Jeremiah 43:5-52:34

New King James Version

⁵But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took ^(A)all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven— ⁶men, women, children, ^(B)the king’s daughters, ^(C)and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷^(D)So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they went as far as ^(E)Tahpanhes.

⁸Then the ^(F)word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹“Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the ^[a]clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes; ¹⁰and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(G)My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them. ¹¹^(H)When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death ^(I)those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword. ¹²^[b]I will kindle a fire in the houses of ^(J)the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go out from there in peace. ¹³He shall also break the sacred pillars of ^[c]Beth Shemesh that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.” ’ ”

Israelites Will Be Punished in Egypt

44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at ^(K)Migdol, at ^(L)Tahpanhes, at ^(M)Noph,^[d] and in the country of ^(N)Pathros, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are ^(O)a desolation, and no one dwells in them, ³because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went ^(P)to burn incense and to ^(Q)serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. ⁴However ^(R)I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!” ⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. ⁶So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they ^[e]are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’

⁷“Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil ^(S)against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, ⁸in that you ^(T)provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be ^(U)a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ⁹Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰They have not been ^(V)humbled,^[f] to this day, nor have they ^(W)feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’

¹¹“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, ^(X)I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for ^[g]cutting off all Judah. ¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and ^(Y)they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and ^(Z)they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! ¹³^(AA)For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they ^(AB)desire^[h] to return and dwell. For ^(AC)none shall return except those who escape.’ ”

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: ¹⁶“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(AD)we will not listen to you! ¹⁷But we will certainly do ^(AE)whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the ^(AF)queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of ^[i]food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. ¹⁸But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹The women also said, ^(AG)“And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying: ²¹“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind? ²²So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, ^(AH)as it is this day. ²³Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, ^(AI)therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”

²⁴Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! ²⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’ ²⁶Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, ^(AJ)I have sworn by My ^(AK)great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(AL)My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” ²⁷Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt ^(AM)shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. ²⁸Yet ^(AN)a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. ²⁹And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely ^(AO)stand against you for adversity.’

³⁰“Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, ^(AP)I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave ^(AQ)Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”

Assurance to Baruch

45 The ^(AR)word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to ^(AS)Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book ^[j]at the instruction of Jeremiah, in the ^(AT)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: ³‘You said, “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I ^(AU)fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” ’

⁴“Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, ^(AV)what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land. ⁵And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, ^(AW)I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord. “But I will give your ^(AX)life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” ’ ”

Judgment on Egypt

46 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against ^(AY)the nations. ²Against ^(AZ)Egypt.

^(BA)Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(BB)defeated in the ^(BC)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³“Order^[k] the ^[l]buckler and shield,
And draw near to battle!
⁴Harness the horses,
And mount up, you horsemen!
Stand forth with your helmets,
Polish the spears,
^(BD)Put on the armor!
⁵Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back?
Their mighty ones are beaten down;
They have speedily fled,
And did not look back,
For ^(BE)fear was all around,” says the Lord.
⁶“Do not let the swift flee away,
Nor the mighty man escape;
They will ^(BF)stumble and fall
Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

⁷“Who is this coming up ^(BG)like a flood,
Whose waters move like the rivers?
⁸Egypt rises up like a flood,
And its waters move like the rivers;
And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth,
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
⁹Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots!
And let the mighty men come forth:
^[m]The Ethiopians and ^[n]the Libyans who handle the shield,
And the Lydians ^(BH)who handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰For this is ^(BI)the day of the Lord God of hosts,
A day of vengeance,
That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.
^(BJ)The sword shall devour;
It shall be ^[o]satiated and made drunk with their blood;
For the Lord God of hosts ^(BK)has a sacrifice
In the north country by the River Euphrates.

¹¹“Go^(BL) up to Gilead and take balm,
^(BM)O virgin, the daughter of Egypt;
In vain you will use many medicines;
^(BN)You shall not be cured.
¹²The nations have heard of your ^(BO)shame,
And your cry has filled the land;
For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty;
They both have fallen together.”

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and ^(BP)strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^(BQ)Migdol;
Proclaim in ^[p]Noph and in ^(BR)Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves,
For the sword devours all around you.’
¹⁵Why are your valiant men swept away?
They did not stand
Because the Lord drove them away.
¹⁶He made many fall;
Yes, ^(BS)one fell upon another.
And they said, ‘Arise!
^(BT)Let us go back to our own people
And to the land of our nativity
From the oppressing sword.’
¹⁷They cried there,
‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise.
He has passed by the appointed time!’

¹⁸“As I live,” says the King,
^(BU)Whose name is the Lord of hosts,
“Surely as Tabor is among the mountains
And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
¹⁹O ^(BV)you daughter dwelling in Egypt,
Prepare yourself ^(BW)to go into captivity!
For ^[q]Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.

²⁰“Egypt is a very pretty ^(BX)heifer,
But destruction comes, it comes ^(BY)from the north.
²¹Also her mercenaries are in her midst like ^[r]fat bulls,
For they also are turned back,
They have fled away together.
They did not stand,
For ^(BZ)the day of their calamity had come upon them,
The time of their punishment.
²²^(CA)Her noise shall go like a serpent,
For they shall march with an army
And come against her with axes,
Like those who chop wood.

²³“They shall ^(CB)cut down her forest,” says the Lord,
“Though it cannot be searched,
Because they are innumerable,
And more numerous than ^(CC)grasshoppers.
²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed;
She shall be delivered into the hand
Of ^(CD)the people of the north.”

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on ^[s]Amon of ^(CE)No,^[t] and Pharaoh and Egypt, ^(CF)with their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who ^(CG)trust in him. ²⁶^(CH)And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. ^(CI)Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the Lord.

God Will Preserve Israel^(CJ)

²⁷“But^(CK) do not fear, O My servant Jacob,
And do not be dismayed, O Israel!
For behold, I will ^(CL)save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity;
Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease;
No one shall make him afraid.
²⁸Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord,
“For I am with you;
For I will make a complete end of all the nations
To which I have driven you,
But I will not make ^(CM)a complete end of you.
I will rightly ^(CN)correct you,
For I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”

Judgment on Philistia

47 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet ^(CO)against the Philistines, ^(CP)before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

²Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, ^(CQ)waters rise ^(CR)out of the north,
And shall be an overflowing flood;
They shall overflow the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell within;
Then the men shall cry,
And all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
³At the ^(CS)noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses,
At the rushing of his chariots,
At the rumbling of his wheels,
The fathers will not look back for their children,
^[u]Lacking courage,
⁴Because of the day that comes to plunder all the ^(CT)Philistines,
To cut off from ^(CU)Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains;
For the Lord shall plunder the Philistines,
^(CV)The remnant of the country of ^(CW)Caphtor.^[v]
⁵^(CX)Baldness has come upon Gaza,
^(CY)Ashkelon is cut off
With the remnant of their valley.
How long will you cut yourself?

⁶“O you ^(CZ)sword of the Lord,
How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself up into your scabbard,
Rest and be still!
⁷How can ^[w]it be quiet,
Seeing the Lord has ^(DA)given it a charge
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore?
There He has ^(DB)appointed it.”

Judgment on Moab

48 Against ^(DC)Moab.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Woe to ^(DD)Nebo!
For it is plundered,
^(DE)Kirjathaim is shamed and taken;
^[x]The high stronghold is shamed and dismayed—
²^(DF)No more praise of Moab.
In ^(DG)Heshbon they have devised evil against her:
‘Come, and let us cut her off as a nation.’
You also shall be cut down, O ^(DH)Madmen!^[y]
The sword shall pursue you;
³A voice of crying shall be from ^(DI)Horonaim:
‘Plundering and great destruction!’

⁴“Moab is destroyed;
^[z]Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard;
⁵^(DJ)For in the Ascent of Luhith they ascend with continual weeping;
For in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.

⁶“Flee, save your lives!
And be like ^[aa]the ^(DK)juniper in the wilderness.
⁷For because you have trusted in your works and your ^(DL)treasures,
You also shall be taken.
And ^(DM)Chemosh shall go forth into captivity,
His ^(DN)priests and his princes together.
⁸And ^(DO)the plunderer shall come against every city;
No one shall escape.
The valley also shall perish,
And the plain shall be destroyed,
As the Lord has spoken.

⁹“Give^(DP) wings to Moab,
That she may flee and get away;
For her cities shall be desolate,
Without any to dwell in them.
¹⁰^(DQ)Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully,
And cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.

¹¹“Moab has been at ease from ^[ab]his youth;
He ^(DR)has settled on his dregs,
And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him,
And his scent has not changed.

¹²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I shall send him ^[ac]wine-workers
Who will tip him over
And empty his vessels
And break the bottles.
¹³Moab shall be ashamed of ^(DS)Chemosh,
As the house of Israel ^(DT)was ashamed of ^(DU)Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴“How can you say, ^(DV)‘We are mighty
And strong men for the war’?
¹⁵Moab is plundered and gone up from her cities;
Her chosen young men have ^(DW)gone down to the slaughter,” says ^(DX)the King,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶“The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
And his affliction comes quickly.
¹⁷Bemoan him, all you who are around him;
And all you who know his name,
Say, ^(DY)‘How the strong staff is broken,
The beautiful rod!’

¹⁸“O ^(DZ)daughter inhabiting ^(EA)Dibon,
Come down from your glory,
And sit in thirst;
For the plunderer of Moab has come against you,
He has destroyed your strongholds.
¹⁹O inhabitant of ^(EB)Aroer,
^(EC)Stand by the way and watch;
Ask him who flees
And her who escapes;
Say, ‘What has happened?’
²⁰Moab is shamed, for he is broken down.
^(ED)Wail and cry!
Tell it in ^(EE)Arnon, that Moab is plundered.

²¹“And judgment has come on the plain country:
On Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,
²²On Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
²³On Kirjathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
²⁴On ^(EF)Kerioth and Bozrah,
On all the cities of the land of Moab,
Far or near.
²⁵^(EG)The ^[ad]horn of Moab is cut off,
And his ^(EH)arm is broken,” says the Lord.

²⁶“Make^(EI) him drunk,
Because he exalted himself against the Lord.
Moab shall wallow in his vomit,
And he shall also be in derision.
²⁷For ^(EJ)was not Israel a derision to you?
^(EK)Was he found among thieves?
For whenever you speak of him,
You shake your head in ^(EL)scorn.
²⁸You who dwell in Moab,
Leave the cities and ^(EM)dwell in the rock,
And be like ^(EN)the dove which makes her nest
In the sides of the cave’s mouth.

²⁹“We have heard the ^(EO)pride of Moab
(He is exceedingly proud),
Of his loftiness and arrogance and ^(EP)pride,
And of the haughtiness of his heart.”

³⁰“I know his wrath,” says the Lord,
“But it is not right;
^(EQ)His ^[ae]lies have made nothing right.
³¹Therefore ^(ER)I will wail for Moab,
And I will cry out for all Moab;
^[af]I will mourn for the men of Kir Heres.
³²^(ES)O vine of Sibmah! I will weep for you with the weeping of ^(ET)Jazer.
Your plants have gone over the sea,
They reach to the sea of Jazer.
The plunderer has fallen on your summer fruit and your vintage.
³³^(EU)Joy and gladness are taken
From the plentiful field
And from the land of Moab;
I have caused wine to ^[ag]fail from the winepresses;
No one will tread with joyous shouting—
Not joyous shouting!

³⁴“From^(EV) the cry of Heshbon to ^(EW)Elealeh and to Jahaz
They have uttered their voice,
^(EX)From Zoar to Horonaim,
Like ^[ah]a three-year-old heifer;
For the waters of Nimrim also shall be desolate.

³⁵“Moreover,” says the Lord,
“I will cause to cease in Moab
^(EY)The one who offers sacrifices in the ^[ai]high places
And burns incense to his gods.
³⁶Therefore ^(EZ)My heart shall wail like flutes for Moab,
And like flutes My heart shall wail
For the men of Kir Heres.
Therefore ^(FA)the riches they have acquired have perished.

³⁷“For ^(FB)every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped;
On all the hands shall be cuts, and ^(FC)on the loins sackcloth—
³⁸A general lamentation
On all the ^(FD)housetops of Moab,
And in its streets;
For I have ^(FE)broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure,” says the Lord.
³⁹“They shall wail:
‘How she is broken down!
How Moab has turned her back with shame!’
So Moab shall be a derision
And a dismay to all those about her.”

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, ^(FF)one shall fly like an eagle,
And ^(FG)spread his wings over Moab.
⁴¹Kerioth is taken,
And the strongholds are surprised;
^(FH)The mighty men’s hearts in Moab on that day shall be
Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.
⁴²And Moab shall be destroyed ^(FI)as a people,
Because he exalted himself against the Lord.
⁴³^(FJ)Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon you,
O inhabitant of Moab,” says the Lord.
⁴⁴“He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit,
And he who gets out of the pit shall be caught in the ^(FK)snare.
For upon Moab, upon it ^(FL)I will bring
The year of their punishment,” says the Lord.

⁴⁵“Those who fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon
Because of exhaustion.
But ^(FM)a fire shall come out of Heshbon,
A flame from the midst of ^(FN)Sihon,
And ^(FO)shall devour the brow of Moab,
The crown of the head of the sons of tumult.
⁴⁶^(FP)Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh perish;
For your sons have been taken captive,
And your daughters captive.

⁴⁷“Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab
^(FQ)In the latter days,” says the Lord.

Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Judgment on Ammon

49 Against the ^(FR)Ammonites.

Thus says the Lord:

“Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then does ^[aj]Milcom inherit ^(FS)Gad,
And his people dwell in its cities?
²^(FT)Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will cause to be heard an alarm of war
In ^(FU)Rabbah of the Ammonites;
It shall be a desolate mound,
And her ^[ak]villages shall be burned with fire.
Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance,” says the Lord.

³“Wail, O ^(FV)Heshbon, for Ai is plundered!
Cry, you daughters of Rabbah,
^(FW)Gird yourselves with sackcloth!
Lament and run to and fro by the walls;
For ^[al]Milcom shall go into captivity
With his ^(FX)priests and his princes together.
⁴Why ^(FY)do you boast in the valleys,
^[am]Your flowing valley, O ^(FZ)backsliding daughter?
Who trusted in her ^(GA)treasures, ^(GB)saying,
‘Who will come against me?’
⁵Behold, I will bring fear upon you,”
Says the Lord God of hosts,
“From all those who are around you;
You shall be driven out, everyone headlong,
And no one will gather those who wander off.
⁶But ^(GC)afterward I will bring back
The captives of the people of Ammon,” says the Lord.

Judgment on Edom

⁷^(GD)Against Edom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(GE)“Is wisdom no more in Teman?
^(GF)Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom ^(GG)vanished?
⁸Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of ^(GH)Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
The time that I will punish him.
⁹^(GI)If grape-gatherers came to you,
Would they not leave some gleaning grapes?
If thieves by night,
Would they not destroy until they have enough?
¹⁰^(GJ)But I have made Esau bare;
I have uncovered his secret places,
And he shall not be able to hide himself.
His descendants are plundered,
His brethren and his neighbors,
And ^(GK)he is no more.
¹¹Leave your fatherless children,
I will preserve them alive;
And let your widows trust in Me.”

¹²For thus says the Lord: “Behold, ^(GL)those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. ¹³For ^(GM)I have sworn by Myself,” says the Lord, “that ^(GN)Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a ^[an]waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual ^[ao]wastes.”

¹⁴^(GO)I have heard a message from the Lord,
And an ambassador has been sent to the nations:
“Gather together, come against her,
And rise up to battle!

¹⁵“For indeed, I will make you small among nations,
Despised among men.
¹⁶Your fierceness has deceived you,
The ^(GP)pride of your heart,
O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
Who hold the height of the hill!
^(GQ)Though you make your ^(GR)nest as high as the eagle,
^(GS)I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

¹⁷“Edom also shall be an astonishment;
^(GT)Everyone who goes by it will be astonished
And will hiss at all its plagues.
¹⁸^(GU)As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“No one shall remain there,
Nor shall a son of man dwell in it.

¹⁹“Behold,^(GV) he shall come up like a lion from ^(GW)the ^[ap]floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will suddenly make him run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For ^(GX)who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And ^(GY)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

²⁰^(GZ)Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Edom,
And His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman:
Surely the least of the flock shall ^[aq]draw them out;
Surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them.
²¹^(HA)The earth shakes at the noise of their fall;
At the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea.
²²Behold, ^(HB)He shall come up and fly like the eagle,
And spread His wings over Bozrah;
The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be
Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

Judgment on Damascus

²³^(HC)Against Damascus.

^(HD)“Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
^(HE)There is ^[ar]trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet.
²⁴Damascus has grown feeble;
She turns to flee,
And fear has seized her.
^(HF)Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in ^[as]labor.
²⁵Why is ^(HG)the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?
²⁶^(HH)Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets,
And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.
²⁷“I^(HI) will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸^(HJ)Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike.

Thus says the Lord:

“Arise, go up to Kedar,
And devastate ^(HK)the men of the East!
²⁹Their ^(HL)tents and their flocks they shall take away.
They shall take for themselves their curtains,
All their vessels and their camels;
And they shall cry out to them,
^(HM)‘Fear is on every side!’

³⁰“Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Hazor!” says the Lord.
“For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you,
And has conceived a plan against you.

³¹“Arise, go up to ^(HN)the wealthy nation that dwells securely,” says the Lord,
“Which has neither gates nor bars,
^(HO)Dwelling alone.
³²Their camels shall be for booty,
And the multitude of their cattle for plunder.
I will ^(HP)scatter to all winds those ^[at]in the farthest corners,
And I will bring their calamity from all its sides,” says the Lord.
³³“Hazor ^(HQ)shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever;
No one shall reside there,
Nor son of man dwell in it.”

Judgment on Elam

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against ^(HR)Elam, in the ^(HS)beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, ³⁵“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Behold, I will break ^(HT)the ^[au]bow of Elam,
The foremost of their might.
³⁶Against Elam I will bring the four winds
From the four quarters of heaven,
And scatter them toward all those winds;
There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.
³⁷For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies
And before those who seek their life.
^(HU)I will bring disaster upon them,
My fierce anger,’ says the Lord;
‘And I will send the sword after them
Until I have consumed them.
³⁸I will ^(HV)set My throne in Elam,
And will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the Lord.

³⁹‘But it shall come to pass ^(HW)in the latter days:
I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the Lord.”

Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

50 The word that the Lord spoke ^(HX)against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

²“Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and ^[av]set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is ^(HY)taken, ^(HZ)Bel is shamed.
^[aw]Merodach is broken in pieces;
^(IA)Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
³^(IB)For out of the north ^(IC)a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall ^[ax]move, they shall depart,
Both man and beast.

⁴“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The children of Israel shall come,
^(ID)They and the children of Judah together;
^(IE)With continual weeping they shall come,
^(IF)And seek the Lord their God.
⁵They shall ask the way to Zion,
With their faces toward it, saying,
‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
In ^(IG)a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’

⁶“My people have been ^(IH)lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them ^(II)astray;
They have turned them away on ^(IJ)the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
⁷All who found them have ^(IK)devoured them;
And ^(IL)their adversaries said, ^(IM)‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, ^(IN)the habitation of justice,
The Lord, ^(IO)the hope of their fathers.’

⁸“Move^(IP) from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the ^[ay]rams before the flocks.
⁹^(IQ)For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of ^[az]an expert warrior;
^(IR)None shall return in vain.
¹⁰And Chaldea shall become plunder;
^(IS)All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

¹¹“Because^(IT) you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat ^(IU)like a heifer threshing grain,
And you ^[ba]bellow like bulls,
¹²Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a ^(IV)wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
^(IW)But she shall be wholly desolate.
^(IX)Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴“Put^(IY) yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
All you who bend the bow;
Shoot at her, spare no arrows,
For she has sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵Shout against her all around;
She has ^(IZ)given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
^(JA)Her walls are thrown down;
For ^(JB)it is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her.
As she has done, so do to her.
¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
^(JC)Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is like ^(JD)scattered sheep;
^(JE)The lions have driven him away.
First ^(JF)the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this ^(JG)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
As I have punished the king of ^(JH)Assyria.
¹⁹^(JI)But I will bring back Israel to his home,
And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
²⁰In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
^(JJ)“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;
For I will pardon those ^(JK)whom I preserve.

²¹“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of ^(JL)Pekod.
^[bb]Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do ^(JM)according to all that I have commanded you.
²²^(JN)A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
²³How ^(JO)the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
²⁴I have laid a snare for you;
You have indeed been ^(JP)trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have ^(JQ)contended against the Lord.
²⁵The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out ^(JR)the weapons of His indignation;
For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶Come against her from the farthest border;
Open her storehouses;
Cast her up as heaps of ruins,
And destroy her utterly;
Let nothing of her be left.
²⁷Slay all her ^(JS)bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of ^(JT)their punishment.
²⁸The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
^(JU)Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
The vengeance of His temple.

²⁹“Call together the archers against Babylon.
All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;
Let none of them ^[bc]escape.
^(JV)Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
^(JW)For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
³⁰^(JX)Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,
And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
³¹“Behold, I am against you,
O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;
“For your day has come,
^[bd]The time that I will punish you.
³²The most ^(JY)proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
^(JZ)I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”

³³Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
³⁴^(KA)Their Redeemer is strong;
^(KB)The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their ^(KC)case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵“A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,
“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,
And ^(KD)against her princes and ^(KE)her wise men.
³⁶A sword is ^(KF)against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.
A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
³⁷A sword is against their horses,
Against their chariots,
And against all ^(KG)the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And ^(KH)they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
³⁸^(KI)A ^[be]drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.
For it is the land of carved images,
And they are insane with their idols.

³⁹“Therefore^(KJ) the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
^(KK)It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
⁴⁰^(KL)As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man ^(KM)dwell in it.

⁴¹“Behold,^(KN) a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
⁴²^(KO)They shall hold the bow and the lance;
^(KP)They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
^(KQ)Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³“The king of Babylon has ^(KR)heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in ^(KS)childbirth.

⁴⁴“Behold,^(KT) he shall come up like a lion from the ^[bf]floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will make them suddenly run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And ^(KU)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

⁴⁵Therefore hear ^(KV)the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His ^(KW)purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
^(KX)Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
⁴⁶^(KY)At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

51 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will raise up against ^(KZ)Babylon,
Against those who dwell in ^[bg]Leb Kamai,
^(LA)A destroying wind.
²And I will send ^(LB)winnowers to Babylon,
Who shall winnow her and empty her land.
^(LC)For in the day of doom
They shall be against her all around.
³Against her ^(LD)let the archer bend his bow,
And lift himself up against her in his armor.
Do not spare her young men;
^(LE)Utterly destroy all her army.
⁴Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
^(LF)And those thrust through in her streets.
⁵For Israel is ^(LG)not forsaken, nor Judah,
By his God, the Lord of hosts,
Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

⁶^(LH)Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And every one save his life!
Do not be cut off in her iniquity,
For ^(LI)this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
^(LJ)He shall recompense her.
⁷^(LK)Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
That made all the earth drunk.
^(LL)The nations drank her wine;
Therefore the nations ^(LM)are deranged.
⁸Babylon has suddenly ^(LN)fallen and been destroyed.
^(LO)Wail for her!
^(LP)Take balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.

⁹We would have healed Babylon,
But she is not healed.
Forsake her, and ^(LQ)let us go everyone to his own country;
^(LR)For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.
¹⁰The Lord has ^(LS)revealed our righteousness.
Come and let us ^(LT)declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

¹¹^(LU)Make^[bh] the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
^(LV)The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
^(LW)For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is ^(LX)the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple.
¹²^(LY)Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon;
Make the guard strong,
Set up the watchmen,
Prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
¹³^(LZ)O you who dwell by many waters,
Abundant in treasures,
Your end has come,
The measure of your covetousness.
¹⁴^(MA)The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:
“Surely I will fill you with men, ^(MB)as with locusts,
And they shall lift ^(MC)up a shout against you.”

¹⁵^(MD)He has made the earth by His power;
He has established the world by His wisdom,
And ^(ME)stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
¹⁶When He utters His voice—
There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:
^(MF)“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightnings for the rain;
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

¹⁷^(MG)Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;
Every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image;
^(MH)For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
¹⁸They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁹The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things;
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance.
The Lord of hosts is His name.

²⁰“You^(MI) are My battle-ax and weapons of war:
For with you I will break the nation in pieces;
With you I will destroy kingdoms;
²¹With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider;
With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;
²²With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;
With you I will break in pieces ^(MJ)old and young;
With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;
²³With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;
And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.

²⁴“And^(MK) I will repay Babylon
And all the inhabitants of Chaldea
For all the evil they have done
In Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, I am against you, ^(ML)O destroying mountain,
Who destroys all the earth,” says the Lord.
“And I will stretch out My hand against you,
Roll you down from the rocks,
^(MM)And make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶They shall not take from you a stone for a corner
Nor a stone for a foundation,
^(MN)But you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.

²⁷^(MO)Set up a banner in the land,
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
^(MP)Prepare the nations against her,
Call ^(MQ)the kingdoms together against her:
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a general against her;
Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.
²⁸Prepare against her the nations,
With the kings of the Medes,
Its governors and all its rulers,
All the land of his dominion.
²⁹And the land will tremble and sorrow;
For every ^(MR)purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,
^(MS)To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They have remained in their strongholds;
Their might has failed,
^(MT)They became like women;
They have burned her dwelling places,
^(MU)The bars of her gate are broken.
³¹^(MV)One runner will run to meet another,
And one messenger to meet another,
To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;
³²^(MW)The passages are blocked,
The reeds they have burned with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.

³³For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“The daughter of Babylon is ^(MX)like a threshing floor
When ^(MY)it is time to thresh her;
Yet a little while
^(MZ)And the time of her harvest will come.”

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
Has ^(NA)devoured me, he has crushed me;
He has made me an ^(NB)empty vessel,
He has swallowed me up like a monster;
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies,
He has spit me out.
³⁵Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The inhabitant of Zion will say;
“And my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!”
Jerusalem will say.

³⁶Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, ^(NC)I will plead your case and take vengeance for you.
^(ND)I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
³⁷^(NE)Babylon shall become a heap,
A dwelling place for jackals,
^(NF)An astonishment and a hissing,
Without an inhabitant.
³⁸They shall roar together like lions,
They shall growl like lions’ whelps.
³⁹In their excitement I will prepare their feasts;
^(NG)I will make them drunk,
That they may rejoice,
And sleep a perpetual sleep
And not awake,” says the Lord.
⁴⁰“I will bring them down
Like lambs to the slaughter,
Like rams with male goats.

⁴¹“Oh, how ^(NH)Sheshach^[bi] is taken!
Oh, how ^(NI)the praise of the whole earth is seized!
How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!
⁴²^(NJ)The sea has come up over Babylon;
She is covered with the multitude of its waves.
⁴³^(NK)Her cities are a desolation,
A dry land and a wilderness,
A land where ^(NL)no one dwells,
Through which no son of man passes.
⁴⁴I will punish ^(NM)Bel^[bj] in Babylon,
And I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed;
And the nations shall not stream to him anymore.
Yes, ^(NN)the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵“My^(NO) people, go out of the midst of her!
And let everyone deliver ^[bk]himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.
⁴⁶And lest your heart faint,
And you fear ^(NP)for the rumor that will be heard in the land
(A rumor will come one year,
And after that, in another year
A rumor will come,
And violence in the land,
Ruler against ruler),
⁴⁷Therefore behold, the days are coming
That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon;
Her whole land shall be ashamed,
And all her slain shall fall in her midst.
⁴⁸Then ^(NQ)the heavens and the earth and all that is in them
Shall sing joyously over Babylon;
^(NR)For the plunderers shall come to her from the north,” says the Lord.

⁴⁹As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,
So at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.
⁵⁰^(NS)You who have escaped the sword,
Get away! Do not stand still!
^(NT)Remember the Lord afar off,
And let Jerusalem come to your mind.

⁵¹^(NU)We are ashamed because we have heard reproach.
Shame has covered our faces,
For strangers ^(NV)have come into the ^[bl]sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

⁵²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will bring judgment on her carved images,
And throughout all her land the wounded shall groan.
⁵³^(NW)Though Babylon were to ^[bm]mount up to heaven,
And though she were to fortify the height of her strength,
Yet from Me plunderers would come to her,” says the Lord.

⁵⁴^(NX)The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,
And great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,
⁵⁵Because the Lord is plundering Babylon
And silencing her loud voice,
Though her waves roar like great waters,
And the noise of their voice is uttered,
⁵⁶Because the plunderer comes against her, against Babylon,
And her mighty men are taken.
Every one of their bows is broken;
^(NY)For the Lord is the God of recompense,
He will surely repay.

⁵⁷“And I will make drunk
Her princes and ^(NZ)wise men,
Her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men.
And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep
And not awake,” says ^(OA)the King,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly ^(OB)broken,^[bn]
And her high gates shall be burned with fire;
^(OC)The people will labor in vain,
And the nations, because of the fire;
And they shall be weary.”

Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah

⁵⁹The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of ^(OD)Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was the quartermaster. ⁶⁰So Jeremiah ^(OE)wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all these words, ⁶²then you shall say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that ^(OF)none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate forever.’ ⁶³Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, ^(OG)that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. ⁶⁴Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be weary.’ ”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed^(OH)

52 Zedekiah was ^(OI)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 ^(OJ)Libnah. ²He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ³For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah ^(OK)rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴Now it came to pass in the ^(OL)ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. ⁵So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the ^[bo]plain.

⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. ⁹^(OM)So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. ¹⁰^(ON)Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹He also ^(OO)put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in ^[bp]bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

The Temple and City Plundered and Burned

¹²^(OP)Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (^(OQ)which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ^(OR)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. ¹⁴And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹⁵^(OS)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

¹⁷^(OT)The ^(OU)bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸They also took away ^(OV)the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the ^[bq]bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. ¹⁹The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. ²⁰The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—^(OW)the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹Now concerning the ^(OX)pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen ^[br]cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was ^[bs]four fingers; it was hollow. ²²A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same. ²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; ^(OY)all the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.

The People Taken Captive to Babylonia

²⁴^(OZ)The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, ^(PA)Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵He also took out of the city an ^[bt]officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe 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. ²⁶And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

²⁸^(PB)These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: ^(PC)in the seventh year, ^(PD)three thousand and twenty-three Jews; ²⁹^(PE)in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison^(PF)

³¹^(PG)Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that ^[bu]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, ^(PH)lifted^[bv] up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. ³²And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³So ^[bw]Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, ^(PI)and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. ³⁴And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 43:9 Or mortar
Jeremiah 43:12 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Syr., Vg. He
Jeremiah 43:13 Lit. House of the Sun, ancient On, later called Heliopolis
Jeremiah 44:1 Ancient Memphis
Jeremiah 44:6 Or became a ruin
Jeremiah 44:10 Lit. crushed
Jeremiah 44:11 destroying
Jeremiah 44:14 Lit. lift up their soul
Jeremiah 44:17 Lit. bread
Jeremiah 45:1 Lit. from Jeremiah’s mouth
Jeremiah 46:3 Set in order
Jeremiah 46:3 A small shield
Jeremiah 46:9 Heb. Cush
Jeremiah 46:9 Heb. Put
Jeremiah 46:10 Filled to the full
Jeremiah 46:14 Ancient Memphis
Jeremiah 46:19 Ancient Memphis
Jeremiah 46:21 Lit. calves of the stall
Jeremiah 46:25 A sun god
Jeremiah 46:25 Ancient Thebes
Jeremiah 47:3 Lit. From sinking hands
Jeremiah 47:4 Crete
Jeremiah 47:7 Lit. you
Jeremiah 48:1 Heb. Misgab
Jeremiah 48:2 A city of Moab
Jeremiah 48:4 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX Proclaim it in Zoar
Jeremiah 48:6 Or Aroer, a city of Moab
Jeremiah 48:11 Heb. uses masc. and fem. pronouns interchangeably in this chapter.
Jeremiah 48:12 Lit. tippers of wine bottles
Jeremiah 48:25 Strength
Jeremiah 48:30 idle talk
Jeremiah 48:31 So with DSS, LXX, Vg.; MT He
Jeremiah 48:33 cease
Jeremiah 48:34 Or The Third Eglath, an unknown city, Is. 15:5
Jeremiah 48:35 Places for pagan worship
Jeremiah 49:1 Heb. Malcam, lit. their king; an Ammonite god, 1 Kin. 11:5; Molech, Lev. 18:21
Jeremiah 49:2 Lit. daughters
Jeremiah 49:3 See v. 1
Jeremiah 49:4 Lit. Your valley is flowing
Jeremiah 49:13 ruin
Jeremiah 49:13 ruins
Jeremiah 49:19 Or thicket
Jeremiah 49:20 Or drag them away
Jeremiah 49:23 anxiety
Jeremiah 49:24 childbirth
Jeremiah 49:32 Lit. cut off at the corner, Jer. 9:26; 25:23
Jeremiah 49:35 Power
Jeremiah 50:2 lift
Jeremiah 50:2 Or Marduk; a Babylonian god
Jeremiah 50:3 Or wander
Jeremiah 50:8 male goats
Jeremiah 50:9 So with some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr.; MT, Tg., Vg. a warrior who makes childless
Jeremiah 50:11 Or neigh like steeds
Jeremiah 50:21 Or Attack with the sword
Jeremiah 50:29 Qr., some Heb. mss., LXX, Tg. add to her
Jeremiah 50:31 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. The time of your punishment
Jeremiah 50:38 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; Syr. sword; LXX omits A drought is
Jeremiah 50:44 Or thicket
Jeremiah 51:1 Lit. The Midst of Those Who Rise Up Against Me; a code word for Chaldea, Babylonia
Jeremiah 51:11 Polish the arrows!
Jeremiah 51:41 A code word for Babylon, Jer. 25:26
Jeremiah 51:44 A Babylonian god
Jeremiah 51:45 Lit. his soul
Jeremiah 51:51 holy places
Jeremiah 51:53 ascend
Jeremiah 51:58 Lit. laid utterly bare
Jeremiah 52:7 Or Arabah; the Jordan Valley
Jeremiah 52:11 shackles
Jeremiah 52:18 basins
Jeremiah 52:21 18 inches each
Jeremiah 52:21 3 inches
Jeremiah 52:25 Lit. eunuch
Jeremiah 52:31 Or Awil-Marduk; lit. The Man of Marduk
Jeremiah 52:31 Showed favor to
Jeremiah 52:33 Lit. he

Lamentations 1:1-5:3

New King James Version

Jerusalem in Affliction

1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
^(A)How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The ^(B)princess among the provinces
Has become a ^[a]slave!

²She ^(C)weeps bitterly in the ^(D)night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.

³^(E)Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
^(F)She dwells among the ^[b]nations,
She finds no ^(G)rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the ^[c]set feasts.
All her gates are ^(H)desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.

⁵Her adversaries ^(I)have become ^[d]the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
^(J)Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her ^(K)children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

⁶And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That ^[e]flee without strength
Before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem ^(L)remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her ^[f]downfall.

⁸^(M)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become ^[g]vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because ^(N)they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.

⁹Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She ^(O)did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”

¹⁰The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her ^[h]pleasant things;
For she has seen ^(P)the nations enter her ^[i]sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
^(Q)Not to enter Your assembly.

¹¹All her people sigh,
^(R)They ^[j]seek bread;
They have given their ^[k]valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider,
For I am scorned.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all you who ^[l]pass by?
Behold and see
^(S)If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.

¹³“From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has ^(T)spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.

¹⁴“The^(U) yoke of my transgressions was ^[m]bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

¹⁵“The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
^(V)The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things I weep;
My eye, ^(W)my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”

¹⁷^(X)Zion ^[n]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those ^(Y)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

¹⁸“The Lord is ^(Z)righteous,
For I ^(AA)rebelled against His ^[o]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.

²⁰“See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My ^(AB)soul^[p] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
^(AC)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.

²¹“They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are ^(AD)glad that You have done it.
Bring on ^(AE)the day You have ^[q]announced,
That they may become like me.

²²“Let^(AF) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”

God’s Anger with Jerusalem

2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a ^(AG)cloud in His anger!
^(AH)He cast down from heaven to the earth
^(AI)The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember ^(AJ)His footstool
In the day of His anger.

²The Lord has swallowed up and has ^(AK)not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
^(AL)He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

³He has cut off in fierce anger
Every ^[r]horn of Israel;
^(AM)He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
^(AN)He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.

⁴^(AO)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain ^(AP)all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.

⁵^(AQ)The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
^(AR)He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.

⁶He has done violence ^(AS)to His ^[s]tabernacle,
^(AT)As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The Lord has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has ^(AU)spurned the king and the priest.

⁷The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has ^(AV)abandoned His sanctuary;
He has ^[t]given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
^(AW)They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.

⁸The Lord has ^[u]purposed to destroy
The ^(AX)wall of the daughter of Zion.
^(AY)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.

⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and ^(AZ)broken her bars.
^(BA)Her king and her princes are among the ^[v]nations;
^(BB)The Law is no more,
And her ^(BC)prophets find no ^[w]vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion
^(BD)Sit on the ground and keep silence;
^[x]They ^(BE)throw dust on their heads
And ^(BF)gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.

¹¹^(BG)My eyes fail with tears,
My ^[y]heart is troubled;
^(BH)My ^[z]bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because ^(BI)the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.

¹²They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.

¹³How shall I ^(BJ)console^[aa] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?

¹⁴Your ^(BK)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not ^(BL)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false ^(BM)prophecies and delusions.

¹⁵All who ^[ab]pass by ^(BN)clap their hands at you;
They hiss ^(BO)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
^(BP)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”

¹⁶^(BQ)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, ^(BR)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the ^(BS)day we have waited for;
We have found it, ^(BT)we have seen it!”

¹⁷The Lord has done what He ^(BU)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to ^(BV)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the ^[ac]horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(BW)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give ^[ad]your eyes no rest.

¹⁹“Arise, ^(BX)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
^(BY)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger ^(BZ)at the head of every street.”

²⁰“See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
^(CA)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children ^[ae]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹“Young^(CB) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the ^(CC)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.

²²“You have invited as to a feast day
^(CD)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
^(CE)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have ^(CF)destroyed.”

The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
²He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
³Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.

⁴He has aged ^(CG)my flesh and my skin,
And ^(CH)broken my bones.
⁵He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and ^[af]woe.
⁶^(CI)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.

⁷^(CJ)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
⁸Even ^(CK)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
⁹He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰^(CL)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in ^[ag]ambush.
¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^(CM)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
¹²He has bent His bow
And ^(CN)set me up as a target for the arrow.

¹³He has caused ^(CO)the ^[ah]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my ^[ai]loins.
¹⁴I have become the ^(CP)ridicule of all my people—
^(CQ)Their taunting song all the day.
¹⁵^(CR)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.

¹⁶He has also broken my teeth ^(CS)with gravel,
And ^[aj]covered me with ashes.
¹⁷You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten ^[ak]prosperity.
¹⁸^(CT)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”

¹⁹Remember my affliction and roaming,
^(CU)The wormwood and the ^[al]gall.
²⁰My soul still remembers
And ^[am]sinks within me.
²¹This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have ^(CV)hope.

²²^(CW)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions ^(CX)fail not.
²³They are new ^(CY)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴“The Lord is my ^(CZ)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^(DA)hope in Him!”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who ^(DB)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
²⁶It is good that one should ^(DC)hope ^(DD)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷^(DE)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

²⁸^(DF)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
²⁹^(DG)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
³⁰^(DH)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.

³¹^(DI)For the Lord will not cast off forever.
³²Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
³³For ^(DJ)He does not afflict ^[an]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
³⁶Or subvert a man in his cause—
^(DK)The Lord does not approve.

³⁷Who is he ^(DL)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^(DM)woe and well-being proceed?
³⁹^(DN)Why should a living man ^[ao]complain,
^(DO)A man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
⁴¹^(DP)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
⁴²^(DQ)We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
⁴⁵You have made us an ^(DR)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶^(DS)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
⁴⁷^(DT)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
^(DU)Desolation and destruction.
⁴⁸^(DV)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹^(DW)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
⁵⁰Till the Lord from heaven
^(DX)Looks down and sees.
⁵¹My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies ^(DY)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
⁵³They ^[ap]silenced my life ^(DZ)in the pit
And ^(EA)threw ^[aq]stones at me.
⁵⁴^(EB)The waters flowed over my head;
^(EC)I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵^(ED)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest ^(EE)pit.
⁵⁶^(EF)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
⁵⁷You ^(EG)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, ^(EH)“Do not fear!”

⁵⁸O Lord, You have ^(EI)pleaded the case for my soul;
^(EJ)You have redeemed my life.
⁵⁹O Lord, You have seen ^[ar]how I am wronged;
^(EK)Judge my case.
⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,
All their ^(EL)schemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
⁶²The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
⁶³Look at their ^(EM)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.

⁶⁴^(EN)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵Give them ^[as]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
⁶⁶In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
^(EO)From under the heavens of the ^(EP)Lord.

The Degradation of Zion

4 How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are ^[at]scattered
At the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,
^[au]Valuable as fine gold,
How they are ^[av]regarded ^(EQ)as clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!

³Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
^(ER)Like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(ES)The young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.

⁵Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
^(ET)Embrace ash heaps.

⁶The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the ^(EU)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(EV)overthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!

⁷Her ^[aw]Nazirites were ^[ax]brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their ^[ay]appearance.

⁸Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
^(EW)Their skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.

⁹Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these ^(EX)pine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the ^(EY)field.

¹⁰The hands of the ^(EZ)compassionate women
Have ^[az]cooked their ^(FA)own children;
They became ^(FB)food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
^(FC)He has poured out His fierce anger.
^(FD)He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth,
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could ^(FE)enter the gates of Jerusalem—

¹³^(FF)Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
^(FG)Who shed in her midst
The blood of the just.

¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets;
^(FH)They have defiled themselves with blood,
^(FI)So that no one would touch their garments.

¹⁵They cried out to them,
“Go away, ^(FJ)unclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!”
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
“They shall no longer dwell here.”

¹⁶The ^[ba]face of the Lord scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
^(FK)The people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.

¹⁷Still ^(FL)our eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸^(FM)They ^[bb]tracked our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets.
^(FN)Our end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^(FO)swifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The ^(FP)breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,
^(FQ)Was caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^(FR)Edom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
^(FS)The cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

²²^(FT)The punishment of your iniquity ^[bc]is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.
^(FU)He will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!

Prayer for Restoration

5 Remember, ^(FV)O Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold ^(FW)our reproach!
²^(FX)Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
³We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like ^(FY)widows.