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They replied, “The remnant there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”(A)

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Decision to Restore the Walls

17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.”(A)

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10 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.(A)

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These are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried into exile; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town.(A)

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13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.(A)

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I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”(A)

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A Plea for Mercy

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
    look, and see our disgrace!(A)

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61 You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
    all their plots against me.

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Jerusalem remembers[a] all the precious things
    that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy
    and there was no one to help her,
the enemy looked on;
    they mocked over her downfall.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1.7 Q ms: MT adds in the days of her affliction and wandering

14 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.(A)

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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?(A) Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah, of their[a] wives, your own crimes and those of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?(B) 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.(C)

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.(D) 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.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 44.9 Heb his

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.(A)

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The Chaldeans burned with fire the king’s house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.(A)

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18 I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of cursing and horror and hissing and a derision among all the nations where I have driven them,(A)

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I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth—a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.(A)

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10 Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    but do not make a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord’s.(A)

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10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.(A)
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
    where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.(B)

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28 Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary;
    I delivered Jacob to utter destruction
    and Israel to reviling.(A)

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Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
    you complacent daughters, listen to my speech.(A)
10 In little more than a year
    you will shudder, you complacent ones,
for the vintage will fail;
    the fruit harvest will not come.(B)
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease;
    shudder, you complacent ones;
strip and make yourselves bare,
    and put sackcloth on your loins.(C)
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,[a]
    for the fruitful vine,(D)
13 for the soil of my people
    growing up in thorns and briers,
yes, for all the joyous houses
    in the jubilant city.(E)
14 For the palace will be forsaken,
    the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
    will become dens forever,
the joy of wild asses,
    a pasture for flocks;(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 32.12 Gk: Heb on the lamenting breasts

And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.(A)

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Psalm 137

Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem

By the rivers of Babylon—
    there we sat down, and there we wept
    when we remembered Zion.(A)
On the willows[a] there
    we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
    asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 137.2 Or poplars

We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
    mocked and derided by those around us.(A)

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11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.(A)
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.(B)

13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.(C)
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock[a] among the peoples.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 44.14 Heb a shaking of the head

King Ahasuerus Deposes Queen Vashti

This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the same Ahasuerus who ruled over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Cush.(A)

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These are the leaders of the province who lived in Jerusalem, but in the towns of Judah all lived on their property in their towns: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon’s servants.(A)

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