Jeremiah 40-52

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jeremiah with Gedaliah the Governor

40 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in fetters along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.^(A) ²The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster,^(B) ³and now the Lord has brought it about and has done as he said, because all of you sinned against the Lord and did not obey his voice. Therefore this thing has come upon you.^(C) ⁴Now look, I have just released you today from the fetters on your hands. If you wish to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take good care of you, but if you do not wish to come with me to Babylon, you need not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go.^(D) ⁵If you remain,^[a] then return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the towns of Judah, and stay with him among the people, or go wherever you think it right to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present and let him go.^(E) ⁶Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.^(F)

⁷When all the leaders of the forces in the open country and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon,^(G) ⁸they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan^[b] son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ophai the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their troops.^(H) ⁹Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan swore to them and their troops, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall go well with you. ¹⁰As for me, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us, but as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and live in the towns that you have taken over.”^(I) ¹¹Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan as governor over them,^(J) ¹²then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been scattered and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.^(K)

¹³Now Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah^(L) ¹⁴and said to him, “Are you at all aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.^(M) ¹⁵Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Please let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one else will know. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered around you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?”^(N) ¹⁶But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do such a thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”^(O)

Insurrection against Gedaliah

41 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah,^(P) ²Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land.^(Q) ³Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

⁴On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, ⁵eighty men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria with their beards shaved and their clothes torn and their bodies gashed, bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord.^(R) ⁶And Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”^(S) ⁷When they reached the middle of the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them^[c] into a cistern.^(T) ⁸But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not kill them along with their companions.

⁹Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down alongside Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made for defense against King Baasha of Israel; Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled that cistern with those whom he had killed.^(U) ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.^(V)

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

Jeremiah Advises Survivors Not to Migrate

42 Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached^(AD) ²the prophet Jeremiah and said, “Be good enough to listen to our plea, and pray to the Lord your God for us—for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see.^(AE) ³Let the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”^(AF) ⁴The prophet Jeremiah said to them, “Very well: I am going to pray to the Lord your God as you request, and whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you.”^(AG) ⁵They in their turn said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the Lord your God sends us through you. ⁶Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”^(AH)

⁷At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸Then he summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest ⁹and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him: ¹⁰If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you.^(AI) ¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand.^(AJ) ¹²I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil. ¹³But if you continue to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thus disobeying the voice of the Lord your God^(AK) ¹⁴and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,’^(AL) ¹⁵then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there,^(AM) ¹⁶then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you into Egypt, and there you shall die. ¹⁷All the people who have determined to go to Egypt to settle there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.^(AN)

¹⁸“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. You shall see this place no more.^(AO) ¹⁹The Lord has said to you, ‘O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt.’ Be well aware that I have warned you today^(AP) ²⁰that you have made a fatal mistake. For you yourselves sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us, and we will do it.’ ²¹So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything that he sent me to tell you.^(AQ) ²²Be well aware, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go and settle.”^(AR)

Taken to Egypt, Jeremiah Warns of Judgment

43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all the words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words,^(AS) ²Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to settle there,’^(AT) ³but Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us, to hand us over to the Chaldeans, in order that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.”^(AU) ⁴So Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah.^(AV) ⁵But Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to settle in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— ⁶the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, also the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah.^(AW) ⁷And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:^(AX) ⁹Take some large stones in your hands, and bury them in the clay pavement^[f] that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Let the Judeans see you do it, ¹⁰and say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to send and take my servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have buried, and he will spread his royal canopy over them.^(AY) ¹¹He shall come and ravage the land of Egypt, giving

those who are destined for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those who are destined for captivity, to captivity,
and those who are destined for the sword, to the sword.^(AZ)

¹²“I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive, and he shall pick clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks his cloak clean of vermin, and he shall depart from there safely.^(BA) ¹³He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.”

Denunciation of Persistent Idolatry

44 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros:^(BB) ²Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Look at them; today they are a desolation, without an inhabitant in them,^(BC) ³because of the wickedness that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings to and serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors.^(BD) ⁴Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, “I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate!”^(BE) ⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and make no offerings to other gods. ⁶So my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as they still are today.^(BF) ⁷And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, to cut off man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant?^(BG) ⁸Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have come to settle? Will you be cut off and become an object of cursing and ridicule among all the nations of the earth?^(BH) ⁹Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah, of their^[g] wives, your own crimes and those of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?^(BI) ¹⁰They have shown no contrition or fear to this day, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors.^(BJ)

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am determined to bring disaster on you, to bring all Judah to an end.^(BK) ¹²I will take the remnant of Judah who are determined to come to the land of Egypt to settle, and they shall perish, everyone; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall perish; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule.^(BL) ¹³I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah. Although they long to go back to live there, they shall not go back, except some fugitives.^(BM)

¹⁵Then all the men who were aware that their wives had been making offerings to other gods and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:^(BN) ¹⁶“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you.^(BO) ¹⁷Instead, we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. We used to have plenty of food and prospered and saw no misfortune.^(BP) ¹⁸But from the time we stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by the sword and by famine.”^(BQ) ¹⁹And the women said,^[h] “Indeed we will go on making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her; do you think that we made cakes for her, marked with her image, and poured out libations to her without our husbands’ being involved?”^(BR)

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who were giving him this answer: ²¹“As for the offerings that you made in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind?^(BS) ²²The Lord could no longer bear the sight of your evil doings, the abominations that you committed; therefore your land became a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is to this day.^(BT) ²³It is because you burned offerings and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his decrees that this disaster has befallen you, as is still evident today.”^(BU)

²⁴Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who are in the land of Egypt,^(BV) ²⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have accomplished in deeds what you declared in words, saying, ‘We are determined to perform the vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her.’ By all means, keep your vows and make your libations!^(BW) ²⁶Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: I swear by my great name, says the Lord, that my name shall no longer be pronounced on the lips of any of the people of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’^(BX) ²⁷I am going to watch over them for harm and not for good; all the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall perish by the sword and by famine until not one is left.^(BY) ²⁸And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number, and all the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to settle shall know whose words will stand, mine or theirs!^(BZ) ²⁹This shall be the sign to you, says the Lord, that I am going to punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words of disaster against you will surely be carried out:^(CA) ³⁰Thus says the Lord, I am going to give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, those who seek his life, just as I gave King Zedekiah of Judah into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.”^(CB)

A Word of Comfort to Baruch

45 The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:^(CC) ²Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: ³You said, “Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.”^(CD) ⁴Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: I am going to break down what I have built and pluck up what I have planted—that is, the whole land.^(CE) ⁵And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them, for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord, but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.”^(CF)

Judgment on Egypt

46 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.

²Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:^(CG)

³Prepare buckler and shield,
    and advance for battle!^(CH)
⁴Harness the horses;
    mount the steeds!
Take your stations with helmets on,
    whet the lances,
    put on coats of mail!
⁵Why do I see them terrified?
    They have fallen back;
their warriors are beaten down
    and have fled in haste.
They do not look back—
    terror is all around!
            says the Lord.^(CI)
⁶The swift cannot flee away,
    nor can the warrior escape;
in the north by the River Euphrates
    they have stumbled and fallen.^(CJ)

⁷Who is this, rising like the Nile,
    like rivers whose waters surge?^(CK)
⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,
    like rivers whose waters surge.
It said, “Let me rise; let me cover the earth;
    let me destroy cities and their inhabitants.”^(CL)
⁹Advance, O horses,
    and dash madly, O chariots!
Let the warriors go forth:
    Cush and Put, who carry the shield,
    the Ludim, who draw^[i] the bow.^(CM)
¹⁰That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
    a day of retribution,
    to gain vindication from his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated
    and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice
    in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.^(CN)
¹¹Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
    O virgin daughter Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
    there is no healing for you.^(CO)
¹²The nations have heard of your shame,
    and the earth is full of your cry,
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
    both have fallen together.^(CP)

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:^(CQ)

¹⁴Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol;
    proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, “Take your stations and be ready,
    for the sword shall devour those around you.”^(CR)
¹⁵Why has Apis^[j] fled?
    Why did your bull not stand?
    Because the Lord thrust him down.
¹⁶Your multitude stumbled^[k] and fell,
    and one said to another,
“Come, let us go back to our own people
    and to the land of our birth,
    because of the destroying sword.”^(CS)
¹⁷Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
    “Braggart who missed his chance.”^(CT)

¹⁸As I live, says the King,
    whose name is the Lord of hosts,
one is coming
    like Tabor among the mountains
    and like Carmel by the sea.^(CU)
¹⁹Pack your bags for exile,
    sheltered daughter Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
    a ruin, without inhabitant.^(CV)

²⁰A beautiful heifer is Egypt—
    a gadfly from the north lights upon her.^(CW)
²¹Even her mercenaries in her midst
    are like fatted calves;
they, too, have turned and fled together;
    they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
    the time of their punishment.^(CX)

²²She makes a sound like a snake gliding away,
    for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes,
    like those who fell trees.^(CY)
²³They shall cut down her forest,
            says the Lord,
    though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous
    than locusts;
    they are without number.^(CZ)
²⁴Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame;
    she shall be handed over to a people from the north.^(DA)

²⁵The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: See, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.^(DB) ²⁶I will hand them over to those who seek their life, to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and his servants. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord.^(DC)

God Will Save Israel

²⁷But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
    and do not be dismayed, O Israel,
for I am going to save you from far away
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and no one shall make him afraid.^(DD)
²⁸As for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
            says the Lord,
    for I am with you.
I will make an end of all the nations
    among which I have banished you,
    but I will not make an end of you!
I will chastise you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.^(DE)

Judgment on the Philistines

47 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:^(DF)

²Thus says the Lord:
See, waters are rising out of the north
    and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who live in it.
People shall cry out,
    and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.^(DG)
³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
    at the clatter of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
parents do not turn back for children,
    so feeble are their hands,^(DH)
⁴because of the day that is coming
    to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
    every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
    the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.^(DI)
⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of Anakim!^[l]
    How long will you gash yourselves?^(DJ)
⁶Ah, sword of the Lord!
    How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
    rest and be still!^(DK)
⁷How can it^[m] be quiet,
    when the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—
    there he has appointed it.^(DL)

Judgment on Moab

48 Concerning Moab.

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

Alas for Nebo, it is laid waste!
    Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame and broken down;^(DM)
²    the renown of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they planned evil against her:
    “Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!”
You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;^[n]
    the sword shall pursue you.^(DN)

³Listen! A cry goes up from Horonaim:
    “Desolation and great destruction!”^(DO)
⁴“Moab is destroyed!”
    her little ones cry out.
⁵For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go^[o] up weeping bitterly;
for at the descent of Horonaim
    they have heard the distressing cry of anguish.^(DP)
⁶Flee! Save yourselves!
    Be like a wild ass^[p] in the desert!^(DQ)

⁷Surely, because you trusted in your strongholds^[q] and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
Chemosh shall go out into exile,
    with his priests and his attendants.^(DR)
⁸The destroyer shall come upon every town,
    and no town shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
    and the plain shall be destroyed,
    as the Lord has spoken.^(DS)

⁹Set aside salt for Moab,
for she will surely fall;
her towns shall become a desolation,
with no inhabitant in them.^(DT)

¹⁰Accursed is the one who is slack in doing the work of the Lord, and accursed is the one who keeps back the sword from bloodshed.^(DU)

¹¹Moab has been at ease from his youth,
    settled like wine^[r] on its dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
    nor has he gone into exile;
therefore his flavor has remained,
    and his aroma is unspoiled.^(DV)

¹²Therefore, the time is surely coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to him decanters to decant him and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces. ¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.^(DW)

¹⁴How can you say, “We are heroes
    and mighty warriors”?^(DX)
¹⁵Moab is destroyed, and his towns have gone up,
    and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
    says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.^(DY)
¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
    and his doom approaches swiftly.^(DZ)
¹⁷Mourn over him, all you his neighbors,
    and all who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff!”^(EA)

¹⁸Come down from glory
    and sit on the parched ground,
    enthroned daughter Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
    he has destroyed your strongholds.^(EB)
¹⁹Stand by the road and watch,
    you inhabitant of Aroer!
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping;
    say, “What has happened?”^(EC)
²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down;
    wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon
    that Moab is laid waste.^(ED)

²¹Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, ²²and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, ²⁴and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.^(EE) ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.^(EF)

²⁶Make him drunk because he magnified himself against the Lord; let Moab wallow in his vomit; he, too, shall become a laughingstock.^(EG) ²⁷Israel was a laughingstock for you, though he was not caught among thieves, but whenever you spoke of him you shook your head!^(EH)

²⁸Leave the towns, and live on the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
    on the sides of the mouth of a gorge.^(EI)
²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab—
    he is very proud—
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
    and the haughtiness of his heart.^(EJ)
³⁰I myself know his insolence, says the Lord;
    his boasts are false;
    his deeds are false.^(EK)
³¹Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the people of Kir-heres I mourn.^(EL)
³²More than for Jazer I weep for you,
    O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches crossed over the sea,
    reached as far as Jazer;^[s]
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
    the destroyer has fallen.^(EM)
³³Gladness and joy have been taken away
    from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have stopped the wine from the winepresses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy;
    the shouting is not the shout of joy.^(EN)

³⁴From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate.^(EO) ³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab, says the Lord, those who offer sacrifice at a high place and make offerings to their gods.^(EP) ³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the people of Kir-heres, for the riches they gained have perished.^(EQ)

³⁷For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; on all the hands there are gashes and on the loins sackcloth.^(ER) ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel that no one wants, says the Lord.^(ES) ³⁹How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all his neighbors.^(ET)

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord:
Look, he shall swoop down like an eagle
    and spread his wings against Moab;^(EU)
⁴¹the towns^[t] shall be taken
    and the strongholds seized.
The hearts of the warriors of Moab, on that day,
    shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.^(EV)
⁴²Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
    because he magnified himself against the Lord.^(EW)
⁴³Terror, pit, and trap
    are before you, O inhabitants of Moab!
            says the Lord.^(EX)
⁴⁴Everyone who flees from the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and everyone who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the trap.
For I will bring these things^[u] upon Moab
    in the year of their punishment,
            says the Lord.^(EY)

⁴⁵In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop exhausted,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
    a flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed the forehead^[v] of Moab,
    the scalp of the people of tumult.^[w]^(EZ)
⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of Chemosh have perished,
for your sons have been taken captive
    and your daughters into captivity.^(FA)
⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.^(FB)

Judgment on the Ammonites

49 Concerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the Lord:

Has Israel no sons?
    Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom^[x] dispossessed Gad
    and his people settled in its towns?^(FC)
²Therefore, the time is surely coming,
    says the Lord,
when I will sound the battle alarm
    against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate mound,
    and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
    says the Lord.^(FD)

³Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
    Cry out, O daughters^[y] of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth,
    lament, and slash yourselves with whips!^[z]
For Milcom^[aa] shall go into exile,
    with his priests and his attendants.^(FE)
⁴Why do you boast in your strength?
    Your strength is ebbing,
O faithless daughter.
    Who trusted in her treasures, saying,^[ab]
    “Who will attack me?”^(FF)
⁵I am going to bring terror upon you,
    says the Lord God of hosts,
    from all your neighbors,
and you will be scattered, each headlong,
    with no one to gather the fugitives.^(FG)

⁶But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the Lord.^(FH)

Judgment on Edom

⁷Concerning Edom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
    Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    Has their wisdom vanished?^(FI)
⁸Flee; turn back; get down low,
    inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
    the time when I punish him.^(FJ)
⁹If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
    even they would pillage only what they wanted.^(FK)
¹⁰But as for me, I have stripped Esau bare;
    I have uncovered his hiding places,
    and he is not able to conceal himself.
His offspring are destroyed, his kinsfolk
    and his neighbors, and he is no more.^(FL)
¹¹Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive,
    and let your widows trust in me.^(FM)

¹²For thus says the Lord: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup still have to drink it, shall you be the one to go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; you must drink it.^(FN) ¹³For by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become an object of horror and ridicule, a waste, and an object of cursing, and all her towns shall be perpetual wastes.^(FO)

¹⁴I have heard tidings from the Lord,
    and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
    and rise up for battle!”^(FP)
¹⁵For I will make you least among the nations,
    despised by humankind.
¹⁶The terror you inspire
    and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,^[ac]
    who hold the height of the hill.
Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
    from there I will bring you down,
            says the Lord.^(FQ)

¹⁷Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.^(FR) ¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were overthrown, says the Lord, no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in it.^(FS) ¹⁹Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase Edom^[ad] away from it, and I will appoint over it whomever I choose.^[ae] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?^(FT) ²⁰Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.^(FU) ²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.^[af]^(FV) ²²Look, he shall mount up and swoop down like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.^(FW)

Judgment on Damascus

²³Concerning Damascus.

Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
    for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear; they are troubled like the sea^[ag]
    that cannot be quiet.^(FX)
²⁴Damascus has become feeble; she turned to flee,
    and panic seized her;
anguish and pangs seize her,
    as of a woman in labor.
²⁵How is the famous city not forsaken,^[ah]
    the town of my joy?^[ai]^(FY)
²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
    and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day,
            says the Lord of hosts.^(FZ)
²⁷And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.^(GA)

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated.

Thus says the Lord:
Rise up; advance against Kedar!
    Destroy the people of the east!^(GB)
²⁹They take their tents and their flocks,
    their curtains and all their goods;
they carry off their camels for themselves,
    and a cry shall go up: “Terror is all around!”^(GC)
³⁰Flee; wander far away; hide in deep places,
    O inhabitants of Hazor!
            says the Lord.
For King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon
    has made a plan against you
    and formed a purpose against you.^(GD)

³¹Rise up; advance against a nation at ease,
    that lives secure,
            says the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
    that lives alone.^(GE)
³²Their camels shall become plunder;
    their herds of cattle a spoil.
I will scatter to every wind
    those who have shaved temples,
and I will bring calamity
    against them from every side,
            says the Lord.^(GF)
³³Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,
    an everlasting waste;
no one shall live there,
    nor shall anyone settle in it.^(GG)

Judgment on Elam

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.^(GH)

³⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might,^(GI) ³⁶and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there shall be no nation to which the exiles from Elam shall not come.^(GJ) ³⁷I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life; I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, says the Lord. I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them,^(GK) ³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, says the Lord.

³⁹But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.

Judgment on Babylon

50 The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the prophet Jeremiah:^(GL)

²Declare 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.”^(GM)

³For out of the north a nation has come up against her; it shall make her land a desolation, and no one shall live in it; both humans and animals shall flee away.^(GN)

⁴In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the people of Israel shall come, they and the people of Judah together; they shall come weeping as they seek the Lord their God.^(GO) ⁵They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the Lord by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.

⁶My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold.^(GP) ⁷All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, “We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord, the true pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.”^(GQ)

⁸Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock.^(GR) ⁹For I am going to stir up and bring against Babylon a company of great nations from the land of the north, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like the arrows of a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.^(GS) ¹⁰Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the Lord.

¹¹Though you rejoice, though you exult,
    O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass
    and neigh like stallions,^(GT)
¹²your 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.^(GU)
¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord, she shall not be inhabited
    but shall be an utter desolation;
everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled
    and hiss because of all her wounds.^(GV)
¹⁴Take up your positions around Babylon,
    all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her; spare no arrows,
    for she has sinned against the Lord.^(GW)
¹⁵Raise a shout against her from all sides,
    “She has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
    her walls are thrown down.”
For this is the vengeance of the Lord:
    take vengeance on her;
    do to her as she has done.^(GX)
¹⁶Cut off from Babylon the sower
    and the wielder of the sickle in time of harvest;
because of the destroying sword,
    all of them shall return to their own people,
    and all of them shall flee to their own land.^(GY)

¹⁷Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured it, and now at the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has gnawed its bones.^(GZ) ¹⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹I will restore Israel to its pasture, and it shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead its hunger shall be satisfied.^(HA) ²⁰In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon the remnant that I have spared.^(HB)

²¹Go up to the land of Merathaim;^[aj]
    go up against her,
and attack the inhabitants of Pekod^[ak]
    and utterly destroy the last of them,^[al]
            says the Lord;
    do all that I have commanded you.^(HC)
²²The noise of battle is in the land
    and great destruction!^(HD)
²³How the hammer of the whole earth
    is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!^(HE)
²⁴I set a snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon,
    but you did not know it;
you were discovered and seized
    because you challenged the Lord.^(HF)
²⁵The Lord has opened his armory
    and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a task
    in the land of the Chaldeans.^(HG)
²⁶Come against her from every quarter;
    open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly;
    let nothing be left of her.^(HH)
²⁷Kill all her bulls;
    let them go down to the slaughter.
Alas for them, their day has come,
    the time of their punishment!^(HI)

²⁸Listen! Fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon are coming to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for his temple.^(HJ)

²⁹Summon archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do to her—for she has arrogantly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.^(HK) ³⁰Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the Lord.^(HL)

³¹I am against you, O arrogant one,
    says the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
    the time when I will punish you.^(HM)
³²The arrogant one shall stumble and fall,
    with no one to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
    and it will devour everything around him.^(HN)

³³Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and so also are the people of Judah; all their captors have held them fast and refuse to let them go.^(HO) ³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.^(HP)

³⁵A sword against the Chaldeans, says the Lord,
    and against the inhabitants of Babylon
    and against her officials and her sages!^(HQ)
³⁶A sword against the diviners,
    so that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
    so that they may be dismayed!^(HR)
³⁷A sword against her^[am] horses and against her^[an] chariots
    and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
    so that they may become women!
A sword against her treasures,
    that they may be plundered!^(HS)
³⁸A drought against her waters,
    that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
    and they go mad over idols.^(HT)

³⁹Therefore wild animals shall live with hyenas in Babylon,^[ao] and ostriches shall inhabit her; she shall never again be peopled or inhabited for all generations.^(HU) ⁴⁰As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in her.^(HV)

⁴¹Look, a people is coming from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.^(HW)
⁴²They wield bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring sea;
    they ride upon horses,
set in array as a warrior for battle,
    against you, O daughter Babylon!^(HX)

⁴³The king of Babylon heard news of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.^(HY)

⁴⁴Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase them away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.^[ap] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?^(HZ) ⁴⁵Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely the fold shall be appalled at their fate. ⁴⁶At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.^(IA)

51 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to stir up a destructive wind^[aq]
    against Babylon
    and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai,^[ar]^(IB)
²and I will send winnowers to Babylon,
    and they shall winnow her.
They shall empty her land
    when they come against her from every side
    on the day of trouble.^(IC)
³Let not the archer bend his bow,
    and let him not array himself in his coat of mail.
Do not spare her young men;
    utterly destroy her entire army.^(ID)
⁴They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
    and wounded in her streets.
⁵Indeed, Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
    by their God, the Lord of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
    before the Holy One of Israel.^(IE)

⁶Flee from the midst of Babylon;
    save your lives, each of you!
Do not perish because of her guilt,
    for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
    he is repaying her what is due.^(IF)
⁷Babylon 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.^(IG)
⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
    wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
    perhaps she may be healed.^(IH)
⁹We tried to heal Babylon,
    but she could not be healed.
Forsake her, and let each of us go
    to our own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
    and has been lifted up even to the skies.^(II)
¹⁰The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
    come, let us declare in Zion
    the work of the Lord our God.^(IJ)

¹¹Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!

The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for his temple.^(IK)

¹²Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    make the watch strong;
post sentinels;
    prepare the ambushes,
for the Lord has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.^(IL)
¹³You who live by mighty waters,
    rich in treasures,
your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.^(IM)
¹⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with troops like a swarm of locusts,
    and they shall raise a shout of victory over you.^(IN)

¹⁵It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.^(IO)
¹⁶When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
    and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(IP)
¹⁷Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
    goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.^(IQ)
¹⁸They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.^(IR)
¹⁹Not like these is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the Lord of hosts is his name.^(IS)

Israel the Creator’s Instrument

²⁰You are my war club, my weapon of battle:
with you I smash nations;
    with you I destroy kingdoms;^(IT)
²¹with you I smash the horse and its rider;
    with you I smash the chariot and the charioteer;
²²with you I smash man and woman;
    with you I smash the old man and the boy;
with you I smash the young man and the girl;^(IU)
²³    with you I smash shepherds and their flocks;
with you I smash farmers and their teams;
    with you I smash governors and deputies.

The Doom of Babylon

²⁴I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion, says the Lord.^(IV)

²⁵I am against you, O destroying mountain,
            says the Lord,
    that destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you
    and roll you down from the crags
    and make you a burned-out mountain.^(IW)
²⁶No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
    says the Lord.^(IX)

²⁷Raise a standard in the land;
    blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
    summon against her the kingdoms,
    Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
    bring up horses like bristling locusts.^(IY)
²⁸Prepare the nations for war against her,
    the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
    and every land under their dominion.
²⁹The land trembles and writhes,
    for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.^(IZ)
³⁰The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
    they have become women;
her buildings are set on fire;
    her bars are broken.^(JA)
³¹One runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken from end to end:^(JB)
³²the fords have been seized,
    the marshes have been burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.^(JC)
³³For 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.^(JD)

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.^(JE)
³⁵May 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.^(JF)
³⁶Therefore 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,^(JG)
³⁷and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
    a den of jackals,
an object of horror and of hissing,
    without inhabitant.^(JH)

³⁸Like lions they shall roar together;
    they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
³⁹When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink
    and make them drunk, until they become merry
and then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and never wake, says the Lord.^(JI)
⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and goats.^(JJ)

⁴¹How Sheshach^[as] is taken;
    the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
    an object of horror among the nations!^(JK)
⁴²The sea has risen over Babylon;
    she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.^(JL)
⁴³Her cities have become an object of horror,
    a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one lives
    and through which no mortal passes.^(JM)
⁴⁴I 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.^(JN)

⁴⁵Come out of her, my people!
    Save your lives, each of you,
    from the fierce anger of the Lord!^(JO)
⁴⁶Do not be fainthearted or fearful
    at the rumors heard in the land—
one year one rumor comes,
    the next year another,
rumors of violence in the land
    and of ruler against ruler.^(JP)

⁴⁷Assuredly, 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.^(JQ)
⁴⁸Then the heavens and the earth
    and all that is in them
shall shout for joy over Babylon,
    for the destroyers shall come against her out of the north,
            says the Lord.^(JR)
⁴⁹Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.^(JS)

⁵⁰You survivors of the sword,
    go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:^(JT)
⁵¹We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;
    dishonor has covered our faces,
for aliens have come
    into the holy places of the Lord’s house.^(JU)

⁵²Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
    when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.^(JV)
⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
    and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
    says the Lord.^(JW)

⁵⁴Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
    A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!^(JX)
⁵⁵For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters;
    the sound of their clamor resounds,^(JY)
⁵⁶for a destroyer has come against her,
    against Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
    he will repay in full.^(JZ)
⁵⁷I will make her officials and her sages drunk,
    also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,
    says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.^(KA)

⁵⁸Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
    the nations only for fire,
    and they have become weary.^(KB)

Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah

⁵⁹The word that the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.^(KC) ⁶⁰Jeremiah wrote in a^[at] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.^(KD) ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶²and say, ‘O Lord, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither humans nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’^(KE) ⁶³When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,^(KF) ⁶⁴and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’ ”^[au]

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.^(KG)

The Destruction of Jerusalem Reviewed

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.^(KH) ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.^(KI) ³Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence.

Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.^(KJ) ⁴And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around.^(KK) ⁵So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.^(KL) ⁷Then a breach was made in the city wall,^[av] and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the King’s Garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.^(KM) ⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered, deserting him.^(KN) ⁹Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.^(KO) ¹⁰The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah.^(KP) ¹¹He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in fetters, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.^(KQ)

¹²In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.^(KR) ¹³He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.^(KS) ¹⁴All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.^(KT) ¹⁵Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans.^(KU) ¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.^(KV)

¹⁷The pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to Babylon.^(KW) ¹⁸They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the ladles, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service.^(KX) ¹⁹The captain of the guard took away the small bowls also, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the ladles, and the bowls for libation, both those of gold and those of silver.^(KY) ²⁰As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.^(KZ) ²¹As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; its circumference was twelve cubits; it was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers.^(LA) ²²Upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was five cubits; latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, encircled the top of the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates.^(LB) ²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates encircling the latticework numbered one hundred.

²⁴The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold.^(LC) ²⁵From the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, seven men of the king’s council who were found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found inside the city. ²⁶Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.^(LD) ²⁷And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile out of its land.^(LE)

²⁸This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans;^(LF) ²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took into exile from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile of the Judeans seven hundred forty-five persons; all the persons were four thousand six hundred.^(LG)

Jehoiachin Favored in Captivity

³¹In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, showed favor to King Jehoiachin of Judah and brought him out of prison;^(LH) ³²he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table.^(LI) ³⁴For his allowance, a regular daily allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, as long as he lived, up to the day of his death.^(LJ)

Footnotes

40.5 Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain
40.8 Gk: Heb Johanan, Jonathan
41.7 Syr: Heb lacks and threw them
41.16 Heb he
41.16 Meaning of Heb uncertain
43.9 Meaning of Heb uncertain
44.9 Heb his
44.19 Gk: Heb lacks And the women said
46.9 Cn: Heb who grasp, who draw
46.15 Gk: Heb mighty ones
46.16 Gk: Heb the stumblers multiplied
47.5 Gk: Heb their valley
47.7 Gk Vg: Heb you
48.2 The place name Madmen sounds like the Hebrew verb to be silent
48.5 Syr Tg: Heb he goes
48.6 Gk: Heb like Aroer
48.7 Gk: Heb works
48.11 Heb lacks like wine
48.32 Heb mss: MT the sea of Jazer
48.41 Or Kerioth
48.44 Gk Syr: Heb bring upon it
48.45 Or borderland
48.45 Or of Shaon
49.1 Gk Vg Syr: Heb their king
49.3 Or villages
49.3 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
49.3 Gk Vg Syr: Heb their king
49.4 Gk: Heb lacks saying
49.16 Or of Sela
49.19 Heb him
49.19 Meaning of Heb uncertain
49.21 Or Sea of Reeds
49.23 Cn: Heb there is trouble in the sea
49.25 Vg: Heb is not forsaken
49.25 Syr Vg Tg: Heb the town of my joy
50.21 Or of Double Rebellion
50.21 Or of Punishment
50.21 Tg: Heb destroy after them
50.37 Syr: Heb his
50.37 Syr: Heb his
50.39 Heb lacks in Babylon
50.44 Meaning of Heb uncertain
51.1 Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer
51.1 That is, Chaldea
51.41 That is, Babylon
51.60 Or one
51.64 Gk: Heb on her. And they shall weary themselves
52.7 Heb lacks wall

Jeremiah 40-50

New International Version

Jeremiah Freed

40 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had released him at Ramah.^(A) He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the captives^(B) from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon. ²When the commander^(C) of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, “The Lord your God decreed^(D) this disaster^(E) for this place.^(F) ³And now the Lord has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned^(G) against the Lord and did not obey^(H) him. ⁴But today I am freeing^(I) you from the chains^(J) on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please.”^(K) ⁵However, before Jeremiah turned to go,^[a] Nebuzaradan added, “Go back to Gedaliah^(L) son of Ahikam,^(M) the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed^(N) over the towns^(O) of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please.”^(P)

Then the commander gave him provisions and a present^(Q) and let him go. ⁶So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah^(R) and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.

Gedaliah Assassinated^(S)

⁷When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor^(T) over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest^(U) in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon, ⁸they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah^(V)—Ishmael^(W) son of Nethaniah, Johanan^(X) and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite,^(Y) and Jaazaniah^[b] the son of the Maakathite,^(Z) and their men. ⁹Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid to serve^(AA) the Babylonians,^[c]^(AB)” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.^(AC) ¹⁰I myself will stay at Mizpah^(AD) to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine,^(AE) summer fruit and olive oil, and put them in your storage jars,^(AF) and live in the towns you have taken over.”^(AG)

¹¹When all the Jews in Moab,^(AH) Ammon, Edom^(AI) and all the other countries^(AJ) heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them, ¹²they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered.^(AK) And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit.

¹³Johanan^(AL) son of Kareah and all the army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah^(AM) ¹⁴and said to him, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites^(AN) has sent Ishmael^(AO) son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵Then Johanan^(AP) son of Kareah said privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah, “Let me go and kill^(AQ) Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered^(AR) and the remnant^(AS) of Judah to perish?”

¹⁶But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan^(AT) son of Kareah, “Don’t do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”

41 In the seventh month Ishmael^(AU) son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there, ²Ishmael^(AV) son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword,^(AW) killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed^(AX) as governor over the land.^(AY) ³Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian^[d] soldiers who were there.

⁴The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it, ⁵eighty men who had shaved off their beards,^(AZ) torn their clothes^(BA) and cut^(BB) themselves came from Shechem,^(BC) Shiloh^(BD) and Samaria,^(BE) bringing grain offerings and incense^(BF) with them to the house of the Lord.^(BG) ⁶Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping^(BH) as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”^(BI) ⁷When they went into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.^(BJ) ⁸But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.”^(BK) So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others. ⁹Now the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa^(BL) had made as part of his defense^(BM) against Baasha^(BN) king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead.

¹⁰Ishmael made captives of all the rest of the people^(BO) who were in Mizpah—the king’s daughters^(BP) along with all the others who were left there, over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.^(BQ)

¹¹When Johanan^(BR) son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed, ¹²they took all their men and went to fight^(BS) Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the great pool^(BT) in Gibeon. ¹³When all the people^(BU) Ishmael had with him saw Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴All the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah^(BV) turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped^(BW) from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites.

Flight to Egypt

¹⁶Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers^(BX) who were with him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived,^(BY) whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon. ¹⁷And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham^(BZ) near Bethlehem^(CA) on their way to Egypt^(CB) ¹⁸to escape the Babylonians.^[e] They were afraid^(CC) of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah^(CD) son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.

42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan^(CE) son of Kareah and Jezaniah^[f] son of Hoshaiah,^(CF) and all the people from the least to the greatest^(CG) approached ²Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray^(CH) to the Lord your God for this entire remnant.^(CI) For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few^(CJ) are left. ³Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”^(CK)

⁴“I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will certainly pray^(CL) to the Lord your God as you have requested; I will tell^(CM) you everything the Lord says and will keep nothing back from you.”^(CN)

⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true^(CO) and faithful^(CP) witness^(CQ) against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. ⁶Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well^(CR) with us, for we will obey^(CS) the Lord our God.”

⁷Ten days later the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers^(CT) who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest.^(CU) ⁹He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition,^(CV) says:^(CW) ¹⁰‘If you stay in this land,^(CX) I will build^(CY) you up and not tear you down; I will plant^(CZ) you and not uproot you,^(DA) for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you.^(DB) ¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon,^(DC) whom you now fear.^(DD) Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you and will save^(DE) you and deliver you from his hands.^(DF) ¹²I will show you compassion^(DG) so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’^(DH)

¹³“However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey^(DI) the Lord your God, ¹⁴and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt,^(DJ) where we will not see war or hear the trumpet^(DK) or be hungry for bread,’^(DL) ¹⁵then hear the word of the Lord,^(DM) you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, ¹⁶then the sword^(DN) you fear^(DO) will overtake you there, and the famine^(DP) you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die.^(DQ) ¹⁷Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague;^(DR) not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ ¹⁸This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath^(DS) have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem,^(DT) so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse^[g]^(DU) and an object of horror,^(DV) a curse^[h] and an object of reproach;^(DW) you will never see this place again.’^(DX)

¹⁹“Remnant^(DY) of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’^(DZ) Be sure of this: I warn you today ²⁰that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’^(EA) ²¹I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you.^(EB) ²²So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine^(EC) and plague^(ED) in the place where you want to go to settle.”^(EE)

43 When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them^(EF)— ²Azariah son of Hoshaiah^(EG) and Johanan^(EH) son of Kareah and all the arrogant^(EI) men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying!^(EJ) The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’^(EK) ³But Baruch^(EL) son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians,^[i] so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.”^(EM)

⁴So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people^(EN) disobeyed the Lord’s command^(EO) to stay in the land of Judah.^(EP) ⁵Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered.^(EQ) ⁶They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women,^(ER) the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch^(ES) son of Neriah along with them. ⁷So they entered Egypt^(ET) in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes.^(EU)

⁸In Tahpanhes^(EV) the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ⁹“While the Jews are watching, take some large stones^(EW) with you and bury them in clay in the brick^(EX) pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace^(EY) in Tahpanhes. ¹⁰Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant^(EZ) Nebuchadnezzar^(FA) king of Babylon, and I will set his throne^(FB) over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy^(FC) above them. ¹¹He will come and attack Egypt,^(FD) bringing death^(FE) to those destined^(FF) for death, captivity to those destined for captivity,^(FG) and the sword to those destined for the sword.^(FH) ¹²He will set fire^(FI) to the temples^(FJ) of the gods^(FK) of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive.^(FL) As a shepherd picks^(FM) his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. ¹³There in the temple of the sun^[j]^(FN) in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars^(FO) and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’”

Disaster Because of Idolatry

44 This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in Lower Egypt^(FP)—in Migdol,^(FQ) Tahpanhes^(FR) and Memphis^(FS)—and in Upper Egypt:^(FT) ²“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster^(FU) I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah.^(FV) Today they lie deserted and in ruins^(FW) ³because of the evil^(FX) they have done. They aroused my anger^(FY) by burning incense^(FZ) to and worshiping other gods^(GA) that neither they nor you nor your ancestors^(GB) ever knew. ⁴Again and again^(GC) I sent my servants the prophets,^(GD) who said, ‘Do not do this detestable^(GE) thing that I hate!’ ⁵But they did not listen or pay attention;^(GF) they did not turn from their wickedness^(GG) or stop burning incense^(GH) to other gods.^(GI) ⁶Therefore, my fierce anger was poured out;^(GJ) it raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins^(GK) they are today.

⁷“Now this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Why bring such great disaster^(GL) on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and women,^(GM) the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant?^(GN) ⁸Why arouse my anger with what your hands have made,^(GO) burning incense^(GP) to other gods in Egypt,^(GQ) where you have come to live?^(GR) You will destroy yourselves and make yourselves a curse^[k] and an object of reproach^(GS) among all the nations on earth. ⁹Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your ancestors^(GT) and by the kings^(GU) and queens^(GV) of Judah and the wickedness committed by you and your wives^(GW) in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?^(GX) ¹⁰To this day they have not humbled^(GY) themselves or shown reverence,^(GZ) nor have they followed my law^(HA) and the decrees^(HB) I set before you and your ancestors.^(HC)

¹¹“Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty,^(HD) the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disaster^(HE) on you and to destroy all Judah. ¹²I will take away the remnant^(HF) of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine. From the least to the greatest,^(HG) they will die by sword or famine.^(HH) They will become a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach.^(HI) ¹³I will punish^(HJ) those who live in Egypt with the sword,^(HK) famine and plague,^(HL) as I punished Jerusalem. ¹⁴None of the remnant of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, to which they long to return and live; none will return except a few fugitives.”^(HM)

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives^(HN) were burning incense^(HO) to other gods, along with all the women^(HP) who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt,^(HQ) said to Jeremiah, ¹⁶“We will not listen^(HR) to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord!^(HS) ¹⁷We will certainly do everything we said we would:^(HT) We will burn incense^(HU) to the Queen of Heaven^(HV) and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials^(HW) did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.^(HX) At that time we had plenty of food^(HY) and were well off and suffered no harm.^(HZ) ¹⁸But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings^(IA) to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.^(IB)”

¹⁹The women added, “When we burned incense^(IC) to the Queen of Heaven^(ID) and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands^(IE) know that we were making cakes^(IF) impressed with her image^(IG) and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him, ²¹“Did not the Lord remember^(IH) and call to mind the incense^(II) burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem^(IJ) by you and your ancestors,^(IK) your kings and your officials and the people of the land?^(IL) ²²When the Lord could no longer endure^(IM) your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse^(IN) and a desolate waste^(IO) without inhabitants, as it is today.^(IP) ²³Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed^(IQ) his law or his decrees^(IR) or his stipulations, this disaster^(IS) has come upon you, as you now see.”^(IT)

²⁴Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women,^(IU) “Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah in Egypt.^(IV) ²⁵This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives^(IW) have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’^(IX)

“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!^(IY) ²⁶But hear the word of the Lord, all you Jews living in Egypt:^(IZ) ‘I swear^(JA) by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign^(JB) Lord lives.”^(JC) ²⁷For I am watching^(JD) over them for harm,^(JE) not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish^(JF) by sword and famine^(JG) until they are all destroyed.^(JH) ²⁸Those who escape the sword^(JI) and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few.^(JJ) Then the whole remnant^(JK) of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand^(JL)—mine or theirs.^(JM)

²⁹“‘This will be the sign^(JN) to you that I will punish^(JO) you in this place,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand.’^(JP) ³⁰This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh^(JQ) Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah^(JR) king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’”^(JS)

A Message to Baruch

45 When Baruch^(JT) son of Neriah^(JU) wrote on a scroll^(JV) the words Jeremiah the prophet dictated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim^(JW) son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah said this to Baruch: ²“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ³You said, ‘Woe^(JX) to me! The Lord has added sorrow^(JY) to my pain;^(JZ) I am worn out with groaning^(KA) and find no rest.’^(KB) ⁴But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot^(KC) what I have planted,^(KD) throughout the earth.^(KE) ⁵Should you then seek great^(KF) things for yourself? Do not seek them.^(KG) For I will bring disaster^(KH) on all people,^(KI) declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape^(KJ) with your life.’”^(KK)

A Message About Egypt

46 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:^(KL)

²Concerning Egypt:^(KM)

This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho^(KN) king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish^(KO) on the Euphrates^(KP) River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim^(KQ) son of Josiah king of Judah:

³“Prepare your shields,^(KR) both large and small,
    and march out for battle!
⁴Harness the horses,
    mount the steeds!
Take your positions
    with helmets on!
Polish^(KS) your spears,
    put on your armor!^(KT)
⁵What do I see?
    They are terrified,
they are retreating,
    their warriors are defeated.
They flee^(KU) in haste
    without looking back,
    and there is terror^(KV) on every side,”
declares the Lord.
⁶“The swift cannot flee^(KW)
    nor the strong escape.
In the north by the River Euphrates^(KX)
    they stumble and fall.^(KY)

⁷“Who is this that rises like the Nile,
    like rivers of surging waters?^(KZ)
⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,^(LA)
    like rivers of surging waters.
She says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth;
    I will destroy cities and their people.’^(LB)
⁹Charge, you horses!
    Drive furiously, you charioteers!^(LC)
March on, you warriors—men of Cush^[l]^(LD) and Put who carry shields,
    men of Lydia^(LE) who draw the bow.
¹⁰But that day^(LF) belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty—
    a day of vengeance^(LG), for vengeance on his foes.
The sword will devour^(LH) till it is satisfied,
    till it has quenched its thirst with blood.^(LI)
For the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will offer sacrifice^(LJ)
    in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.^(LK)

¹¹“Go up to Gilead and get balm,^(LL)
    Virgin^(LM) Daughter Egypt.
But you try many medicines in vain;
    there is no healing^(LN) for you.
¹²The nations will hear of your shame;
    your cries will fill the earth.
One warrior will stumble over another;
    both will fall^(LO) down together.”

¹³This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon^(LP) to attack Egypt:^(LQ)

¹⁴“Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;
    proclaim it also in Memphis^(LR) and Tahpanhes:^(LS)
‘Take your positions and get ready,
    for the sword devours^(LT) those around you.’
¹⁵Why will your warriors be laid low?
    They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down.^(LU)
¹⁶They will stumble^(LV) repeatedly;
    they will fall^(LW) over each other.
They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back
    to our own people^(LX) and our native lands,
    away from the sword of the oppressor.’^(LY)
¹⁷There they will exclaim,
    ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise;^(LZ)
    he has missed his opportunity.^(MA)’

¹⁸“As surely as I live,” declares the King,^(MB)
    whose name is the Lord Almighty,
“one will come who is like Tabor^(MC) among the mountains,
    like Carmel^(MD) by the sea.
¹⁹Pack your belongings for exile,^(ME)
    you who live in Egypt,
for Memphis^(MF) will be laid waste^(MG)
    and lie in ruins without inhabitant.

²⁰“Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
    but a gadfly is coming
    against her from the north.^(MH)
²¹The mercenaries^(MI) in her ranks
    are like fattened calves.^(MJ)
They too will turn and flee^(MK) together,
    they will not stand their ground,
for the day^(ML) of disaster is coming upon them,
    the time^(MM) for them to be punished.
²²Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent
    as the enemy advances in force;
they will come against her with axes,
    like men who cut down trees.^(MN)
²³They will chop down her forest,”
declares the Lord,
    “dense though it be.
They are more numerous than locusts,^(MO)
    they cannot be counted.
²⁴Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,
    given into the hands of the people of the north.^(MP)”

²⁵The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes,^(MQ) on Pharaoh,^(MR) on Egypt and her gods^(MS) and her kings, and on those who rely^(MT) on Pharaoh. ²⁶I will give them into the hands^(MU) of those who want to kill them—Nebuchadnezzar king^(MV) of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited^(MW) as in times past,” declares the Lord.

²⁷“Do not be afraid,^(MX) Jacob^(MY) my servant;^(MZ)
    do not be dismayed, Israel.
I will surely save you out of a distant place,
    your descendants from the land of their exile.^(NA)
Jacob will again have peace and security,
    and no one will make him afraid.
²⁸Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant,
    for I am with you,”^(NB) declares the Lord.
“Though I completely destroy^(NC) all the nations
    among which I scatter you,
    I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
    I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”

A Message About the Philistines

47 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines^(ND) before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:^(NE)

²This is what the Lord says:

“See how the waters are rising in the north;^(NF)
    they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
    the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
    all who dwell in the land will wail^(NG)
³at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
    at the noise of enemy chariots^(NH)
    and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
    their hands will hang limp.^(NI)
⁴For the day has come
    to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
    who could help Tyre^(NJ) and Sidon.^(NK)
The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,^(NL)
    the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.^[m]^(NM)
⁵Gaza will shave^(NN) her head in mourning;
    Ashkelon^(NO) will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
    how long will you cut^(NP) yourselves?

⁶“‘Alas, sword^(NQ) of the Lord,
    how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath;
    cease and be still.’^(NR)
⁷But how can it rest
    when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
    to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”^(NS)

A Message About Moab^(NT)

48 Concerning Moab:^(NU)

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“Woe to Nebo,^(NV) for it will be ruined.
    Kiriathaim^(NW) will be disgraced and captured;
    the stronghold^[n] will be disgraced and shattered.
²Moab will be praised^(NX) no more;
    in Heshbon^[o]^(NY) people will plot her downfall:
    ‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’^(NZ)
You, the people of Madmen,^[p] will also be silenced;
    the sword will pursue you.
³Cries of anguish arise from Horonaim,^(OA)
    cries of great havoc and destruction.
⁴Moab will be broken;
    her little ones will cry out.^[q]
⁵They go up the hill to Luhith,^(OB)
    weeping bitterly as they go;
on the road down to Horonaim^(OC)
    anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
⁶Flee!^(OD) Run for your lives;
    become like a bush^[r] in the desert.^(OE)
⁷Since you trust in your deeds and riches,^(OF)
    you too will be taken captive,
and Chemosh^(OG) will go into exile,^(OH)
    together with his priests and officials.^(OI)
⁸The destroyer^(OJ) will come against every town,
    and not a town will escape.
The valley will be ruined
    and the plateau^(OK) destroyed,
    because the Lord has spoken.
⁹Put salt^(OL) on Moab,
    for she will be laid waste^[s];^(OM)
her towns will become desolate,
    with no one to live in them.

¹⁰“A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work!
A curse on anyone who keeps their sword^(ON) from bloodshed!^(OO)

¹¹“Moab has been at rest^(OP) from youth,
    like wine left on its dregs,^(OQ)
not poured from one jar to another—
    she has not gone into exile.
So she tastes as she did,
    and her aroma is unchanged.
¹²But days are coming,”
    declares the Lord,
“when I will send men who pour from pitchers,
    and they will pour her out;
they will empty her pitchers
    and smash her jars.
¹³Then Moab will be ashamed^(OR) of Chemosh,^(OS)
    as Israel was ashamed
    when they trusted in Bethel.^(OT)

¹⁴“How can you say, ‘We are warriors,^(OU)
    men valiant in battle’?
¹⁵Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded;
    her finest young men^(OV) will go down in the slaughter,^(OW)”
    declares the King,^(OX) whose name is the Lord Almighty.^(OY)
¹⁶“The fall of Moab is at hand;^(OZ)
    her calamity will come quickly.
¹⁷Mourn for her, all who live around her,
    all who know her fame;^(PA)
say, ‘How broken is the mighty scepter,^(PB)
    how broken the glorious staff!’

¹⁸“Come down from your glory
    and sit on the parched ground,^(PC)
    you inhabitants of Daughter Dibon,^(PD)
for the one who destroys Moab
    will come up against you
    and ruin your fortified cities.^(PE)
¹⁹Stand by the road and watch,
    you who live in Aroer.^(PF)
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping,
    ask them, ‘What has happened?’
²⁰Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered.
    Wail^(PG) and cry out!
Announce by the Arnon^(PH)
    that Moab is destroyed.
²¹Judgment has come to the plateau^(PI)—
    to Holon,^(PJ) Jahzah^(PK) and Mephaath,^(PL)
²²    to Dibon,^(PM) Nebo^(PN) and Beth Diblathaim,
²³    to Kiriathaim,^(PO) Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,^(PP)
²⁴    to Kerioth^(PQ) and Bozrah^(PR)—
    to all the towns^(PS) of Moab, far and near.
²⁵Moab’s horn^[t]^(PT) is cut off;
    her arm^(PU) is broken,”
declares the Lord.

²⁶“Make her drunk,^(PV)
    for she has defied^(PW) the Lord.
Let Moab wallow in her vomit;^(PX)
    let her be an object of ridicule.^(PY)
²⁷Was not Israel the object of your ridicule?^(PZ)
    Was she caught among thieves,^(QA)
that you shake your head^(QB) in scorn^(QC)
    whenever you speak of her?
²⁸Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks,
    you who live in Moab.
Be like a dove^(QD) that makes its nest
    at the mouth of a cave.^(QE)

²⁹“We have heard of Moab’s pride^(QF)—
    how great is her arrogance!—
of her insolence, her pride, her conceit
    and the haughtiness^(QG) of her heart.
³⁰I know her insolence but it is futile,”
declares the Lord,
    “and her boasts^(QH) accomplish nothing.
³¹Therefore I wail^(QI) over Moab,
    for all Moab I cry out,
    I moan for the people of Kir Hareseth.^(QJ)
³²I weep for you, as Jazer^(QK) weeps,
    you vines of Sibmah.^(QL)
Your branches spread as far as the sea^[u];
    they reached as far as^[v] Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen
    on your ripened fruit and grapes.
³³Joy and gladness are gone
    from the orchards and fields of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine^(QM) from the presses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy.^(QN)
Although there are shouts,
    they are not shouts of joy.

³⁴“The sound of their cry rises
    from Heshbon^(QO) to Elealeh^(QP) and Jahaz,^(QQ)
from Zoar^(QR) as far as Horonaim^(QS) and Eglath Shelishiyah,
    for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.^(QT)
³⁵In Moab I will put an end
    to those who make offerings on the high places^(QU)
    and burn incense^(QV) to their gods,”
declares the Lord.
³⁶“So my heart laments^(QW) for Moab like the music of a pipe;
    it laments like a pipe for the people of Kir Hareseth.^(QX)
    The wealth they acquired^(QY) is gone.
³⁷Every head is shaved^(QZ)
    and every beard^(RA) cut off;
every hand is slashed
    and every waist is covered with sackcloth.^(RB)
³⁸On all the roofs in Moab
    and in the public squares^(RC)
there is nothing but mourning,
    for I have broken Moab
    like a jar^(RD) that no one wants,”
declares the Lord.
³⁹“How shattered^(RE) she is! How they wail!
    How Moab turns her back in shame!
Moab has become an object of ridicule,^(RF)
    an object of horror to all those around her.”

⁴⁰This is what the Lord says:

“Look! An eagle is swooping^(RG) down,
    spreading its wings^(RH) over Moab.
⁴¹Kerioth^[w]^(RI) will be captured
    and the strongholds taken.
In that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors^(RJ)
    will be like the heart of a woman in labor.^(RK)
⁴²Moab will be destroyed^(RL) as a nation^(RM)
    because she defied^(RN) the Lord.
⁴³Terror^(RO) and pit and snare^(RP) await you,
    you people of Moab,”
declares the Lord.
⁴⁴“Whoever flees^(RQ) from the terror
    will fall into a pit,
whoever climbs out of the pit
    will be caught in a snare;
for I will bring on Moab
    the year^(RR) of her punishment,”
declares the Lord.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon
    the fugitives stand helpless,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
    a blaze from the midst of Sihon;^(RS)
it burns the foreheads of Moab,
    the skulls^(RT) of the noisy boasters.
⁴⁶Woe to you, Moab!^(RU)
    The people of Chemosh are destroyed;
your sons are taken into exile
    and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷“Yet I will restore^(RV) the fortunes of Moab
in days to come,”
declares the Lord.

Here ends the judgment on Moab.

A Message About Ammon

49 Concerning the Ammonites:^(RW)

This is what the Lord says:

“Has Israel no sons?
    Has Israel no heir?
Why then has Molek^[x]^(RX) taken possession of Gad?^(RY)
    Why do his people live in its towns?
²But the days are coming,”
    declares the Lord,
“when I will sound the battle cry^(RZ)
    against Rabbah^(SA) of the Ammonites;
it will become a mound of ruins,^(SB)
    and its surrounding villages will be set on fire.
Then Israel will drive out
    those who drove her out,^(SC)”
says the Lord.
³“Wail, Heshbon,^(SD) for Ai^(SE) is destroyed!
    Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth^(SF) and mourn;
    rush here and there inside the walls,
for Molek^(SG) will go into exile,^(SH)
    together with his priests and officials.
⁴Why do you boast of your valleys,
    boast of your valleys so fruitful?
Unfaithful Daughter Ammon,^(SI)
    you trust in your riches^(SJ) and say,
    ‘Who will attack me?’^(SK)
⁵I will bring terror on you
    from all those around you,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
“Every one of you will be driven away,
    and no one will gather the fugitives.^(SL)

⁶“Yet afterward, I will restore^(SM) the fortunes of the Ammonites,”
declares the Lord.

A Message About Edom^(SN)^(SO)

⁷Concerning Edom:^(SP)

This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?^(SQ)
    Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    Has their wisdom decayed?
⁸Turn and flee, hide in deep caves,^(SR)
    you who live in Dedan,^(SS)
for I will bring disaster on Esau
    at the time when I punish him.
⁹If grape pickers came to you,
    would they not leave a few grapes?
If thieves came during the night,
    would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
¹⁰But I will strip Esau bare;
    I will uncover his hiding places,^(ST)
    so that he cannot conceal himself.
His armed men are destroyed,
    also his allies and neighbors,
    so there is no one^(SU) to say,
¹¹‘Leave your fatherless children;^(SV) I will keep them alive.
    Your widows^(SW) too can depend on me.’”

¹²This is what the Lord says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup^(SX) must drink it, why should you go unpunished?^(SY) You will not go unpunished, but must drink it. ¹³I swear^(SZ) by myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah^(TA) will become a ruin and a curse,^[y] an object of horror^(TB) and reproach;^(TC) and all its towns will be in ruins forever.”^(TD)

¹⁴I have heard a message from the Lord;
an envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Assemble yourselves to attack it!
Rise up for battle!”

¹⁵“Now I will make you small among the nations,
    despised by mankind.
¹⁶The terror you inspire
    and the pride^(TE) of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks,^(TF)
    who occupy the heights of the hill.
Though you build your nest^(TG) as high as the eagle’s,
    from there I will bring you down,”
declares the Lord.
¹⁷“Edom will become an object of horror;^(TH)
    all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff
    because of all its wounds.^(TI)
¹⁸As Sodom^(TJ) and Gomorrah^(TK) were overthrown,
    along with their neighboring towns,”
says the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
    no people will dwell^(TL) in it.

¹⁹“Like a lion^(TM) coming up from Jordan’s thickets^(TN)
    to a rich pastureland,
I will chase Edom from its land in an instant.
    Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
Who is like^(TO) me and who can challenge me?^(TP)
    And what shepherd^(TQ) can stand against me?”

²⁰Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Edom,^(TR)
    what he has purposed^(TS) against those who live in Teman:^(TT)
The young of the flock^(TU) will be dragged away;
    their pasture will be appalled at their fate.^(TV)
²¹At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble;^(TW)
    their cry^(TX) will resound to the Red Sea.^[z]
²²Look! An eagle will soar and swoop^(TY) down,
    spreading its wings over Bozrah.^(TZ)
In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors^(UA)
    will be like the heart of a woman in labor.^(UB)

A Message About Damascus

²³Concerning Damascus:^(UC)

“Hamath^(UD) and Arpad^(UE) are dismayed,
    for they have heard bad news.
They are disheartened,
    troubled like^[aa] the restless sea.^(UF)
²⁴Damascus has become feeble,
    she has turned to flee
    and panic has gripped her;
anguish and pain have seized her,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.^(UG)
²⁵Why has the city of renown not been abandoned,
    the town in which I delight?
²⁶Surely, her young men^(UH) will fall in the streets;
    all her soldiers will be silenced^(UI) in that day,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
²⁷“I will set fire^(UJ) to the walls of Damascus;^(UK)
    it will consume^(UL) the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.^(UM)”

A Message About Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning Kedar^(UN) and the kingdoms of Hazor,^(UO) which Nebuchadnezzar^(UP) king of Babylon attacked:

This is what the Lord says:

“Arise, and attack Kedar
    and destroy the people of the East.^(UQ)
²⁹Their tents and their flocks^(UR) will be taken;
    their shelters will be carried off
    with all their goods and camels.
People will shout to them,
    ‘Terror^(US) on every side!’

³⁰“Flee quickly away!
Stay in deep caves,^(UT) you who live in Hazor,^(UU)”
declares the Lord.
“Nebuchadnezzar^(UV) king of Babylon has plotted against you;
he has devised a plan against you.

³¹“Arise and attack a nation at ease,
    which lives in confidence,”
declares the Lord,
“a nation that has neither gates nor bars;^(UW)
    its people live far from danger.
³²Their camels^(UX) will become plunder,
    and their large herds^(UY) will be spoils of war.
I will scatter to the winds^(UZ) those who are in distant places^[ab]^(VA)
    and will bring disaster on them from every side,”
declares the Lord.
³³“Hazor^(VB) will become a haunt of jackals,^(VC)
    a desolate^(VD) place forever.
No one will live there;
    no people will dwell^(VE) in it.”

A Message About Elam

³⁴This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,^(VF) early in the reign of Zedekiah^(VG) king of Judah:

³⁵This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will break the bow^(VH) of Elam,
    the mainstay of their might.
³⁶I will bring against Elam the four winds^(VI)
    from the four quarters of heaven;^(VJ)
I will scatter them to the four winds,
    and there will not be a nation
    where Elam’s exiles do not go.
³⁷I will shatter Elam before their foes,
    before those who want to kill them;
I will bring disaster on them,
    even my fierce anger,”^(VK)
declares the Lord.
“I will pursue them with the sword^(VL)
    until I have made an end of them.
³⁸I will set my throne in Elam
    and destroy her king and officials,”
declares the Lord.

³⁹“Yet I will restore^(VM) the fortunes of Elam
in days to come,”
declares the Lord.

A Message About Babylon^(VN)

50 This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon^(VO) and the land of the Babylonians^[ac]:

²“Announce and proclaim^(VP) among the nations,
    lift up a banner^(VQ) and proclaim it;
    keep nothing back, but say,
‘Babylon will be captured;^(VR)
    Bel^(VS) will be put to shame,^(VT)
    Marduk^(VU) filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
    and her idols^(VV) filled with terror.’
³A nation from the north^(VW) will attack her
    and lay waste her land.
No one will live^(VX) in it;
    both people and animals^(VY) will flee away.

⁴“In those days, at that time,”
    declares the Lord,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together^(VZ)
    will go in tears^(WA) to seek^(WB) the Lord their God.
⁵They will ask the way^(WC) to Zion
    and turn their faces toward it.
They will come^(WD) and bind themselves to the Lord
    in an everlasting covenant^(WE)
    that will not be forgotten.

⁶“My people have been lost sheep;^(WF)
    their shepherds^(WG) have led them astray^(WH)
    and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill^(WI)
    and forgot their own resting place.^(WJ)
⁷Whoever found them devoured^(WK) them;
    their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,^(WL)
for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,
    the Lord, the hope^(WM) of their ancestors.’

⁸“Flee^(WN) out of Babylon;^(WO)
    leave the land of the Babylonians,
    and be like the goats that lead the flock.
⁹For I will stir^(WP) up and bring against Babylon
    an alliance of great nations^(WQ) from the land of the north.^(WR)
They will take up their positions against her,
    and from the north she will be captured.^(WS)
Their arrows^(WT) will be like skilled warriors
    who do not return empty-handed.
¹⁰So Babylonia^[ad] will be plundered;^(WU)
    all who plunder her will have their fill,”
declares the Lord.

¹¹“Because you rejoice and are glad,
    you who pillage my inheritance,^(WV)
because you frolic like a heifer^(WW) threshing grain
    and neigh like stallions,
¹²your mother will be greatly ashamed;
    she who gave you birth will be disgraced.^(WX)
She will be the least of the nations—
    a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.^(WY)
¹³Because of the Lord’s anger she will not be inhabited
    but will be completely desolate.^(WZ)
All who pass Babylon will be appalled;^(XA)
    they will scoff^(XB) because of all her wounds.^(XC)

¹⁴“Take up your positions around Babylon,
    all you who draw the bow.^(XD)
Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,^(XE)
    for she has sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵Shout^(XF) against her on every side!
    She surrenders, her towers fall,
    her walls^(XG) are torn down.
Since this is the vengeance^(XH) of the Lord,
    take vengeance on her;
    do to her^(XI) as she has done to others.^(XJ)
¹⁶Cut off from Babylon the sower,
    and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.
Because of the sword^(XK) of the oppressor
    let everyone return to their own people,^(XL)
    let everyone flee to their own land.^(XM)

¹⁷“Israel is a scattered flock^(XN)
    that lions^(XO) have chased away.
The first to devour^(XP) them
    was the king^(XQ) of Assyria;
the last to crush their bones^(XR)
    was Nebuchadnezzar^(XS) king^(XT) of Babylon.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
    as I punished the king^(XU) of Assyria.^(XV)
¹⁹But I will bring^(XW) Israel back to their own pasture,
    and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
their appetite will be satisfied^(XX)
    on the hills^(XY) of Ephraim and Gilead.^(XZ)
²⁰In those days, at that time,”
    declares the Lord,
“search will be made for Israel’s guilt,
    but there will be none,^(YA)
and for the sins^(YB) of Judah,
    but none will be found,
    for I will forgive^(YC) the remnant^(YD) I spare.

²¹“Attack the land of Merathaim
    and those who live in Pekod.^(YE)
Pursue, kill and completely destroy^[ae] them,”
declares the Lord.
    “Do everything I have commanded you.
²²The noise^(YF) of battle is in the land,
    the noise of great destruction!
²³How broken and shattered
    is the hammer^(YG) of the whole earth!^(YH)
How desolate^(YI) is Babylon
    among the nations!
²⁴I set a trap^(YJ) for you, Babylon,
    and you were caught before you knew it;
you were found and captured^(YK)
    because you opposed^(YL) the Lord.
²⁵The Lord has opened his arsenal
    and brought out the weapons^(YM) of his wrath,
for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do
    in the land of the Babylonians.^(YN)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 40:5 Or Jeremiah answered
Jeremiah 40:8 Hebrew Jezaniah, a variant of Jaazaniah
Jeremiah 40:9 Or Chaldeans; also in verse 10
Jeremiah 41:3 Or Chaldean
Jeremiah 41:18 Or Chaldeans
Jeremiah 42:1 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also 43:2) Azariah
Jeremiah 42:18 That is, your name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that you are cursed.
Jeremiah 42:18 That is, your name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that you are cursed.
Jeremiah 43:3 Or Chaldeans
Jeremiah 43:13 Or in Heliopolis
Jeremiah 44:8 That is, your name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that you are cursed; also in verse 12; similarly in verse 22.
Jeremiah 46:9 That is, the upper Nile region
Jeremiah 47:4 That is, Crete
Jeremiah 48:1 Or captured; / Misgab
Jeremiah 48:2 The Hebrew for Heshbon sounds like the Hebrew for plot.
Jeremiah 48:2 The name of the Moabite town Madmen sounds like the Hebrew for be silenced.
Jeremiah 48:4 Hebrew; Septuagint / proclaim it to Zoar
Jeremiah 48:6 Or like Aroer
Jeremiah 48:9 Or Give wings to Moab, / for she will fly away
Jeremiah 48:25 Horn here symbolizes strength.
Jeremiah 48:32 Probably the Dead Sea
Jeremiah 48:32 Two Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts as far as the Sea of
Jeremiah 48:41 Or The cities
Jeremiah 49:1 Or their king; also in verse 3
Jeremiah 49:13 That is, its name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that it is cursed.
Jeremiah 49:21 Or the Sea of Reeds
Jeremiah 49:23 Hebrew on or by
Jeremiah 49:32 Or who clip the hair by their foreheads
Jeremiah 50:1 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 25, 35 and 45
Jeremiah 50:10 Or Chaldea
Jeremiah 50:21 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 26.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

New International Version (NIV)

Jeremiah 40-52 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jeremiah with Gedaliah the Governor

Insurrection against Gedaliah

Jeremiah Advises Survivors Not to Migrate

Taken to Egypt, Jeremiah Warns of Judgment

Denunciation of Persistent Idolatry

A Word of Comfort to Baruch

Judgment on Egypt

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

God Will Save Israel

Judgment on the Philistines

Judgment on Moab

Judgment on the Ammonites

Judgment on Edom

Judgment on Damascus

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

Judgment on Elam

Judgment on Babylon

Israel the Creator’s Instrument

The Doom of Babylon

Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah

The Destruction of Jerusalem Reviewed

Jehoiachin Favored in Captivity

Footnotes

Cross references

Jeremiah 40-50 New International Version

Jeremiah Freed

Gedaliah Assassinated(S)

Flight to Egypt

Disaster Because of Idolatry

A Message to Baruch

A Message About Egypt

A Message About the Philistines

A Message About Moab(NT)

A Message About Ammon

A Message About Edom(SN)(SO)

A Message About Damascus

A Message About Kedar and Hazor

A Message About Elam

A Message About Babylon(VN)

Footnotes

Cross references

More on the NIV

Jeremiah 40-52

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jeremiah 40-50

New International Version

Gedaliah Assassinated^(S)

A Message About Moab^(NT)

A Message About Edom^(SN)^(SO)

A Message About Babylon^(VN)