Bible in 90 Days
48 Concerning Moab: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to [the city of] Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame and taken; Misgab [the high fortress] is put to shame, broken down, and crushed.(A)
2 The glory of Moab is no more; in Heshbon [a border town between Reuben and Gad, east of the Jordan River] they planned evil against her, saying, Come, let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, O [town of] Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you.
3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim, [a cry of] desolation and great destruction!
4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard [as far as Zoar].
5 For the ascent of Luhith will be climbed [by successive bands of fugitives] with continual weeping; for on the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
6 Flee! Save your lives! But they shall be like a destitute and forsaken person in the wilderness.
7 For because you have trusted in your works [your bungling idol images] and in your treasures [instead of in God], you shall also be taken. And Chemosh [your god] shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
8 And the destroyer shall come upon every city; no city shall escape. The [Jordan] valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be devastated, as the Lord has said.
9 Give wings to Moab, for [by that means only] she will flee and get away; her cities will be desolate, without any to dwell in them.
10 Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently [with slackness, deceitfully]; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood [in executing judgment pronounced by the Lord].
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees [like wine] and has not been drawn off from one vessel to another, neither has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed.
12 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to [Moab] tilters who shall tilt him up and shall empty his vessels and break his bottles (earthenware) in pieces.
13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh [his god], as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.(B)
14 How can you say, We are heroes and mighty men in the war?
15 Moab has been made desolate, and his cities have gone up [in smoke and flame]; and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, Whose name is the Lord of hosts.
16 The destruction of Moab is coming near, and his calamity hastens swiftly.
17 Bemoan him, all you [nations] who are around him, and all you [nations more remote] who know his name; say, How broken is the mighty scepter [of national power] and the splendid rod [of glory]!
18 Come down from your glory, you inhabitant of the Daughter of [a]Dibon, and sit on the ground among the thirsty! For the destroyer of Moab is advancing against you; he will destroy your strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch! Ask him who flees and her who escapes, What has happened?
20 Moab is put to shame, for she is broken down. Wail and cry out! Tell by [the banks of] the Arnon that Moab is laid waste (destroyed).
21 Judgment has come upon the land of the plain—upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,
22 And upon Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,
23 And upon Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,
24 And upon Kerioth and Bozrah—and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 The horn (strength) of Moab is cut off, and his arm [of authority] is shattered, says the Lord.
26 Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against the Lord [by resisting Reuben’s occupation of the land the Lord had assigned him]. Moab also shall splash in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision.(C)
27 For was not Israel [an object of] derision to you? Was he found among thieves—since whenever you speak of him you wag your head [in scorn]?
28 O you inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities and dwell among the rocks, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the walls of the yawning ravine.
29 We have heard of the [giddy] pride of Moab, the extremely proud one—his loftiness, his arrogance, his conceit, and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his insolent wrath, says the Lord, and the nothingness of his boastings and his deeds; they are false and have accomplished nothing.
31 Therefore I will wail over Moab, and I will cry out over the whole of Moab. Over the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth) there will be sighing and mourning.(D)
32 O vines of Sibmah, I weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards]. Your tendrils [of influence] have gone over the sea, reaching even to Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit harvest and your [season’s] crop of grapes.
33 Joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful orchards and fields and from the land of Moab. And I have made the juice [of the grape] to fail from what is pressed out in the vats; no one treads [the grapes] with shouting. Their shouting is no shouting [of joy, but is a battle cry].
34 From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah [like a three-year-old heifer], for even the waters of Nimrim have become desolations.
35 Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, says the Lord, the one who ascends and offers in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore My heart moans and sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans and sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore [the remnant of] the abundant riches they gained has perished.
37 For every head is shaven bald and every beard cut off: upon all the hands are cuts (slashes) and upon the loins is sackcloth [all to express mourning].(E)
38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord.
39 How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become [an object of] a derision and a [horrifying] terror to all who are round about him.
40 For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab.(F)
41 Kerioth [and the cities] shall be taken and the strongholds seized; and the hearts of the mighty warriors of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth].
42 And Moab shall be [b]destroyed from being a nation, because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
43 Terror and pit and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord.(G)
44 He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken and caught in the trap or snare; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation (their inspection and infliction of punishment), says the Lord.
45 In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand powerless (stopped in their tracks, helpless and without strength), for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon; it has destroyed the corner of Moab and the crowns of the heads of the ones in tumult [the proud Moabites].
46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of [the god] Chemosh are undone; for your sons are taken away captive and your daughters into captivity.
47 Yet will I reverse the captivity and [c]restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab.
49 Concerning and against the Ammonites: Thus says the Lord: Has Israel no sons [to return after their captivity and claim the territory of Gad east of the Jordan which the Ammonites have taken over]? Has [Israel’s Gad] no heir? Why then has Milcom [the god the Ammonites call their king] dispossessed and inherited Gad, and [why do] his people dwell in Gad’s cities?
2 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it [the high ground on which it stands] will become a desolate heap, and its daughter [villages] will be burned with fire. Then will Israel dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the Lord.(H)
3 Wail, O Heshbon [in Moab, just south of Ammon], for Ai [in Ammon] is laid waste! Cry out, you daughter [villages] of Rabbah! Gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro inside the [sheepfold] enclosures; for Milcom [the god-king] shall go into exile, together with his priests and his princes.
4 Why do you boast of your valleys? Your valley flows away, O [Ammon] rebellious and faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, who said, Who can come against me?
5 Behold, I will bring terror upon you, says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, from all who are round about you; and you will be driven out, each man fleeing straight before him [without thought of his neighbor], and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives.
6 And [d]afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon and restore their fortunes, says the Lord.
7 Concerning and against Edom: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman [a district in Edom]? Has counsel vanished from the intelligent and prudent? Is their wisdom all poured out and used up?(I)
8 Flee, turn back, dwell deep [in the deserts to escape the Chaldeans], O inhabitants of Dedan [neighbor of Edom]! For I will bring the calamity and destruction of Esau upon him [Edom] when I inspect and punish him.
9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some ungleaned grapes? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only what is enough [for them]?
10 But I have stripped Esau (Edom) bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he cannot hide himself. His offspring will be destroyed, with his brethren and his neighbors; and he will be no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children; I will [do what is necessary to] preserve them alive. And let [those who have been made] your widows trust and confide in Me.
12 For thus says the Lord: Behold, they [Israel] whose rule was not to drink the cup [of wrath] shall assuredly drink—and are you to remain unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.(J)
13 For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah [in Edom, between Petra and the Dead Sea] shall become a horror, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be [e]perpetual wastes.
14 I have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger is sent to the nations, saying, Gather together and come against her! And rise up for the battle.
15 For, behold, I will make you [Edom] small among the nations and despised among men.(K)
16 Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or [f]Petra], who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
17 And Edom shall be an astonishment and a horror; everyone who goes by it shall be astonished and shall hiss with horror at all its plagues and disasters.
18 As [it was] in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there; neither shall a son of man live in it temporarily.
19 See, there comes up one [Nebuchadnezzar] like a lion from [lurking in] the jungles (the pride) of the Jordan against the strong habitation [of Edom] and into the permanent pastures; for in a twinkling I will drive him [Edom] from there. And I will appoint over him the one whom I choose. For who is like Me? And who will appoint for Me the time and prosecute Me for this proceeding? And what [earthly, national] shepherd can stand before Me and defy Me?
20 Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has made against Edom, and His purposes which He has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall be dragged away [by Nebuchadnezzar], even the little ones of the flock; surely He shall make their habitation desolate because of them and their fold shocked at their fate.
21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; at their crying the sound shall be heard at the Red Sea.
22 Behold, one will come up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against [the Edomite city of] Bozrah; and in that day the hearts of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth].(L)
23 Concerning and against Damascus [in Syria]: Hamath and Arpad are confounded and put to shame, for they have heard bad news; they are fainthearted and wasting away; there is trouble and anxiety [like] on a [storm-tossed] sea which cannot rest.
24 Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee, and terror and panic have seized her; anguish and sorrow have taken hold of her, like a woman in childbirth.
25 How [remarkable that] the renowned city is not deserted, the city of my joy! [exclaims one from Damascus].
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day, says the Lord of hosts.(M)
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad [title of several kings of Syria].
28 Concerning Kedar [a tribe of nomad Arabs] and concerning the kingdoms of [g]Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite: Thus says the Lord [to him]: Arise, go up against Kedar and destroy the sons of the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they [the Chaldeans] take—their tent hangings and all their utensils and their camels. And men shall cry to them, Terror on every side!(N)
30 Flee, wander far off, dwell deep [in the deserts], O you inhabitants of Hazor [in the Arabian Desert] says the Lord, for [h]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has planned a course against you and has conceived a purpose against you.
31 Arise [Nebuchadrezzar], get up into a nation which is at ease, which dwells without care, says the Lord, [a nation] which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells apart and alone.
32 And their camels will be booty, and their herds of cattle a spoil; and I will scatter to all [the four] winds those who [as evidence of their idolatry] clip off the corners of their hair, and I will bring their calamity from every side, says the Lord.(O)
33 And Hazor shall become a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever; no man shall dwell there; neither shall a son of man live in it temporarily.
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning and against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief [weapon and part] of their strength.
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four corners of heaven; and I will scatter them toward all those winds, and there will be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam will not come.
37 And I will cause [i]Elam to be dismayed and terrified before their enemies and before those who seek and demand their lives; and I will bring evil and disaster upon them, even My fierce anger, says the Lord. And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
38 And I will set My throne [of judgment] in Elam [whose capital city was Shushan, from which God wrought wonders through Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel]; and I will destroy from their king and princes, says the Lord.(P)
39 But it shall be [j]in the latter days (the end of days) that I will reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.
50 The word that the Lord spoke concerning and against Babylon and concerning and against the land of the Chaldeans through Jeremiah the prophet:(Q)
2 Declare it among the nations and publish it and set up a signal [to spread the news]—publish and conceal it not; say, Babylon has been taken; Bel [the patron god] is put to shame, Merodach (Bel) is dismayed and broken down. [Babylon’s] images are put to shame, her [senseless] idols are thrown down!
3 For out of the north there has come up a nation [Media] against her which will make her land desolate, and none will dwell there. They will have fled, they will be gone—from man even to beast.
4 In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall come up weeping as they come and seek the Lord their God [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him, both by right of necessity and of the promises of God’s Word].
5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces in that direction, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray [to favorite places of idolatry] on mountains [that seduce]. They have gone from [one sin to another] mountain to hill; they have forgotten their [own] resting-place.(R)
7 All who found them devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord [and are no longer holy to Him], their true habitation of righteousness and justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.
8 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be as the he-goats [who serve as examples and as leaders in the flight] before the flocks.(S)
9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country. They will equip and set themselves against her; from there she will be taken. Their arrows will be like [both] an expert, mighty warrior and like his arrows—none [of them] will return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall become plunder; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, says the Lord.
11 Though you are glad, though you rejoice, O you who plunder My heritage, though you are wanton and skip about like a heifer at grass and neigh like strong stallions,
12 Your mother [Babylon] shall be put to great shame; she who bore you shall blush and be disgraced. Behold, she shall be at the rear of the nations [least of the nations]—a wilderness, waste, and desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited but shall be wholly desolate; everyone who goes by Babylon shall be appalled and hiss and mock at all her wounds and plagues.
14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you archers. Shoot at her! Spare not the arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise the battle cry against her round about! She gives her hand [in agreement] and surrenders; her supports and battlements fall, her walls are thrown down. For this is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her; as she has done [to others], do to her.
16 Exterminate the sower from Babylon, and the one who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the sword of the oppressor everyone shall return to his people, and everyone shall flee to his own land.
17 Israel is a hunted and scattered sheep [driven hither and thither and preyed upon by savage beasts]; the lions have chased him. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last [k]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken and gnawed his bones.
18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will visit and punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I visited and punished the king of Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel [home] again to his fold and pasturage, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan [in the most fertile districts both west and east], and his soul will be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah [will be sought], but none will be found, for I will pardon those whom I cause to remain as a remnant (the preserved ones who come forth after a long tribulation).(T)
21 Go up against [Babylon] the land of Merathaim [two rebellions, double or intense defiance], even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod [visitation and punishment]. Slay and utterly destroy them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 The cry and noise of battle is in the land, and [the noise] of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth is crushed and broken! How Babylon has become a horror of desolation among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, and you also were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and also caught because you have struggled and contended against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened His armory and has brought forth [the nations who unknowingly are] the weapons of His indignation and wrath, for the Lord God of hosts has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from every quarter and from the utmost border. Open her granaries and storehouses; pile up [their contents] like heaps of rubbish. Burn and destroy her utterly; let nothing be left of her.
27 Slay all her bullocks (her choice youths, the strength of her army); let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to [the Chaldeans]! For their day has come, the time of their visitation (their inspection and punishment).
28 Listen! The voice of those [Jews] who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon proclaiming in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance [of the Lord upon the Chaldeans] for [the plundering and destruction of] His temple.
29 Call together [many] archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her round about; let none from there escape. Recompense her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do to her. For against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel, has she been proudly defiant and presumptuous.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets and squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the Lord.
31 Behold, I am against you, O Babylon [you who are pride and presumption personified], says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will visit and punish you.
32 And Pride (the arrogant one) shall stumble (totter) and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are round about him.
33 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; all who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He will surely and thoroughly plead their case and defend their cause, that He may give rest to [the land of Israel and to the Babylonian-enslaved nations of] the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword upon the Chaldeans, says the Lord—upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her princes (rulers in civic matters) and upon her wise men (the astrologers and rulers in religious affairs)!
36 A sword upon the babbling liars (the diviners), that they may become fools! A sword upon her mighty warriors, that they may be dismayed and destroyed!
37 A sword upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon all the mixed foreign troops that are in the midst of her, that they may become [as weak and defenseless as] women! A sword upon her treasures, that they may be plundered!
38 A sword and a drought upon her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols (objects of terror in which they foolishly trust).
39 Therefore [l]wild beasts of the desert shall dwell [in Babylon] with the jackals, and ostriches shall dwell there. And it shall never again be inhabited with people, even from generation to generation.(U)
40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says the Lord, so no man shall dwell there; neither shall any son of man live there temporarily.(V)
41 Behold, a people is coming from the north; and a great nation and many kings are stirring from the uttermost parts of the earth.
42 They lay hold of bow, lance, and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy or compassion. They sound like the roaring of the sea; they ride upon horses, every man equipped like a man [ready] for the battle against you, O Daughter of Babylon!
43 The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands fall feeble and helpless; anguish has seized him, and pangs like that of a woman in childbirth.
44 See, there comes up one like a lion from the jungles (the pride) of the Jordan against the strong habitation [of Babylon] and into the permanent pasturage and sheepfold; for in a twinkling I will drive him [Babylon] from there. And I will appoint over him the one whom I choose. For who is like Me? And who will challenge Me and prosecute Me for this proceeding? And what [earthly, national] shepherd can stand before Me and defy Me?(W)
45 Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has made against Babylon, and His purposes which He has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall be dragged away, even the little ones of the flock; surely He shall make their habitation desolate because of them and their fold amazed and appalled at their fate.
46 At the cry, Babylon has been taken! the earth shall tremble, and the cry shall be heard among the nations.
51 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against those who dwell among those rebelling against Me a destroying wind and spirit;
2 And I will send to Babylon strangers or winnowers who will winnow her and will empty her land; for in the day of calamity they will be against her on every side.
3 Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. And spare not her young men; devote [to God] and utterly destroy her entire host.
4 Thus they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets.
5 For Israel has not been widowed and forsaken, nor has Judah, by his God, the Lord of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon! Let every man save his life! Let not destruction come upon you through her [punishment for] sin and guilt. For it is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render to her a recompense.(X)
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken. The nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.(Y)
8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered (destroyed)! Wail for her [if you care to]! Get balm for her [incurable] pain; if [you do] so she may [possibly] be healed!(Z)
9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us each go to his own country, for her guilt and the judgment against her reach to heaven and are lifted even to the skies.(AA)
10 The Lord has brought forth and made known the righteousness [of our cause]; come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11 Make clean and sharp the arrows, take up the shields or coats of armor [and cover your bodies with them]! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes [who with the Persians will destroy the Babylonian Empire], for His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it; for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance [upon Babylon for the plundering and destruction] of His temple.
12 Set up a standard or signal [to spread the news] upon the walls of Babylon! Make the watch and blockade strong, set the guards, prepare the ambushes! For the Lord has both purposed and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O [Babylon] you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, and the line measuring your life is cut.(AB)
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with [a swarm of] locusts [who strip a land clean], and they will lift up a song and shout [of victory] over you.
15 He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
16 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from His treasuries.
17 Every man has become stupid and brutelike, without knowledge [of God]; every goldsmith is put to shame by the images he has made; for his molten idols are a lie, and there is no breath [of life] in them.
18 They are worthless (emptiness, falsity, futility), a work of delusion and worthy of derision; in the time of their inspection and punishment they shall [helplessly] perish.
19 Not like these [gods] is He Who is the Portion of Jacob [the true God on Whom Israel has a claim], for He is the One Who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the Lord of hosts is His name.(AC)
20 You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-ax or maul and weapon of war—for with you I break nations in pieces, with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 With you I break in pieces the horse and his rider, with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer,
22 With you I break in pieces man and woman, with you I break in pieces old man and youth, with you I break in pieces young man and maiden,
23 With you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, with you I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen, and with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.
24 And I will [completely] repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil that they have done in Zion—before your very eyes [I will do it], says the Lord.
25 Behold, I am against you, says the Lord, O destroying mountain [which is burning out, you who will be as barren and desolate as an extinct volcano], you who [would] destroy the whole earth. I will stretch out My hand over and against you and roll you down from the [burnt] crags and will make you a burnt-out mountain [of combustive fires].
26 And [O Babylon] they shall not take your cracked stones for a cornerstone, or any stone for foundations, but you shall be waste and [m]desolate forever, says the Lord.
27 Set up a standard or signal in the land [to spread the news]! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare and dedicate the nations for war against her; call against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up like [a swarm of] locusts [when their wings are not yet released from their horny cases].
28 Prepare and dedicate the nations for war against her—the kings of Media, with their governors and commanders (deputies), and every land of their dominion.
29 [I foresee this:] The land trembles and writhes in pain and sorrow, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand—to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
30 The mighty warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight; they have remained in their holds. Their might has failed; they have become [weak and helpless] like women. Her dwelling places are burned up; her bars [and defenses generally] are broken.
31 One post shall run to meet another and one messenger to meet another to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side and to its farthest end,
32 And that the passages [or ferries across the Euphrates] are stopped, and the great marshes they [the Medes] have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is [being prepared]; yet a little while and the time of harvest shall come to her.
34 [The inhabitants of Zion say] [n]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has crushed us, he has made us an empty vessel. Like a monster he has swallowed us up, he has filled his belly with our delicacies; he has rinsed us out and cast us away.
35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh and blood be upon Babylon, will the inhabitant of Zion say; and, May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, will Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her lake or great reservoir and make her fountain dry.
37 And Babylon shall become heaps [of ruins], a dwelling place of jackals, a horror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing [of amazement], without inhabitant.
38 They [the Chaldean lords] shall be roaring together [before their sudden capture] like young lions [over their prey], they [the princes] shall be growling like lions’ whelps.
39 When the revelers are [o]inflamed [with wine and lust during their drinking bouts], I will prepare them a feast [of My wrath] and make them drunk, that they may rejoice and fall asleep to a perpetual sleep and not waken, says the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams together with he-goats.
41 How Sheshach [Babylon] is taken! And the praise of the whole earth is surprised and seized! How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and a horror among the nations!
42 The sea has come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the tumult and multitude of its waves.
43 Her cities have become a desolation and a horror, a land of drought and a wilderness, a land in which no one lives, nor does any son of man pass through it.
44 And I will punish and execute judgment upon Bel [the god] in Babylon and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed up [the sacred vessels and the people of Judah and elsewhere who were taken captive]. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon has fallen!
45 My people, come out of the midst of her! And let every man save his life from the fierce anger of the Lord!(AD)
46 And beware, lest your heart faint and you be afraid at the report (rumor) heard in the land; for in one year shall one report come and in another year another report, and violence shall be in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore behold, the days will come when I will execute judgment and punishment upon the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be confounded and put to shame, and all her slain will fall in the midst of her.
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the [Median] destroyers shall come against her from the north, says the Lord.(AE)
49 As Babylon caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all [her] land.
50 You who have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still! [Seriously and earnestly] remember the Lord from afar [Babylon], and let [desolate] Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 We are confounded and ashamed, for we have heard reproach; confusion and shame have covered our faces, for strangers have come into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those forbidden for entrance by all but the high priest or the appointed priests].
52 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will execute judgment upon [Babylon’s] idols and images, and throughout all her land the wounded will groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height (her lofty stronghold), yet destroyers will come upon her from Me, says the Lord.
54 The sound of a cry [comes] from Babylon, and [the sound of] great destruction and ruin from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon and laying her waste and stilling her great voice [the hum of the city’s life]. And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters, the noise of their voices is raised up [like the tramping of an army].
56 For the destroyer is coming upon her, upon Babylon; and her mighty warriors are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for the Lord is a God of recompense; He will surely requite.
57 And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her commanders (deputies) and her mighty warriors; and they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not waken, says the King—the Lord of hosts is His name.
58 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown and [the foundations] made bare, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; the peoples shall labor in vain, and the nations [only] to satisfy the fire, and they shall be weary.(AF)
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was chief chamberlain or quartermaster [and brother of Baruch].
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon—even all these words that are written against Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words.
62 Then say, O Lord, You have spoken concerning this place that it shall be cut off, so that nothing shall remain and dwell in it, neither man nor beast; but it shall be desolate forever.
63 And it shall be that when you have finished reading this book, you shall bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.
64 Then say, Thus will Babylon sink and not rise because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and [the Babylonians] will be weary (hopelessly exhausted). Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.(AG)
52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah [not the prophet] of Libnah.(AH)
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
3 For all this came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah because of the anger of the Lord, and [in the end] He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, [p]Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they pitched against it and built moveable towers and siege mounds against it round about.(AI)
5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.(AJ)
6 And in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no bread for the people of the land.
7 Then the city [wall] was broken through, so that all the men of war might flee, and they went forth out of the city by night [as Ezekiel had foretold] by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. And they [the Jewish soldiers fled] by way of the Arabah (the Jordan Valley).(AK)
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the [Syrian] land of Hamath [on the northern border of Israel], where he pronounced sentence upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah at Riblah.
11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with shackles and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison [q][mill] till the day of his death.(AL)
12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, there came to Jerusalem Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who stood and served before the king of Babylon.
13 And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he consumed with fire.
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls round about Jerusalem.
15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and those who were left in the city [at the time it was captured], along with those who went out to the king of Babylon [during the siege] and the remnant of the multitude [the country’s working people].
16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.
17 Also the pillars of bronze that belonged to the house of the Lord, and the bronze bases or pedestals [which supported the ten basins] and the bronze Sea or huge laver that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon.
18 The pots [for carrying away ashes] also and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service they took away.
19 Also the small bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the incense cups and the bowls for the drink offerings—whatever was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and whatever was of silver as silver.
20 The two pillars, one Sea or huge laver, and [r]twelve bronze bulls or oxen under the Sea, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these things was beyond weighing.
21 Concerning the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (twenty-seven feet), and an ornamental molding of twelve cubits (eighteen feet) went around its circumference; it was four fingers thick, and it [the pillar] was hollow.
22 An upper part or capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of one capital was five cubits (seven and one-half feet), with a network and pomegranates around it, all of bronze. The second pillar also, with its pomegranates, was similar to these.
23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.
24 And the captain of the guard took [as prisoners] Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door.
25 He took also out of the city a court officer who had been overseer of the soldiers, and seven men of them who were next to the king [as advisers] and saw his face, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the prince or captain of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.
26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 And the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.
28 This is the number of people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons;
30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the [Babylonian] guard carried away captive of the Jews 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600.
31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin [also called Coniah and Jeconiah] king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah [and showed favor to him] and brought him out of prison.(AM)
32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were [captives] with him in Babylon,
33 Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and he dined regularly at the king’s table all the days of his life.
34 And his allowance, a continual one, was given him by the king of Babylon, a portion according to his requirements until the day of his death, [s]all the days of his life.
1 How solitary and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] that was [once] full of people! How like a widow has she become! She who was [t]great among the nations and princess among the provinces has become a tributary [in servitude]!
2 She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks. Among all her lovers (allies) she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.(AN)
3 Judah has gone into exile [to escape] from the affliction and laborious servitude [of the homeland]. She dwells among the [heathen] nations, but she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her amid the [dire] straits [of her distress].
4 The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly or the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh and groan, her maidens are grieved and vexed, and she herself is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries have become the head; her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her young children have gone into captivity before the enemy.(AO)
6 From the Daughter of Zion all her beauty and majesty have departed. Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture; they have fled without strength before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem [earnestly] remembers in the days of her affliction, in the days of her [compulsory] wanderings and her bitterness, all the pleasant and precious things that she had from the days of old. When her people fell into and at the hands of the adversary, and there was none to help her, the enemy [gloated as they] looked at her, and they mocked at her desolations and downfall.
8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become an unclean thing and has been removed. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yes, she herself groans and sighs and turns [her face] away.
9 Her filthiness was in and on her skirts; she did not [seriously and earnestly] consider her final end. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] singularly and astonishingly; she has no comforter. O Lord [cries Jerusalem], look at my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!
10 The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her precious and desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary [of the temple]—[u]when You commanded that they should not even enter Your congregation [in the outer courts].(AP)
11 All her people groan and sigh, seeking for bread; they have given their desirable and precious things [in exchange] for food to revive their strength and bring back life. See, O Lord, and consider how wretched and lightly esteemed, how vile and abominable, I have become!
12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was dealt out to me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger!
13 From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed against them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back. He has made me hopelessly miserable and faint all the day long.
14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they were twined together; they were set upon my neck. He has made my strength fail and [me to] stumble; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those I am unable to resist or withstand.(AQ)
15 The Lord has made of no account all my [Jerusalem’s] mighty men in the midst of me; He has proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden as in a winepress the Virgin Daughter of Judah.
16 For these things I weep; my eyes overflow with tears, because a comforter, one who could refresh and restore my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate and perishing, for the enemy has prevailed.(AR)
17 Zion stretches forth her hands, but there is no comforter for her. The Lord has commanded concerning and against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them [an object of contempt].
18 The Lord is righteous (just and in the right); for I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear, I pray you, all you peoples, and look at my sorrow and suffering; my maidens and my young men have gone into captivity.
19 I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers [allies], but they deceived me. My priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food to save their lives.
20 Behold, O Lord, how distressed I am! My vital parts (emotions) are in tumult and are deeply disturbed; my heart cannot rest and is violently agitated within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the house the sword bereaves, at home there is [famine, pestilence] death!
21 [My foes] have heard that I [Jerusalem] sigh and groan, that I have no comforter [in You]. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad [O Lord] that You have done it. You will bring the day [of Judah’s punishment] that you have foretold and proclaimed; [it involves also my foes’ punishment] and they will become like me.(AS)
22 Let all their wickedness come before You; and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my sighs and groans are many and my heart is faint.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation