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