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22 But his own people have been robbed and plundered,
    enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped.
They are fair game for anyone
    and have no one to protect them,
    no one to take them back home.

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20     to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to release those condemned to die.

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Hope for God’s People

17 “The Israelites are like sheep
    that have been scattered by lions.
First the king of Assyria ate them up.
    Then King Nebuchadnezzar[a] of Babylon cracked their bones.”

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Footnotes

  1. 50:17 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.

23 Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors,
    those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust
    and walk on your backs.’”

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22 Repent, all of you who forget me,
    or I will tear you apart,
    and no one will help you.

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Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 19:44 Greek did not recognize the time of your visitation, a reference to the Messiah’s coming.

34 “King Nebuchadnezzar[a] of Babylon has eaten and crushed us
    and drained us of strength.
He has swallowed us like a great monster
    and filled his belly with our riches.
    He has thrown us out of our own country.
35 Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,”
    say the people of Zion.
“Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,”
    says Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

  1. 51:34 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria. What is this?” asks the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation.[a] My name is blasphemed all day long.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 52:5a As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads Those who rule them wail.
  2. 52:5b Greek version reads The Gentiles continually blaspheme my name because of you. Compare Rom 2:24.

    You will open the eyes of the blind.
You will free the captives from prison,
    releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

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22 They will be rounded up and put in prison.
    They will be shut up in prison
    and will finally be punished.

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18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap,
    and those who escape the trap will be caught in a snare.

Destruction falls like rain from the heavens;
    the foundations of the earth shake.

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that sends ambassadors
    in swift boats down the river.

Go, swift messengers!
Take a message to a tall, smooth-skinned people,
    who are feared far and wide
for their conquests and destruction,
    and whose land is divided by rivers.

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17 Is this the one who destroyed the world
    and made it into a wasteland?
Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities
    and had no mercy on his prisoners?’

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Your country lies in ruins,
    and your towns are burned.
Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes
    and destroy everything they see.

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29 You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.

30 “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. 32 You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. 33 A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment.

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20 “And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.

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Hope for Israel’s Royal Line

31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to[a] Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 52:31a Hebrew He raised the head of.
  2. 52:31b Hebrew on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was March 31, 561 B.c.; also see note on 52:4a.

So on January 15,[a] during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar[b] of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls. Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,[c] the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone. Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,[d] they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.[e]

But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered. They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. 10 The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.

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Footnotes

  1. 52:4a Hebrew on the tenth day of the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in Jeremiah can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This day was January 15, 588 B.c.
  2. 52:4b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 52:12, 28, 29, 30.
  3. 52:6 Hebrew By the ninth day of the fourth month [in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign]. This day was July 18, 586 B.c.; also see note on 52:4a.
  4. 52:7a Or the Chaldeans; similarly in 52:8, 17.
  5. 52:7b Hebrew the Arabah.

Sinful Leaders Condemned

Come, wild animals of the field!
    Come, wild animals of the forest!
    Come and devour my people!

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13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,
    and I will guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive people—
    without seeking a reward!
    I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

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Assyria Invades Judah

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,[a] King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

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Footnotes

  1. 36:1 The fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign was 701 B.c.

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