13 The Medes and Persians shall destroy Babylon.

¹ The ^[a]burden of Babel, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

² Lift up a standard upon the high mountain: lift up the voice unto them: wag the ^[b]hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

³ I have commanded them, that I have ^[c]sanctified: and I have called the mighty to my wrath, and them that rejoice in my ^[d]glory.

⁴ The noise of a multitude is in the mountains like a great people: a tumultuous voice of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts numbereth the host of the battle.

⁵ They come from a far country, from the end of the heaven: even the Lord with the ^[e]weapons of his wrath to destroy the whole land.

⁶ Howl ^[f]you, for the day of the Lord is at hand: it shall come as a destroyer from the Almighty.

⁷ Therefore shall all hands be weakened, and all men’s hearts shall melt.

⁸ And they shall be afraid: anguish and sorrow shall take them, and they shall have pain, as a woman that travaileth: everyone shall be amazed at his neighbor, and their faces shall be like ^[g]flames of fire.

⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land waste: and he shall destroy the sinners out of it.

¹⁰ For the ^[h]stars of heaven and the planets thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

¹¹ And I will visit the wickedness upon the ^[i]world, and their iniquity upon the wicked, and I will cause the arrogancy of the ^[j]proud to cease, and will cast down the pride of tyrants.

¹² I will make a ^[k]man more precious than fine gold, even a man above the wedge of gold of Ophir.

¹³ Therefore I will shake the heaven, and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁴ And ^[l]it shall be as a chased Doe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up; every man shall turn to his own people, and flee each one to his own land.

¹⁵ Everyone that is found, shall be stricken through: and whosoever joineth himself, shall fall by the sword.

^16 (A)Their ^[m]children also shall be broken in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be spoiled; and their wives ravished.

¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, nor be desirous of gold.

¹⁸ With bows also shall they destroy the children, and shall have no compassion upon the fruit of the womb, and their eyes shall not spare the children.

¹⁹ And Babel the glory of kingdoms, the beauty and pride of the Chaldeans, shall be as the destruction of God ^(B)in Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰ It shall not be inhabited forever, neither shall it be dwelled in from generation to generation: neither shall the ^[n]Arabian pitch his tents there, neither shall their shepherds make their folds there.

²¹ But ^[o]Zijm shall lodge there, and their houses shall be full of Ohim: Ostriches shall dwell there, and the Satyrs shall dance there.

²² And Iim shall cry in their palaces, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and the time thereof is ready to come, and the days thereof shall not be prolonged.

14 1 The return of the people from captivity. 4 The derision of the King of Babylon. 11 The death of the king. 29 The destruction of the Philistines.

¹ For ^[a]the Lord will have compassion of Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and cause them to rest in their own land: and the stranger ^[b]shall join himself unto them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

² And the people shall receive them and bring them to their own place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord, for ^[c]servants and handmaids: and they shall take them prisoners, whose captives they were, and have rule over their oppressors.

³ ¶ And in that day when the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the sore bondage, wherein thou didst serve,

⁴ Then shalt thou take up this proverb against the King of Babel, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased? and the gold thirsty Babel rested?

⁵ The Lord hath broken the rod of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers:

⁶ Which smote the people in anger with a continual plague, and ruled the nations in wrath: if any were persecuted, he did ^[d]not let.

⁷ The whole world is at ^[e]rest and is quiet: they sing for joy.

⁸ Also the fir trees rejoiced of thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no hewer came up against us.

⁹ Hell beneath is moved for thee to ^[f]meet thee at thy coming, raising up the dead for thee, even all the princes of the earth, and hath raised from their thrones all the Kings of the nations.

¹⁰ All they shall cry and say unto thee, Art thou become weak also as we? art thou become like unto us?

¹¹ Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the sound of the viols: the worm ^[g]is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O ^[h]Lucifer, son of the morning? and cut down to the ground, which didst cast lots upon the nations?

¹³ Yet thou saidest in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, and exalt my throne above beside the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the ^[i]North.

¹⁴ I will ascend above the height of the clouds, and I will be like the most high.

¹⁵ But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the side of the pit.

¹⁶ They that see thee, shall ^[j]look upon thee and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and that did shake the kingdoms?

¹⁷ He made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, and opened not ^[k]the house of his prisoners.

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, even they all sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.

¹⁹ But thou art ^[l]cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch: like the raiment of those that are slain, and thrust through with a sword, which go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under feet.

²⁰ Thou shalt not be joined with them in the grave, because thou hast destroyed thine own land, and slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be renowned forever.

^21 [m]Prepare a slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers: let them not rise up nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with enemies.

²² ¶ For I will rise up against them (saith the Lord of hosts) and will cut off from Babel the name and the remnant, and the son, and the nephew, saith the Lord:

²³ And I will make it a possession to the ^[n]hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

²⁴ The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely like as I have purposed, so shall it come to pass, and as I have consulted, it shall stand:

^25 [o]That I will break to pieces Assyria in my land, and upon my mountains will I tread him under foot, so that his yoke shall depart from ^[p]them, and his burden shall be taken from off their shoulder.

²⁶ This is the counsel that is consulted upon the whole world, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations,

²⁷ Because the Lord of hosts hath determined, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it away?

²⁸ ¶ In the year that king Ahaz died, was this ^[q]burden.

²⁹ Rejoice not, (thou whole ^[r]Philistia) because the rod of him that did beat thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and the fruit thereof shall be a fiery flying serpent.

³⁰ For the ^[s]first born of the poor shall be fed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and ^[t]it shall slay thy remnant.

³¹ Howl, O gate, cry, O city: thou whole land of Philistia art dissolved, for there shall come from the ^[u]North a smoke, and none shall be ^[v]alone, at his time appointed.

³² What shall then one answer the ^[w]messengers of the Gentiles? that the Lord hath stablished ^[x]Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

50 He prophesieth the destruction of Babylon, and the deliverance of Israel which was in captivity.

¹ The word that the Lord spake concerning Babel, and concerning the land of the Chaldeans by the ^[a]ministry of Jeremiah the Prophet.

² Declare among the nations, and publish it, and set up a standard, proclaim it and conceal it not: say, ^[b]Babel is taken, Bel is confounded, ^[c]Merodach is broken down: her idols are confounded, and their images are burst in pieces.

³ For out of the North ^[d]there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land waste, and none shall dwell therein: they shall flee, and depart, both man and beast.

⁴ In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall ^[e]come, they, and the children of Judah together, going, and ^[f]weeping shall they go, and seek the Lord their God.

⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us cleave to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

⁶ ¶ My people hath been as lost sheep: their ^[g]shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have turned them away to the mountains: they have gone from ^[h]mountain to hill, and forgotten their resting place.

⁷ All that found them have devoured them, and their enemies said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, ^[i]the habitation of justice, even the Lord the hope of their fathers.

^8 [j]Flee from the midst of Babel, and depart out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be ye as the he goats ^[k]before the flock.

⁹ For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babel a multitude of mighty nations from the North country, and they shall set themselves in array against her, whereby she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a strong man, which is expert, for none shall return in vain.

¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her, ^[l]shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.

¹¹ Because you were glad and rejoiced in destroying mine heritage, and because ye are grown fat, as the calves in the grass, ^[m]and neighed like strong horses,

¹² Therefore your mother shall be sore confounded, and she that bare you shall be ashamed, behold, the uttermost of the nations shall be a desert, a dry land, and a wilderness.

¹³ Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly desolate: everyone that goeth by Babel, shall be astonished, ^[n]and hiss at all her plagues.

^14 [o]Put yourselves in array against Babel round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath ^[p]sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵ Cry against her round about: she hath ^[q]given her hand: her foundations are fallen, and her walls are destroyed: for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, do unto her.

¹⁶ Destroy the ^[r]sower from Babel, and him that handleth the scythe in the time of harvest: because of the sword of the oppressor they shall turn everyone to his people, and they shall flee everyone to his own land.

¹⁷ Israel is like scattered sheep: the lions have dispersed them: first the king of ^[s]Assyria hath devoured him, and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel hath broken his ^[t]bones.

¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Behold, I will visit the king of Babel, and his land, as I have visited the King of Assyria.

¹⁹ And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the mount Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰ In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful unto them whom I reserve.

²¹ Go up against the land of the ^[u]rebels, even against it and against the inhabitants ^(A)of ^[v]Pekod: destroy, and lay it waste after them, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

²² A cry of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

²³ How is the ^[w]hammer of the whole world destroyed, and broken! how is Babel become desolate among the nations!

²⁴ I have snared thee, and thou art taken, O Babel, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.

²⁵ The Lord hath opened his treasure, and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ Come against her ^[x]from the utmost border: open her storehouses, tread on her as on sheaves, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

²⁷ Destroy all her ^[y]bullocks: let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them, for their day is come, and the time of their visitation.

²⁸ The voice of them that ^[z]flee, and escape out of the land of Babel to declare in Zion, the vengeance of the Lord our God, and the vengeance of his Temple.

²⁹ Call up the archers against Babel: all ye that bend the bow, besiege it round about: let none thereof escape: ^(B)recompense her according to her work, and according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, even against the holy One of Israel.

³⁰ Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be destroyed in that day, saith the Lord.

³¹ Behold, I come unto thee, O proud man, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, even the time that I will visit thee.

³² And the proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

³³ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The children of Israel, and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives, held them, and would not let them go.

³⁴ But their strong redeemer, whose Name is the Lord of hosts, he shall maintain their cause, that he may give rest to the land, ^[aa]and disquiet the inhabitants of Babel.

³⁵ A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babel, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

³⁶ A sword is upon the ^[ab]soothsayers, and they shall dote: a sword is upon her strong men, and they shall be afraid.

³⁷ A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the multitude that are in the midst of her, and they shall be like women: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be spoiled.

³⁸ A ^[ac]drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they dote upon their idols.

³⁹ Therefore the ^[ad]Ziims with the Iims shall dwell there, and ^[ae]the ostriches shall dwell therein: for it shall be no more inhabited, neither shall it be inhabited from generation unto generation.

⁴⁰ As God destroyed ^(C)Sodom and Gomorrah with the places thereof near about, saith the Lord: so shall no man dwell there, neither shall the son of man remain therein.

⁴¹ ¶ Behold, a people shall come from the North, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from ^[af]the coasts of the earth.

⁴² They shall hold the bow and the buckler: they are cruel and unmerciful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, and be put in array like men to the battle against thee, O daughter of Babel.

⁴³ The king of Babel hath heard the report of them, and his hands ^[ag]waxed feeble: sorrow came upon him, even sorrow as of a woman in travail.

⁴⁴ Behold, he ^(D)shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the strong habitation: for I will make Israel to rest, and I will make them to haste away from her: and who is a chosen man that I may appoint against her? for who is like me, and who will appoint me the time? and who is the ^[ah]shepherd that will stand before me?

⁴⁵ Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath devised against Babel, and his purpose that he hath conceived against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

⁴⁶ At the noise of the winning of Babel the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

51 6 Why Babylon is destroyed. 41 The vain confidence of the Babylonians. 43 The vanity of idolaters. 59 Jeremiah giveth his book to Seraiah.

¹ Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up against Babel, and against the inhabitants ^[a]that lift up their heart against me, a destroying ^[b]wind,

² And will send unto Babel fanners that shall fan her, and shall empty her land, for in the day of trouble they shall be against her on every side.

³ Also to the bender that bendeth his bow, and to him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine, will I say, Spare not her young men, but destroy all her host.

⁴ Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

⁵ For Israel hath been no ^[c]widow, nor Judah from his God, from the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the holy one of Israel.

⁶ ¶ ^[d]Flee out of the midst of Babel, and deliver every man his soul: be not destroyed in her iniquity: for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance: he will render unto her a recompense.

⁷ Babel hath been as a golden cup in the ^[e]Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken, the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore do the nations ^[f]rage.

^8 (A)Babel is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, bring balm for her sore, if she may be healed.

⁹ We would have cured Babel, but she could not be healed: forsake her, and let ^[g]us go everyone into his own country: for her judgment is come up into heaven, and is lifted up to the clouds.

¹⁰ The Lord hath brought forth our ^[h]righteousness: come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

¹¹ Make bright the arrows: ^[i]gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the King of the Medes: for his purpose is against Babel to destroy it, because it is the ^[j]vengeance of the Lord, and the vengeance of his Temple.

¹² Set up the standard upon the walls of Babel, make the watch strong: set up the watchmen: prepare the scouts: for the Lord hath both devised, and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babel.

¹³ O thou that dwellest upon many ^[k]waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, even the ^[l]end of thy covetousness.

¹⁴ The Lord of hosts hath sworn by ^[m](B)himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars, and they shall cry and shout against thee.

^15 (C)He hath made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his discretion.

¹⁶ He giveth by his voice the multitude of waters in the heaven, and he causeth the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth, he turneth lightnings to rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

¹⁷ Every man is a beast by his own ^[n]knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his melting is but falsehood, and there is no breath therein.

¹⁸ They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their ^[o]visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹ The ^[p]portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the maker of all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his Name.

²⁰ Thou art mine ^[q]hammer, and weapons of war: for with thee will I break the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms,

²¹ And by thee will I break horse and horseman, and by thee will I break the chariot and him that rideth therein.

²² By thee also will I break man and woman, and by thee will I break old and young, and by thee will I break the young man and the maid.

²³ I will also break by thee the shepherd and his flock, and by thee will I break the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and by thee will I break the dukes and princes.

²⁴ And I will render unto Babel, and to all the inhabitants of the Chaldeans all their evil, that they have done in Zion, even in your sight, saith the Lord.

²⁵ Behold, I come unto thee, O destroying ^[r]mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the ^[s]rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

²⁶ They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations: but thou shalt be destroyed forever, saith the Lord.

²⁷ Set up a standard in the land: blow the trumpets among the nations: prepare the nations against her: call up the kingdoms of ^[t]Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz against her, appoint the prince against her, cause horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.

²⁸ Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the dukes thereof, and the princes thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

²⁹ And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for the device of the Lord shall be performed against Babel, to make the land of Babel waste without an inhabitant.

³⁰ The strong men of Babel have ceased to fight: they have remained in their holds: their strength hath failed, and they were like women: they have burnt her dwelling places, and her bars are broken.

³¹ A post shall run to meet the post, and a messenger to meet the messenger, to show the King of Babel, that his city is taken on a ^[u]side thereof,

³² And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds burnt with fire, and the men of war troubled.

³³ For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, The daughter of Babel is like a threshingfloor: the time of her threshing is come: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest ^[v]shall come.

³⁴ Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babel hath ^[w]devoured me, and destroyed me: he hath made me an empty vessel: he swallowed me up like a dragon: and filled his belly with my delicates, and hath cast me out.

³⁵ The spoil of me, and that which was left of me, is brought unto Babel, shall the inhabitant of Zion say: and my blood unto the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will maintain thy ^[x]cause, and take vengeance for thee, and I will dry up the sea, and dry up her springs.

³⁷ And Babel shall be as heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

³⁸ They shall roar together like lions, and yell as the lion’s whelps.

³⁹ In their ^[y]heat I will make them feasts, and I will make them drunken that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.

⁴⁰ I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams and goats.

⁴¹ How is ^[z]Sheshach taken! and how is the glory of the whole earth taken! how is Babel become an astonishment among the nations!

⁴² The ^[aa]sea is come up upon Babel: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

⁴³ Her cities are desolate: the land is dry and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth the son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴ I will also visit Bel in Babel, and I will bring out of his mouth, that which ^[ab]he hath swallowed up, and the nations shall run no more unto him, and the wall of Babel shall fall.

⁴⁵ My people, go out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce wrath of the Lord,

⁴⁶ Lest your heart even faint, and ye fear the rumor that shall be heard in the land: the rumor shall come this year, and after that in the other ^[ac]year shall come a rumor, and cruelty in the land, and ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷ Therefore behold, the days come, that I will visit the images of Babel, and the whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸ Then the heaven and ^[ad]the earth, and all that is therein, shall rejoice for Babel: for the destroyers shall come unto her from the North, saith the Lord.

⁴⁹ As Babel caused the ^[ae]slain of Israel to fall, so by Babel the slain of all the earth did fall.

⁵⁰ Ye that ^[af]have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

⁵¹ We are ^[ag]confounded because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces, for strangers are come into the Sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

⁵² Wherefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will visit her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

⁵³ Though Babel should mount up to ^[ah]heaven, and though she should defend her strength on high, yet from me shall her destroyers come, saith the Lord.

⁵⁴ A sound of a cry cometh from Babel, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,

⁵⁵ Because the Lord hath laid Babel waste, and destroyed from her the great voice, and her waves shall roar like great waters, and a sound was made by their noise:

⁵⁶ Because the destroyer is come upon her, even upon Babel, and her strong men are taken, their bows are broken: for the Lord God that recompenseth, shall surely recompense.

⁵⁷ And I will ^[ai]make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her dukes, and her nobles, and her strong men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose Name is the Lord of hosts.

⁵⁸ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The ^[aj]thick wall of Babel shall be broken, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, for they shall be weary.

⁵⁹ The word which Jeremiah the Prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babel, in the ^[ak]fourth year of his reign, and this Seraiah was a peaceable Prince.

⁶⁰ So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babel, even all these things that are written against Babel.

⁶¹ And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest unto Babel, and shalt see and shalt read all these words,

⁶² Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to destroy it, that none should remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it should be desolate forever.

⁶³ And when thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shalt bind a ^[al]stone to it, and cast it in the midst of Euphrates,

⁶⁴ And shalt say, Thus shall Babel be drowned and shall not rise from the evil, that I will bring upon her: and they shall ^[am]be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.