Jeremiah 45-50

English Standard Version

^3 (N)“Prepare buckler and shield,
    and advance for battle!
^4 (O)Harness the horses;
    mount, O horsemen!
Take your stations with your helmets,
    ^(P)polish your spears,
    put on your armor!
⁵ Why have I seen it?
They are dismayed
    and have turned backward.
Their ^(Q)warriors are beaten down
    and have fled in haste;
^(R)they look not back—
    ^(S)terror on every side!
declares the Lord.

⁶ “The swift cannot flee away,
    nor the warrior escape;
^(T)in the north by the river Euphrates
    ^(U)they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷ “Who is this, ^(V)rising like the Nile,
    like rivers ^(W)whose waters surge?
⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
    like rivers ^(X)whose waters surge.
He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,
    I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
^9 (Y)Advance, O horses,
    and rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go out:
    men of Cush and ^(Z)Put who handle the shield,
    ^(AA)men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
^10 (AB)That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
    ^(AC)a day of vengeance,
    ^(AD)to avenge himself on his foes.
^(AE)The sword shall devour and be sated
    and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds ^(AF)a sacrifice
    ^(AG)in the north country ^(AH)by the river Euphrates.
^11 (AI)Go up to Gilead, and take ^(AJ)balm,
    O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
    ^(AK)there is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard of your shame,
    and the earth is full of your cry;
^(AL)for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
    they have both fallen together.”

¹⁴ “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^(AN)Migdol;
    proclaim in ^(AO)Memphis and ^(AP)Tahpanhes;
say, ^(AQ)‘Stand ready and be prepared,
    for ^(AR)the sword shall devour around you.’
¹⁵ Why are your mighty ones face down?
    They do not stand^[a]
    because the Lord thrust them down.
¹⁶ He made many stumble, ^(AS)and they fell,
    and they said one to another,
‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people
    and to the land of our birth,
    ^(AT)because of the sword of the oppressor.’
¹⁷ Call the name of ^(AU)Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
    ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

^18 (AV)“As I live, declares the King,
    ^(AW)whose name is the Lord of hosts,
like ^(AX)Tabor among the mountains
    and like ^(AY)Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
^19 (AZ)Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
    O ^(BA)inhabitants of Egypt!
For ^(BB)Memphis shall become a waste,
    a ruin, ^(BC)without inhabitant.

²⁰ “A beautiful ^(BD)heifer is Egypt,
    but a biting fly ^(BE)from the north has come upon her.
²¹ Even her hired soldiers in her midst
    are like ^(BF)fattened calves;
yes, they have turned and fled together;
    they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
    ^(BG)the time of their punishment.

²² “She makes ^(BH)a sound like a serpent gliding away;
    for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes
    ^(BI)like those who fell trees.
^23 (BJ)They shall cut down her forest,
declares the Lord,
    though it is impenetrable,
because ^(BK)they are more numerous than locusts;
    they are without number.
²⁴ The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
    she shall be delivered into the hand of ^(BL)a people from the north.”

^27 (BS)“But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
    nor be dismayed, O Israel,
for behold, I will save you from far away,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and none shall make him afraid.
^28 (BT)Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the Lord,
    for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
    to which I have driven you,
    but of you I will not make a full end.
^(BU)I will discipline you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

² “Thus says the Lord:
^(BX)Behold, waters are rising ^(BY)out of the north,
    ^(BZ)and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow ^(CA)the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
Men shall cry out,
    and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
³ At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
    ^(CB)at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
the fathers ^(CC)look not back to their children,
    so feeble are their hands,
⁴ because of the day that is coming to destroy
    all ^(CD)the Philistines,
to cut off from ^(CE)Tyre and Sidon
    every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
    ^(CF)the remnant of the coastland of ^(CG)Caphtor.
^5 (CH)Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    ^(CI)Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of their valley,
    ^(CJ)how long will you gash yourselves?
^6 (CK)Ah, sword of the Lord!
    How long till you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
    rest and be still!
⁷ How can it^[b] be quiet
    ^(CL)when the Lord has given it a charge?
Against ^(CM)Ashkelon and against the seashore
    ^(CN)he has appointed it.”

“Woe to ^(CP)Nebo, for it is laid waste!
    ^(CQ)Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame ^(CR)and broken down;
²     the renown of Moab is no more.
In ^(CS)Heshbon they planned disaster against her:
    ‘Come, let us cut her off ^(CT)from being a nation!’
You also, O ^(CU)Madmen, shall be brought to silence;
    the sword shall pursue you.

³ “A voice! A cry from ^(CV)Horonaim,
    ‘Desolation and great destruction!’
⁴ Moab is destroyed;
    her little ones have made a cry.
^5 (CW)For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;^[c]
for ^(CX)at the descent of Horonaim
    they have heard the distressed cry^[d] of destruction.
⁶ Flee! Save yourselves!
    You will be like ^(CY)a juniper in the desert!
⁷ For, ^(CZ)because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
and ^(DA)Chemosh ^(DB)shall go into exile
    with ^(DC)his priests and his officials.
^8 (DD)The destroyer shall come upon every city,
    and no city shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
    and ^(DE)the plain shall be destroyed,
    as the Lord has spoken.

⁹ “Give wings to Moab,
    for she would fly away;
her cities shall become a desolation,
    with no inhabitant in them.

¹¹ “Moab has been at ease from his youth
    and has ^(DH)settled on his dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
    nor has he gone into exile;
so his taste remains in him,
    and his scent is not changed.

¹⁴ “How do you say, ‘We are heroes
    and mighty men of war’?
¹⁵ The destroyer of ^(DL)Moab and his cities has come up,
    and the choicest of his young men have ^(DM)gone down to slaughter,
    declares ^(DN)the King, ^(DO)whose name is the Lord of hosts.
¹⁶ The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
    and his affliction hastens swiftly.
^17 (DP)Grieve for him, all you who are around him,
    and all who know his name;
say, ^(DQ)‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff.’

^18 (DR)“Come down from your glory,
    and sit on the parched ground,
    O inhabitant of ^(DS)Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
    he has destroyed your strongholds.
^19 (DT)Stand by the way ^(DU)and watch,
    O inhabitant of ^(DV)Aroer!
Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
    say, ‘What has happened?’
²⁰ Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
    ^(DW)wail and cry!
Tell it beside ^(DX)the Arnon,
    that ^(DY)Moab is laid waste.

^28 (EQ)“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
Be ^(ER)like the dove that nests
    in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
^29 (ES)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.
³⁰ I know his insolence, declares the Lord;
    ^(ET)his boasts are false,
    his deeds are false.
^31 (EU)Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the men of ^(EV)Kir-hareseth I mourn.
³² More than for ^(EW)Jazer I weep for you,
    ^(EX)O vine of ^(EY)Sibmah!
^(EZ)Your branches passed over the sea,
    reached to the Sea of ^(FA)Jazer;
on your summer fruits and your grapes
    the destroyer has fallen.
^33 (FB)Gladness and joy have been taken away
    from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy;
    the shouting is not the shout of joy.

⁴⁰ For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, ^(FN)one shall fly swiftly like an eagle
    ^(FO)and spread his wings against Moab;
^41 (FP)the cities shall be taken
    and the strongholds seized.
^(FQ)The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
    like the heart of ^(FR)a woman in her birth pains;
⁴² Moab shall be ^(FS)destroyed and be no longer a people,
    because ^(FT)he magnified himself against the Lord.
^43 (FU)Terror, pit, and snare
    are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!
declares the Lord.
⁴⁴ He who flees from the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
^(FV)For I will bring these things upon Moab,
    the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.

⁴⁵ “In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop without strength,
for fire came out from Heshbon,
    flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed ^(FW)the forehead of Moab,
    the crown of ^(FX)the sons of tumult.
^46 (FY)Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of ^(FZ)Chemosh are undone,
for your sons have been taken captive,
    and your daughters into captivity.
^47 (GA)Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, declares the Lord.”
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

“Has Israel no sons?
    Has he no heir?
Why then has ^(GC)Milcom^{[f] (GD)}dispossessed Gad,
    and his people settled in its cities?
² Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
    declares the Lord,
when I will cause ^(GE)the battle cry to be heard
    against ^(GF)Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate ^(GG)mound,
    and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
    says the Lord.

³ “Wail, O ^(GH)Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
    Cry out, O daughters of ^(GI)Rabbah!
^(GJ)Put on sackcloth,
    lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!
For ^(GK)Milcom shall go into exile,
    ^(GL)with his priests and his officials.
⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys,^{[g]
    (GM)}O faithless daughter,
^(GN)who trusted in her treasures, saying,
    ‘Who will come against me?’
⁵ Behold, ^(GO)I will bring terror upon you,
    declares the Lord God of hosts,
    from all who are around you,
and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,
    with none to gather the fugitives.

^(GR)“Is wisdom no more in ^(GS)Teman?
    ^(GT)Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    ^(GU)Has their wisdom vanished?
^8 (GV)Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of ^(GW)Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
    ^(GX)the time when I punish him.
^9 (GY)If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave ^(GZ)gleanings?
^(HA)If thieves came by night,
    would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
^10 (HB)But I have stripped Esau bare;
    ^(HC)I have uncovered his hiding places,
    and he is not able to conceal himself.
His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
    and his neighbors; and ^(HD)he is no more.
^11 (HE)Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
    ^(HF)and let your widows trust in me.”

^14 (HL)I have heard a message from the Lord,
    and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
^(HM)“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
    and rise up for battle!
¹⁵ For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
    despised among mankind.
¹⁶ The horror you inspire has deceived you,
    and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,^[h]
    who hold the height of the hill.
Though you ^(HN)make your nest as high as the eagle's,
    I will bring you down from there,
declares the Lord.

^(IJ)“Hamath and ^(IK)Arpad are confounded,
    for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear,
    ^(IL)they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.
^24 (IM)Damascus has become feeble, ^(IN)she turned to flee,
    and panic seized her;
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
    as ^(IO)of a woman in labor.
²⁵ How is ^(IP)the famous city not forsaken,
    the city of my joy?
^26 (IQ)Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
    and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,
declares the Lord of hosts.
²⁷ And ^(IR)I will kindle a fire in the wall of ^(IS)Damascus,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of ^(IT)Ben-hadad.”

Thus says the Lord:
^(IV)“Rise up, advance against ^(IW)Kedar!
    Destroy ^(IX)the people of the east!
^29 (IY)Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
    their ^(IZ)curtains and all their goods;
their camels shall be led away from them,
    and men shall cry to them: ^(JA)‘Terror on every side!’
^30 (JB)Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of Hazor!
declares the Lord.
For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    has made a plan against you
    and formed a purpose against you.

^31 (JC)“Rise up, advance against a nation ^(JD)at ease,
    ^(JE)that dwells securely,
declares the Lord,
^(JF)that has no gates or bars,
    that dwells alone.
^32 (JG)Their camels shall become plunder,
    their herds of livestock a spoil.
^(JH)I will scatter to every wind
    ^(JI)those who cut the corners of their hair,
and I will bring their calamity
    from every side of them,
declares the Lord.
³³ Hazor shall become ^(JJ)a haunt of jackals,
    an everlasting waste;
^(JK)no man shall dwell there;
    ^(JL)no man shall sojourn in her.”

² “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
    set up a banner and proclaim,
    conceal it not, and say:
^(KB)‘Babylon is taken,
    ^(KC)Bel is put to shame,
    Merodach is dismayed.
^(KD)Her images are put to shame,
    her idols are dismayed.’

^11 (KY)“Though you rejoice, though you exult,
    O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
    and neigh like stallions,
¹² your mother shall be utterly shamed,
    and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
    ^(KZ)a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
^13 (LA)Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited
    but shall be an utter desolation;
^(LB)everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
    ^(LC)and hiss because of all her wounds.
^14 (LD)Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
    ^(LE)all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
    ^(LF)for she has sinned against the Lord.
^15 (LG)Raise a shout against her all around;
    she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
    ^(LH)her walls are thrown down.
For ^(LI)this is the vengeance of the Lord:
    take vengeance on her;
    ^(LJ)do to her as she has done.
¹⁶ Cut off from Babylon the sower,
    and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
^(LK)because of the sword of the oppressor,
    ^(LL)every one shall turn to his own people,
    and every one shall flee to his own land.

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim,^[j]
    and against the inhabitants of Pekod.^[k]
Kill, ^(MB)and devote them to destruction,^[l]
declares the Lord,
    and do all that I have commanded you.
^22 (MC)The noise of battle is in the land,
    and great destruction!
^23 (MD)How the hammer of the whole earth
    is cut down and broken!
^(ME)How Babylon ^(MF)has become
    a horror among the nations!
^24 (MG)I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
    and ^(MH)you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
    because you opposed the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened his armory
    and brought out ^(MI)the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
    in the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶ Come against her from every quarter;
    open her granaries;
^(MJ)pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
    let nothing be left of her.
²⁷ Kill all ^(MK)her bulls;
    let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
    ^(ML)the time of their punishment.

³¹ “Behold, I am against you, O ^(MU)proud one,
    declares the Lord God of hosts,
^(MV)for your day has come,
    the time when I will punish you.
^32 (MW)The proud one shall stumble and fall,
    with none to raise him up,
^(MX)and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
    and it will devour all that is around him.

³⁵ “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
    and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
    and against ^(ND)her officials and her ^(NE)wise men!
³⁶ A sword against the diviners,
    that they may become fools!
A sword against her ^(NF)warriors,
    that they may be destroyed!
³⁷ A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
    and against all ^(NG)the foreign troops in her midst,
    that ^(NH)they may become women!
^(NI)A sword against all her treasures,
    that they may be plundered!
^38 (NJ)A drought against her waters,
    that they may be dried up!
^(NK)For it is a land of images,
    and they are mad over idols.

^41 (NO)“Behold, a people comes from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
⁴² They lay hold of bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
    they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
    against you, O daughter of Babylon!

⁴³ “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
    and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
    pain as of a woman in labor.