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) 2 The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster,(B) 3 and 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) 4 Now 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) 5 If 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) 6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.(F)
7 When 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) 8 they 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) 9 Gedaliah 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. 10 As 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) 11 Likewise, 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) 12 then 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)
13 Now Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah(L) 14 and 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) 15 Then 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) 16 But 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) 2 Ishmael 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) 3 Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.
4 On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, 5 eighty 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) 6 And 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) 7 When 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) 8 But 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.
9 Now 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) 10 Then 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)
11 But 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) 12 they 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) 13 And 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) 14 So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back and went to Johanan son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.(Z) 16 Then 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) 17 And they set out and stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt(AB) 18 because 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) 2 the 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) 3 Let the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”(AF) 4 The 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) 5 They 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. 6 Whether 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)
7 At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then 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 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him: 10 If 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) 11 Do 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) 12 I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil. 13 But if you continue to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thus disobeying the voice of the Lord your God(AK) 14 and 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) 15 then 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) 16 then 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. 17 All 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) 19 The Lord has said to you, ‘O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt.’ Be well aware that I have warned you today(AP) 20 that 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.’ 21 So 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) 22 Be 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) 2 Azariah 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) 3 but 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) 4 So 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) 5 But 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— 6 the 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) 7 And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:(AX) 9 Take 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, 10 and 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) 11 He 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) 13 He 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) 2 Thus 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) 3 because 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) 4 Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, “I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate!”(BE) 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and make no offerings to other gods. 6 So 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) 7 And 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) 8 Why 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) 9 Have 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) 10 They 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)
11 Therefore 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) 12 I 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) 13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 so 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)
15 Then 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) 17 Instead, 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) 18 But 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) 19 And 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)
20 Then 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) 22 The 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) 23 It 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)
24 Jeremiah 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) 25 Thus 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) 26 Therefore 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) 27 I 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) 28 And 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) 29 This 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) 30 Thus 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) 2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, “Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.”(CD) 4 Thus 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) 5 And 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.
2 Concerning 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)
3 Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!(CH)
4 Harness the horses;
mount the steeds!
Take your stations with helmets on,
whet the lances,
put on coats of mail!
5 Why 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)
6 The swift cannot flee away,
nor can the warrior escape;
in the north by the River Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.(CJ)
7 Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?(CK)
8 Egypt 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)
9 Advance, 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)
10 That 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)
11 Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.(CO)
12 The 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
13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:(CQ)
14 Declare 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)
15 Why has Apis[j] fled?
Why did your bull not stand?
Because the Lord thrust him down.
16 Your 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)
17 Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
“Braggart who missed his chance.”(CT)
18 As 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)
19 Pack your bags for exile,
sheltered daughter Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
a ruin, without inhabitant.(CV)
20 A beautiful heifer is Egypt—
a gadfly from the north lights upon her.(CW)
21 Even 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)
22 She 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)
23 They shall cut down her forest,
says the Lord,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous
than locusts;
they are without number.(CZ)
24 Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame;
she shall be handed over to a people from the north.(DA)
25 The 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) 26 I 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
27 But 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)
28 As 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)
2 Thus 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)
3 At 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)
4 because 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)
5 Baldness has come upon Gaza;
Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of Anakim![l]
How long will you gash yourselves?(DJ)
6 Ah, sword of the Lord!
How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
rest and be still!(DK)
7 How 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)
3 Listen! A cry goes up from Horonaim:
“Desolation and great destruction!”(DO)
4 “Moab is destroyed!”
her little ones cry out.
5 For 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)
6 Flee! Save yourselves!
Be like a wild ass[p] in the desert!(DQ)
7 Surely, 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)
8 The 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)
9 Set aside salt for Moab,
for she will surely fall;
her towns shall become a desolation,
with no inhabitant in them.(DT)
10 Accursed 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)
11 Moab 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)
12 Therefore, 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. 13 Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.(DW)
14 How can you say, “We are heroes
and mighty warriors”?(DX)
15 Moab 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)
16 The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
and his doom approaches swiftly.(DZ)
17 Mourn over him, all you his neighbors,
and all who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff!”(EA)
18 Come 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)
19 Stand by the road and watch,
you inhabitant of Aroer!
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping;
say, “What has happened?”(EC)
20 Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down;
wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon
that Moab is laid waste.(ED)
21 Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22 and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24 and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.(EE) 25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.(EF)
26 Make him drunk because he magnified himself against the Lord; let Moab wallow in his vomit; he, too, shall become a laughingstock.(EG) 27 Israel was a laughingstock for you, though he was not caught among thieves, but whenever you spoke of him you shook your head!(EH)
28 Leave 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)
29 We 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)
30 I myself know his insolence, says the Lord;
his boasts are false;
his deeds are false.(EK)
31 Therefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab;
for the people of Kir-heres I mourn.(EL)
32 More 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)
33 Gladness 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)
34 From 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) 35 And 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) 36 Therefore 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)
37 For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; on all the hands there are gashes and on the loins sackcloth.(ER) 38 On 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) 39 How 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)
40 For thus says the Lord:
Look, he shall swoop down like an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab;(EU)
41 the 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)
42 Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
because he magnified himself against the Lord.(EW)
43 Terror, pit, and trap
are before you, O inhabitants of Moab!
says the Lord.(EX)
44 Everyone 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)
45 In 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)
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished,
for your sons have been taken captive
and your daughters into captivity.(FA)
47 Yet 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)
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.(FD)
3 Wail, 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)
4 Why 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)
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.(FG)
6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the Lord.(FH)
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?(FI)
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.(FJ)
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.(FK)
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.(FL)
11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive,
and let your widows trust in me.(FM)
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.(FN) 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.(FO)
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!”(FP)
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,[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)
17 Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.(FR) 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.(FS) 19 Like 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) 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.(FU) 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.[af](FV) 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.(FW)
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[ag]
that cannot be quiet.(FX)
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,[ah]
the town of my joy?[ai](FY)
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.(FZ)
27 And 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
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!(GB)
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!”(GC)
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.(GD)
31 Rise up; advance against a nation at ease,
that lives secure,
says the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
that lives alone.(GE)
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.(GF)
33 Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,
an everlasting waste;
no one shall live there,
nor shall anyone settle in it.(GG)
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.(GH)
35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might,(GI) 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.(GJ) 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,(GK) 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:(GL)
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.”(GM)
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.(GN)
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.(GO) 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.(GP) 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.”(GQ)
8 Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock.(GR) 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.(GS) 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,(GT)
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.(GU)
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.(GV)
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.(GW)
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.(GX)
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.(GY)
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.(GZ) 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.(HA) 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.(HB)
21 Go 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)
22 The noise of battle is in the land
and great destruction!(HD)
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!(HE)
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.(HF)
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.(HG)
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.(HH)
27 Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Alas for them, their day has come,
the time of their punishment!(HI)
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.(HJ)
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.(HK) 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the Lord.(HL)
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.(HM)
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.(HN)
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.(HO) 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.(HP)
35 A sword against the Chaldeans, says the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon
and against her officials and her sages!(HQ)
36 A sword against the diviners,
so that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
so that they may be dismayed!(HR)
37 A 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)
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.(HT)
39 Therefore 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) 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.(HV)
41 Look, a people is coming from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.(HW)
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!(HX)
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.(HY)
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.[ap] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?(HZ) 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.(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)
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.(IC)
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.(ID)
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.(IE)
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.(IF)
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.(IG)
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
perhaps she may be healed.(IH)
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.(II)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.(IJ)
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.(IK)
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.(IL)
13 You who live by mighty waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.(IM)
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.(IN)
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.(IO)
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.(IP)
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.(IQ)
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.(IR)
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.(IS)
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;(IT)
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;(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
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.(IV)
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.(IW)
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.(IX)
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.(IY)
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.(IZ)
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.(JA)
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:(JB)
32 the fords have been seized,
the marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.(JC)
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.(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)
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.(JF)
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,(JG)
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
a den of jackals,
an object of horror and of hissing,
without inhabitant.(JH)
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.(JI)
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(JJ)
41 How Sheshach[as] is taken;
the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
an object of horror among the nations!(JK)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.(JL)
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.(JM)
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.(JN)
45 Come out of her, my people!
Save your lives, each of you,
from the fierce anger of the Lord!(JO)
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.(JP)
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.(JQ)
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.(JR)
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.(JS)
50 You survivors of the sword,
go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:(JT)
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.(JU)
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.(JV)
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.(JW)
54 Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!(JX)
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,(JY)
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.(JZ)
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.(KA)
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.(KB)
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.(KC) 60 Jeremiah wrote in a[at] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.(KD) 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.’(KE) 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,(KF) 64 and 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) 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.(KI) 3 Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.(KJ) 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.(KK) 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.(KL) 7 Then 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) 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.(KN) 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.(KO) 10 The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah.(KP) 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.(KQ)
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.(KR) 13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.(KS) 14 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.(KT) 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.(KU) 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.(KV)
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.(KW) 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.(KX) 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.(KY) 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.(KZ) 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.(LA) 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.(LB) 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.(LC) 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.(LD) 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.(LE)
28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans;(LF) 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.(LG)
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;(LH) 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.(LI) 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.(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
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.