Jeremiah 50:38
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
38 A drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
and they go mad over idols.(A)
Jeremiah 50:2
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2 Declare among the nations and proclaim;
set up a banner and proclaim;
do not conceal it, say:
“Babylon is taken;
Bel is put to shame;
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame;
her idols are dismayed.”(A)
Isaiah 44:27
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27 who says to the deep, “Be dry—
I will dry up your rivers”;(A)
Revelation 16:12
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12 The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great River Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east.(A)
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Jeremiah 51:52
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52 Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.(A)
Jeremiah 51:47
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47 Assuredly, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in her midst.(A)
Revelation 17:15-16
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15 And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the whore[a] is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.(A) 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore;[b] they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire.(B)
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Revelation 17:5
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5 and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the great, mother[a] of whores[b] and of earth’s abominations.”(A)
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Acts 17:16
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Paul in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.(A)
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Habakkuk 2:18-19
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18 What use is an idol
once its maker has shaped it—
a cast image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in what has been made,
though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!(A)
19 Alas for you who say to the wood, “Wake up!”
to silent stone, “Rouse yourself!”
Can it teach?
See, it is gold and silver plated,
and there is no breath in it at all.(B)
Daniel 5:4
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4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.(A)
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Daniel 3
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The Golden Image
3 King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue whose height was sixty cubits and whose width was six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.(A) 2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent for the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to assemble and come to the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.(B) 3 So the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. When they were standing before the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, 4 the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,(C) 5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, you are to fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.(D) 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”(E) 7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum,[a] and entire musical ensemble, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.(F)
8 Accordingly, at this time certain Chaldeans came forward and denounced the Jews.(G) 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!(H) 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, shall fall down and worship the golden statue,(I) 11 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men pay no heed to you, O king. They do not serve your gods, and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”(J)
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in, so they brought those men before the king.(K) 14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up?(L) 15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, you should fall down and worship the statue that I have made. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”(M)
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. 17 If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us.[b] 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
The Fiery Furnace
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary 20 and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics,[c] their trousers,[d] their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. 22 Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” 25 He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the fourth has the appearance of a god.”[e] 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics[f] were not scorched, and not even the smell of fire came from them.(N) 28 Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.(O) 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”(P) 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.(Q)
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Jeremiah 51:44
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44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him disgorge what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer stream to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.(A)
Jeremiah 51:32-36
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32 the fords have been seized,
the marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.(A)
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her harvest will come.(B)
34 “King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has spewed me out.(C)
35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”
the inhabitants of Zion shall say.
“May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem shall say.(D)
36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
I am going to defend your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,(E)
Jeremiah 51:7
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7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
and so the nations went mad.(A)
Jeremiah 50:12
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12 your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
She shall be the last of the nations,
a wilderness, dry land, and a desert.(A)
Isaiah 46:1-7
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46 Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and cattle;
these things you carry are loaded
as burdens on weary animals.(A)
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden
but themselves go into captivity.(B)
3 Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from your birth,
carried from the womb;(C)
4 even to your old age I am he;
even when you turn gray I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.(D)
5 To whom will you liken me and make me equal
and compare me, as though we were alike?(E)
6 Those who lavish gold from the purse
and weigh out silver in the scales—
they hire a goldsmith, who makes it into a god;
then they fall down and worship!(F)
7 They lift it to their shoulders; they carry it;
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
it cannot move from its place.
If one cries out to it, it does not answer
or save anyone from trouble.(G)
Isaiah 44:25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
25 who frustrates the omens of soothsayers
and makes fools of diviners;
who turns back the wise
and makes their knowledge foolish;(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.