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Jeremiah 49-52
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jeremiah 49-52
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Judgment on the Ammonites
49 Concerning the Ammonites.
Thus says the Lord:
Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom[a] dispossessed Gad
and his people settled in its towns?(A)
2 Therefore, 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.(B)
3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry out, O daughters[b] of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth,
lament, and slash yourselves with whips![c]
For Milcom[d] shall go into exile,
with his priests and his attendants.(C)
4 Why do you boast in your strength?
Your strength is ebbing,
O faithless daughter.
Who trusted in her treasures, saying,[e]
“Who will attack me?”(D)
5 I 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.(E)
6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the Lord.(F)
Judgment on Edom
7 Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?(G)
8 Flee; turn back; get down low,
inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time when I punish him.(H)
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
even they would pillage only what they wanted.(I)
10 But 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.(J)
11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive,
and let your widows trust in me.(K)
12 For 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.(L) 13 For 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.(M)
14 I 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!”(N)
15 For I will make you least among the nations,
despised by humankind.
16 The terror you inspire
and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,[f]
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.(O)
17 Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.(P) 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were overthrown, says the Lord, no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in it.(Q) 19 Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase Edom[g] away from it, and I will appoint over it whomever I choose.[h] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?(R) 20 Therefore 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.(S) 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.[i](T) 22 Look, 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.(U)
Judgment on Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus.
Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear; they are troubled like the sea[j]
that cannot be quiet.(V)
24 Damascus has become feeble; she turned to flee,
and panic seized her;
anguish and pangs seize her,
as of a woman in labor.
25 How is the famous city not forsaken,[k]
the town of my joy?[l](W)
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day,
says the Lord of hosts.(X)
27 And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.(Y)
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning 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!(Z)
29 They 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!”(AA)
30 Flee; 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.(AB)
31 Rise up; advance against a nation at ease,
that lives secure,
says the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
that lives alone.(AC)
32 Their 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.(AD)
33 Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,
an everlasting waste;
no one shall live there,
nor shall anyone settle in it.(AE)
Judgment on Elam
34 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.(AF)
35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might,(AG) 36 and 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.(AH) 37 I 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,(AI) 38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, says the Lord.
39 But 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:(AJ)
2 Declare among the nations and proclaim;
set up a banner and proclaim;
do not conceal it, say:
“Babylon is taken;
Bel is put to shame;
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame;
her idols are dismayed.”(AK)
3 For 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.(AL)
4 In 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.(AM) 5 They 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.
6 My 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.(AN) 7 All 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.”(AO)
8 Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock.(AP) 9 For 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.(AQ) 10 Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the Lord.
11 Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass
and neigh like stallions,(AR)
12 your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
She shall be the last of the nations,
a wilderness, dry land, and a desert.(AS)
13 Because 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.(AT)
14 Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her; spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the Lord.(AU)
15 Raise 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.(AV)
16 Cut 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.(AW)
17 Israel 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.(AX) 18 Therefore, 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. 19 I 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.(AY) 20 In 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.(AZ)
21 Go up to the land of Merathaim;[m]
go up against her,
and attack the inhabitants of Pekod[n]
and utterly destroy the last of them,[o]
says the Lord;
do all that I have commanded you.(BA)
22 The noise of battle is in the land
and great destruction!(BB)
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!(BC)
24 I 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.(BD)
25 The 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.(BE)
26 Come 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.(BF)
27 Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Alas for them, their day has come,
the time of their punishment!(BG)
28 Listen! 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.(BH)
29 Summon 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.(BI) 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the Lord.(BJ)
31 I am against you, O arrogant one,
says the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.(BK)
32 The 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.(BL)
33 Thus 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.(BM) 34 Their 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.(BN)
35 A sword against the Chaldeans, says the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon
and against her officials and her sages!(BO)
36 A sword against the diviners,
so that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
so that they may be dismayed!(BP)
37 A sword against her[p] horses and against her[q] 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!(BQ)
38 A drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
and they go mad over idols.(BR)
39 Therefore wild animals shall live with hyenas in Babylon,[r] and ostriches shall inhabit her; she shall never again be peopled or inhabited for all generations.(BS) 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in her.(BT)
41 Look, a people is coming from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.(BU)
42 They 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!(BV)
43 The king of Babylon heard news of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.(BW)
44 Like 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.[s] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?(BX) 45 Therefore 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. 46 At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.(BY)
51 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to stir up a destructive wind[t]
against Babylon
and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai,[u](BZ)
2 and 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.(CA)
3 Let 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.(CB)
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
and wounded in her streets.
5 Indeed, 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.(CC)
6 Flee 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.(CD)
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
and so the nations went mad.(CE)
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
perhaps she may be healed.(CF)
9 We 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.(CG)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.(CH)
11 Sharpen 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.(CI)
12 Raise 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.(CJ)
13 You who live by mighty waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.(CK)
14 The 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.(CL)
15 It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.(CM)
16 When 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.(CN)
17 Everyone 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.(CO)
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.(CP)
19 Not 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.(CQ)
Israel the Creator’s Instrument
20 You are my war club, my weapon of battle:
with you I smash nations;
with you I destroy kingdoms;(CR)
21 with you I smash the horse and its rider;
with you I smash the chariot and the charioteer;
22 with 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;(CS)
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
24 I 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.(CT)
25 I 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.(CU)
26 No 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.(CV)
27 Raise 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.(CW)
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
and every land under their dominion.
29 The land trembles and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.(CX)
30 The 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.(CY)
31 One 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:(CZ)
32 the fords have been seized,
the marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.(DA)
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her harvest will come.(DB)
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.(DC)
35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”
the inhabitants of Zion shall say.
“May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem shall say.(DD)
36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
I am going to defend your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,(DE)
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
a den of jackals,
an object of horror and of hissing,
without inhabitant.(DF)
38 Like lions they shall roar together;
they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
39 When 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.(DG)
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(DH)
41 How Sheshach[v] is taken;
the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
an object of horror among the nations!(DI)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.(DJ)
43 Her 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.(DK)
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him disgorge what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer stream to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.(DL)
45 Come out of her, my people!
Save your lives, each of you,
from the fierce anger of the Lord!(DM)
46 Do 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.(DN)
47 Assuredly, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in her midst.(DO)
48 Then 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.(DP)
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.(DQ)
50 You survivors of the sword,
go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:(DR)
51 We 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.(DS)
52 Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.(DT)
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
says the Lord.(DU)
54 Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!(DV)
55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters;
the sound of their clamor resounds,(DW)
56 for 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.(DX)
57 I 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.(DY)
58 Thus 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.(DZ)
Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah
59 The 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.(EA) 60 Jeremiah wrote in a[w] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.(EB) 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and 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.’(EC) 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,(ED) 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’ ”[x]
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.(EE)
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.(EF) 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.(EG) 3 Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.(EH) 4 And 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.(EI) 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 On 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.(EJ) 7 Then a breach was made in the city wall,[y] 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.(EK) 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered, deserting him.(EL) 9 Then 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.(EM) 10 The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah.(EN) 11 He 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.(EO)
12 In 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.(EP) 13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.(EQ) 14 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.(ER) 15 Nebuzaradan 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.(ES) 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.(ET)
17 The 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.(EU) 18 They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the ladles, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service.(EV) 19 The 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.(EW) 20 As 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.(EX) 21 As 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.(EY) 22 Upon 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.(EZ) 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates encircling the latticework numbered one hundred.
24 The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold.(FA) 25 From 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. 26 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.(FB) 27 And 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.(FC)
28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans;(FD) 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took into exile from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons; 30 in 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.(FE)
Jehoiachin Favored in Captivity
31 In 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;(FF) 32 he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table.(FG) 34 For 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.(FH)
Footnotes
- 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 49-52
New International Version
Jeremiah 49-52
New International Version
A Message About Ammon
49 Concerning the Ammonites:(A)
This is what the Lord says:
“Has Israel no sons?
Has Israel no heir?
Why then has Molek[a](B) taken possession of Gad?(C)
Why do his people live in its towns?
2 But the days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when I will sound the battle cry(D)
against Rabbah(E) of the Ammonites;
it will become a mound of ruins,(F)
and its surrounding villages will be set on fire.
Then Israel will drive out
those who drove her out,(G)”
says the Lord.
3 “Wail, Heshbon,(H) for Ai(I) is destroyed!
Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth(J) and mourn;
rush here and there inside the walls,
for Molek(K) will go into exile,(L)
together with his priests and officials.
4 Why do you boast of your valleys,
boast of your valleys so fruitful?
Unfaithful Daughter Ammon,(M)
you trust in your riches(N) and say,
‘Who will attack me?’(O)
5 I 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.(P)
6 “Yet afterward, I will restore(Q) the fortunes of the Ammonites,”
declares the Lord.
A Message About Edom(R)(S)
7 Concerning Edom:(T)
This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?(U)
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom decayed?
8 Turn and flee, hide in deep caves,(V)
you who live in Dedan,(W)
for I will bring disaster on Esau
at the time when I punish him.
9 If 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?
10 But I will strip Esau bare;
I will uncover his hiding places,(X)
so that he cannot conceal himself.
His armed men are destroyed,
also his allies and neighbors,
so there is no one(Y) to say,
11 ‘Leave your fatherless children;(Z) I will keep them alive.
Your widows(AA) too can depend on me.’”
12 This is what the Lord says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup(AB) must drink it, why should you go unpunished?(AC) You will not go unpunished, but must drink it. 13 I swear(AD) by myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah(AE) will become a ruin and a curse,[b] an object of horror(AF) and reproach;(AG) and all its towns will be in ruins forever.”(AH)
14 I 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.
16 The terror you inspire
and the pride(AI) of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks,(AJ)
who occupy the heights of the hill.
Though you build your nest(AK) as high as the eagle’s,
from there I will bring you down,”
declares the Lord.
17 “Edom will become an object of horror;(AL)
all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff
because of all its wounds.(AM)
18 As Sodom(AN) and Gomorrah(AO) were overthrown,
along with their neighboring towns,”
says the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
no people will dwell(AP) in it.
19 “Like a lion(AQ) coming up from Jordan’s thickets(AR)
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(AS) me and who can challenge me?(AT)
And what shepherd(AU) can stand against me?”
20 Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Edom,(AV)
what he has purposed(AW) against those who live in Teman:(AX)
The young of the flock(AY) will be dragged away;
their pasture will be appalled at their fate.(AZ)
21 At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble;(BA)
their cry(BB) will resound to the Red Sea.[c]
22 Look! An eagle will soar and swoop(BC) down,
spreading its wings over Bozrah.(BD)
In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors(BE)
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.(BF)
A Message About Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus:(BG)
“Hamath(BH) and Arpad(BI) are dismayed,
for they have heard bad news.
They are disheartened,
troubled like[d] the restless sea.(BJ)
24 Damascus 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.(BK)
25 Why has the city of renown not been abandoned,
the town in which I delight?
26 Surely, her young men(BL) will fall in the streets;
all her soldiers will be silenced(BM) in that day,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
27 “I will set fire(BN) to the walls of Damascus;(BO)
it will consume(BP) the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.(BQ)”
A Message About Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning Kedar(BR) and the kingdoms of Hazor,(BS) which Nebuchadnezzar(BT) king of Babylon attacked:
This is what the Lord says:
“Arise, and attack Kedar
and destroy the people of the East.(BU)
29 Their tents and their flocks(BV) will be taken;
their shelters will be carried off
with all their goods and camels.
People will shout to them,
‘Terror(BW) on every side!’
30 “Flee quickly away!
Stay in deep caves,(BX) you who live in Hazor,(BY)”
declares the Lord.
“Nebuchadnezzar(BZ) 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;(CA)
its people live far from danger.
32 Their camels(CB) will become plunder,
and their large herds(CC) will be spoils of war.
I will scatter to the winds(CD) those who are in distant places[e](CE)
and will bring disaster on them from every side,”
declares the Lord.
33 “Hazor(CF) will become a haunt of jackals,(CG)
a desolate(CH) place forever.
No one will live there;
no people will dwell(CI) in it.”
A Message About Elam
34 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(CJ) early in the reign of Zedekiah(CK) king of Judah:
35 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“See, I will break the bow(CL) of Elam,
the mainstay of their might.
36 I will bring against Elam the four winds(CM)
from the four quarters of heaven;(CN)
I will scatter them to the four winds,
and there will not be a nation
where Elam’s exiles do not go.
37 I will shatter Elam before their foes,
before those who want to kill them;
I will bring disaster on them,
even my fierce anger,”(CO)
declares the Lord.
“I will pursue them with the sword(CP)
until I have made an end of them.
38 I will set my throne in Elam
and destroy her king and officials,”
declares the Lord.
39 “Yet I will restore(CQ) the fortunes of Elam
in days to come,”
declares the Lord.
A Message About Babylon(CR)
50 This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon(CS) and the land of the Babylonians[f]:
2 “Announce and proclaim(CT) among the nations,
lift up a banner(CU) and proclaim it;
keep nothing back, but say,
‘Babylon will be captured;(CV)
Bel(CW) will be put to shame,(CX)
Marduk(CY) filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
and her idols(CZ) filled with terror.’
3 A nation from the north(DA) will attack her
and lay waste her land.
No one will live(DB) in it;
both people and animals(DC) will flee away.
4 “In those days, at that time,”
declares the Lord,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together(DD)
will go in tears(DE) to seek(DF) the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way(DG) to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come(DH) and bind themselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant(DI)
that will not be forgotten.
6 “My people have been lost sheep;(DJ)
their shepherds(DK) have led them astray(DL)
and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill(DM)
and forgot their own resting place.(DN)
7 Whoever found them devoured(DO) them;
their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,(DP)
for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,
the Lord, the hope(DQ) of their ancestors.’
8 “Flee(DR) out of Babylon;(DS)
leave the land of the Babylonians,
and be like the goats that lead the flock.
9 For I will stir(DT) up and bring against Babylon
an alliance of great nations(DU) from the land of the north.(DV)
They will take up their positions against her,
and from the north she will be captured.(DW)
Their arrows(DX) will be like skilled warriors
who do not return empty-handed.
10 So Babylonia[g] will be plundered;(DY)
all who plunder her will have their fill,”
declares the Lord.
11 “Because you rejoice and are glad,
you who pillage my inheritance,(DZ)
because you frolic like a heifer(EA) threshing grain
and neigh like stallions,
12 your mother will be greatly ashamed;
she who gave you birth will be disgraced.(EB)
She will be the least of the nations—
a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.(EC)
13 Because of the Lord’s anger she will not be inhabited
but will be completely desolate.(ED)
All who pass Babylon will be appalled;(EE)
they will scoff(EF) because of all her wounds.(EG)
14 “Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you who draw the bow.(EH)
Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,(EI)
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout(EJ) against her on every side!
She surrenders, her towers fall,
her walls(EK) are torn down.
Since this is the vengeance(EL) of the Lord,
take vengeance on her;
do to her(EM) as she has done to others.(EN)
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.
Because of the sword(EO) of the oppressor
let everyone return to their own people,(EP)
let everyone flee to their own land.(EQ)
17 “Israel is a scattered flock(ER)
that lions(ES) have chased away.
The first to devour(ET) them
was the king(EU) of Assyria;
the last to crush their bones(EV)
was Nebuchadnezzar(EW) king(EX) of Babylon.”
18 Therefore 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(EY) of Assyria.(EZ)
19 But I will bring(FA) Israel back to their own pasture,
and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
their appetite will be satisfied(FB)
on the hills(FC) of Ephraim and Gilead.(FD)
20 In those days, at that time,”
declares the Lord,
“search will be made for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none,(FE)
and for the sins(FF) of Judah,
but none will be found,
for I will forgive(FG) the remnant(FH) I spare.
21 “Attack the land of Merathaim
and those who live in Pekod.(FI)
Pursue, kill and completely destroy[h] them,”
declares the Lord.
“Do everything I have commanded you.
22 The noise(FJ) of battle is in the land,
the noise of great destruction!
23 How broken and shattered
is the hammer(FK) of the whole earth!(FL)
How desolate(FM) is Babylon
among the nations!
24 I set a trap(FN) for you, Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it;
you were found and captured(FO)
because you opposed(FP) the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his arsenal
and brought out the weapons(FQ) of his wrath,
for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do
in the land of the Babylonians.(FR)
26 Come against her from afar.(FS)
Break open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain.(FT)
Completely destroy(FU) her
and leave her no remnant.
27 Kill all her young bulls;(FV)
let them go down to the slaughter!(FW)
Woe to them! For their day(FX) has come,
the time(FY) for them to be punished.
28 Listen to the fugitives(FZ) and refugees from Babylon
declaring in Zion(GA)
how the Lord our God has taken vengeance,(GB)
vengeance for his temple.(GC)
29 “Summon archers against Babylon,
all those who draw the bow.(GD)
Encamp all around her;
let no one escape.(GE)
Repay(GF) her for her deeds;(GG)
do to her as she has done.
For she has defied(GH) the Lord,
the Holy One(GI) of Israel.
30 Therefore, her young men(GJ) will fall in the streets;
all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,”
declares the Lord.
31 “See, I am against(GK) you, you arrogant one,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
“for your day(GL) has come,
the time for you to be punished.
32 The arrogant(GM) one will stumble and fall(GN)
and no one will help her up;(GO)
I will kindle a fire(GP) in her towns
that will consume all who are around her.”
33 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“The people of Israel are oppressed,(GQ)
and the people of Judah as well.
All their captors hold them fast,
refusing to let them go.(GR)
34 Yet their Redeemer(GS) is strong;
the Lord Almighty(GT) is his name.
He will vigorously defend their cause(GU)
so that he may bring rest(GV) to their land,
but unrest to those who live in Babylon.
35 “A sword(GW) against the Babylonians!”(GX)
declares the Lord—
“against those who live in Babylon
and against her officials and wise(GY) men!
36 A sword against her false prophets!
They will become fools.
A sword against her warriors!(GZ)
They will be filled with terror.(HA)
37 A sword against her horses and chariots(HB)
and all the foreigners in her ranks!
They will become weaklings.(HC)
A sword against her treasures!(HD)
They will be plundered.
38 A drought on[i] her waters!(HE)
They will dry(HF) up.
For it is a land of idols,(HG)
idols that will go mad with terror.
39 “So desert creatures(HH) and hyenas will live there,
and there the owl will dwell.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation.(HI)
40 As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah(HJ)
along with their neighboring towns,”
declares the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
no people will dwell in it.(HK)
41 “Look! An army is coming from the north;(HL)
a great nation and many kings
are being stirred(HM) up from the ends of the earth.(HN)
42 They are armed with bows(HO) and spears;
they are cruel(HP) and without mercy.(HQ)
They sound like the roaring sea(HR)
as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
to attack you, Daughter Babylon.(HS)
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands hang limp.(HT)
Anguish has gripped him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.(HU)
44 Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets(HV)
to a rich pastureland,
I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.
Who is the chosen(HW) one I will appoint for this?
Who is like me and who can challenge me?(HX)
And what shepherd can stand against me?”
45 Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Babylon,
what he has purposed(HY) against the land of the Babylonians:(HZ)
The young of the flock will be dragged away;
their pasture will be appalled at their fate.
46 At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble;(IA)
its cry(IB) will resound among the nations.
51 This is what the Lord says:
“See, I will stir(IC) up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon(ID) and the people of Leb Kamai.[j]
2 I will send foreigners(IE) to Babylon
to winnow(IF) her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
in the day(IG) of her disaster.
3 Let not the archer string his bow,(IH)
nor let him put on his armor.(II)
Do not spare her young men;
completely destroy[k] her army.
4 They will fall(IJ) down slain in Babylon,[l]
fatally wounded in her streets.(IK)
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken(IL)
by their God, the Lord Almighty,
though their land[m] is full of guilt(IM)
before the Holy One of Israel.
6 “Flee(IN) from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.(IO)
It is time(IP) for the Lord’s vengeance;(IQ)
he will repay(IR) her what she deserves.
7 Babylon was a gold cup(IS) in the Lord’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall(IT) and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm(IU) for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.
9 “‘We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave(IV) her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment(IW) reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.’
11 “Sharpen the arrows,(IZ)
take up the shields!(JA)
The Lord has stirred up the kings(JB) of the Medes,(JC)
because his purpose(JD) is to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will take vengeance,(JE)
vengeance for his temple.(JF)
12 Lift up a banner(JG) against the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard,
station the watchmen,(JH)
prepare an ambush!(JI)
The Lord will carry out his purpose,(JJ)
his decree against the people of Babylon.
13 You who live by many waters(JK)
and are rich in treasures,(JL)
your end has come,
the time for you to be destroyed.(JM)
14 The Lord Almighty has sworn by himself:(JN)
I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts,(JO)
and they will shout(JP) in triumph over you.
15 “He made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom(JQ)
and stretched(JR) out the heavens by his understanding.(JS)
16 When he thunders,(JT) the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain(JU)
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.(JV)
17 “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;(JW)
they have no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,(JX) the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
19 He who is the Portion(JY) of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including the people of his inheritance(JZ)—
the Lord Almighty is his name.
20 “You are my war club,(KA)
my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter(KB) nations,(KC)
with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider,(KD)
with you I shatter chariot(KE) and driver,
22 with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and young woman,(KF)
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.(KG)
24 “Before your eyes I will repay(KH) Babylon(KI) and all who live in Babylonia[n] for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.
25 “I am against(KJ) you, you destroying mountain,
you who destroy the whole earth,”(KK)
declares the Lord.
“I will stretch out my hand(KL) against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a burned-out mountain.(KM)
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor any stone for a foundation,
for you will be desolate(KN) forever,”
declares the Lord.
27 “Lift up a banner(KO) in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations for battle against her;
summon against her these kingdoms:(KP)
Ararat,(KQ) Minni and Ashkenaz.(KR)
Appoint a commander against her;
send up horses like a swarm of locusts.(KS)
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her—
the kings of the Medes,(KT)
their governors and all their officials,
and all the countries they rule.(KU)
29 The land trembles(KV) and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes(KW) against Babylon stand—
to lay waste(KX) the land of Babylon
so that no one will live there.(KY)
30 Babylon’s warriors(KZ) have stopped fighting;
they remain in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become weaklings.(LA)
Her dwellings are set on fire;(LB)
the bars(LC) of her gates are broken.
31 One courier(LD) follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,(LE)
32 the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,(LF)
and the soldiers terrified.(LG)”
33 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“Daughter Babylon(LH) is like a threshing floor(LI)
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest(LJ) her will soon come.(LK)”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar(LL) king of Babylon has devoured(LM) us,(LN)
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed(LO) us out.
35 May the violence(LP) done to our flesh[o] be on Babylon,”
say the inhabitants of Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”
says Jerusalem.(LQ)
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“See, I will defend your cause(LR)
and avenge(LS) you;
I will dry up(LT) her sea
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt(LU) of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,(LV)
a place where no one lives.(LW)
38 Her people all roar like young lions,(LX)
they growl like lion cubs.
39 But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,(LY)
so that they shout with laughter—
then sleep forever(LZ) and not awake,”
declares the Lord.(MA)
40 “I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(MB)
41 “How Sheshak[p](MC) will be captured,(MD)
the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate(ME) Babylon will be
among the nations!
42 The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves(MF) will cover her.
43 Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert(MG) land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no one travels.(MH)
44 I will punish Bel(MI) in Babylon
and make him spew out(MJ) what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall(MK) of Babylon will fall.
45 “Come out(ML) of her, my people!
Run(MM) for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger(MN) of the Lord.
46 Do not lose heart(MO) or be afraid(MP)
when rumors(MQ) are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
47 For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols(MR) of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced(MS)
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.(MT)
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout(MU) for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north(MV)
destroyers(MW) will attack her,”
declares the Lord.
49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.(MX)
50 You who have escaped the sword,
leave(MY) and do not linger!
Remember(MZ) the Lord in a distant land,(NA)
and call to mind Jerusalem.”
51 “We are disgraced,(NB)
for we have been insulted
and shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s house.”(NC)
52 “But days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish her idols,(ND)
and throughout her land
the wounded will groan.(NE)
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens(NF)
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers(NG) against her,”
declares the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry(NH) comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction(NI)
from the land of the Babylonians.[q]
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon;
he will silence(NJ) her noisy din.
Waves(NK) of enemies will rage like great waters;
the roar of their voices will resound.
56 A destroyer(NL) will come against Babylon;
her warriors will be captured,
and their bows will be broken.(NM)
For the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will repay(NN) in full.
57 I will make her officials(NO) and wise(NP) men drunk,(NQ)
her governors, officers and warriors as well;
they will sleep(NR) forever and not awake,”
declares the King,(NS) whose name is the Lord Almighty.
58 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Babylon’s thick wall(NT) will be leveled
and her high gates(NU) set on fire;
the peoples(NV) exhaust(NW) themselves for nothing,
the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”(NX)
59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah,(NY) the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah(NZ) king of Judah in the fourth(OA) year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll(OB) about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate(OC) forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.(OD) 64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more(OE) because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people(OF) will fall.’”(OG)
The words of Jeremiah end(OH) here.
The Fall of Jerusalem(OI)(OJ)(OK)
52 Zedekiah(OL) was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.(OM) 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim(ON) had done. 3 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah,(OO) and in the end he thrust them from his presence.(OP)
Now Zedekiah rebelled(OQ) against the king of Babylon.
4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth(OR) day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem(OS) with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built siege works(OT) all around it.(OU) 5 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.(OV) 7 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled.(OW) They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[r] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[s] 8 but the Babylonian[t] army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 9 and he was captured.(OX)
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah(OY) in the land of Hamath,(OZ) where he pronounced sentence on him. 10 There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons(PA) of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.(PB)
12 On the tenth day of the fifth(PC) month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan(PD) commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He set fire(PE) to the temple(PF) of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses(PG) of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 14 The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls(PH) around Jerusalem. 15 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile(PI) some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen[u] and those who had deserted(PJ) to the king of Babylon. 16 But Nebuzaradan left behind(PK) the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars,(PL) the movable stands(PM) and the bronze Sea(PN) that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.(PO) 18 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls,(PP) dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.(PQ) 19 The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers,(PR) sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands,(PS) dishes(PT) and bowls used for drink offerings(PU)—all that were made of pure gold or silver.(PV)
20 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls(PW) under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed.(PX) 21 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference[v]; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.(PY) 22 The bronze capital(PZ) on top of one pillar was five cubits[w] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates(QA) of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates(QB) above the surrounding network was a hundred.(QC)
24 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah(QD) the chief priest, Zephaniah(QE) the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.(QF) 25 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary(QG) who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city. 26 Nebuzaradan(QH) the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah,(QI) in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away(QJ) from her land. 28 This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:(QK)
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
29 in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year,
832 people from Jerusalem;
30 in his twenty-third year,
745 Jews taken into exile(QL) by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard.
There were 4,600 people in all.(QM)
Jehoiachin Released(QN)
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin(QO) king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.(QP) 34 Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance(QQ) as long as he lived, till the day of his death.
Footnotes
- 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.
- Jeremiah 50:38 Or A sword against
- Jeremiah 51:1 Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
- Jeremiah 51:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
- Jeremiah 51:4 Or Chaldea
- Jeremiah 51:5 Or Almighty, / and the land of the Babylonians
- Jeremiah 51:24 Or Chaldea; also in verse 35
- Jeremiah 51:35 Or done to us and to our children
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:54 Or Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 52:7 Or Chaldeans; also in verse 17
- Jeremiah 52:7 Or the Jordan Valley
- Jeremiah 52:8 Or Chaldean; also in verse 14
- Jeremiah 52:15 Or the populace
- Jeremiah 52:21 That is, about 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference or about 8.1 meters high and 5.4 meters in circumference
- Jeremiah 52:22 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
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