Bible in 90 Days
A Prophecy Against Moab
48 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.
Woe to Nebo! It will be destroyed.
Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured.
The stronghold will be disgraced and broken down.
2 There will no longer be any praise for Moab.
They have plotted evil against her in Heshbon:
“Come, let us destroy that nation!”
You will be silenced, O Madmen.[a]
The sword will pursue you.
3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim,
desolation and great destruction!
4 Moab is destroyed.
Her little ones will cry out.
5 Now they go up the ascent to Luhith,
weeping continually.
And on the descent of Horonaim
they have heard the cry of distress
caused by the destruction.
6 Flee! Save your lives!
Be like a juniper bush[b] in the wilderness.
7 Because you trusted in your works and treasures,
you too will be taken.
Chemosh will go into exile,
together with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every city,
and no city will escape.
The valley will also perish,
and the tableland will be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken.
9 Give Moab a blossom, but it will blow away completely.[c]
Her cities will become desolate
with no one to live in them.
10 Cursed is the one who is negligent in doing the Lord’s work.
Cursed is the one who holds back his sword from bloodshed.
11 Moab has been at peace since its youth,
undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,
never poured from one vessel to another.
It has never gone into captivity.
That is why it tastes the same as it always did,
and its aroma is unchanged.
12 Therefore, know this: the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will send to Moab people who pour,
and they will pour it out.
They will drain its containers
and smash its jars.
13 Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
14 How can you say, “We are mighty warriors,
courageous soldiers?”
15 Moab is laid waste,
and they have gone up into its cities.
Its finest young men have gone down to be slaughtered.
The declaration of the King,
whose name is the Lord of Armies:
16 The destruction of Moab is approaching,
and its disaster hurries swiftly.
17 Mourn for it, all you surrounding nations.
All you who know its name say,
“How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff!”
18 Come down from your glory,
and sit on the parched ground,
you[d] who dwell in Dibon.
Moab’s destroyer has come up against you.
He has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Stand beside the road and watch,
you[e] who dwell in Aroer.
Ask him who flees, ask her who escapes,
“What has happened?”
20 Moab is withered,
for it is broken down.
Wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab has been destroyed.
21 Judgment has come upon the tableland, on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mepha’ath, 22 on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim, 23 on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon, 24 on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off,
and his arm is broken, declares the Lord.
26 Make him drunk,
because he exalted himself against the Lord.
Moab will wallow in his vomit,
and he will be ridiculed.
27 Was not Israel ridiculed by you?
Was Israel caught among thieves,
so that whenever you speak of him,
you shake your head?
28 You who live in Moab, abandon the cities and dwell in the rocks.
Be like a dove that makes her nest over the mouth of a chasm.
29 We have heard about the pride of Moab.
He is very arrogant.
He is smug, he is conceited,
he is proud, and his heart is haughty.
30 I know his insolence, says the Lord.
It is empty, and so are his deeds.
31 Therefore I will wail for Moab.
I will cry out for all of Moab.
I will mourn for the men of Kir Hareseth.
32 I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,
more than Jazer.
Your branches passed over the sea.
They reached to the Sea of[f] Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit
and on your grapes.
33 Gladness and joy have been taken from the fertile field
and from the land of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses.
No one will tread them with shouts of joy.
The shouting is not shouting for joy.
34 There is an outcry from Heshbon to Elealeh.
They raise their voices as far as Jahaz,
from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah,
and even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.
35 In Moab, declares the Lord,
I will stop the one who presents offerings on the high places
and burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore, my heart wails like a flute for Moab,
and for the men of Kir Hareseth my heart wails like a flute.
Even the wealth they have acquired is gone.
37 Every head is shaved, and every beard is clipped.
Every hand is cut, and there is sackcloth around their waists.
38 On all the rooftops of Moab
and in its streets there is wailing,
because I have broken Moab like an unwanted jar,
declares the Lord.
39 How broken she is!
How they wail!
How Moab turns her back in shame!
So Moab will be ridiculed
and be a horror to all around.
40 For the Lord says:
Watch, he will fly like an eagle,
and he will spread his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth is taken,
and the strongholds are seized.
On that day the hearts of Moab’s strong warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation
because he has defied the Lord.
43 Panic, pit, and peril[g] are before you,
you who live in Moab, declares the Lord.
44 Whoever flees from the panic will fall into the pit.
Whoever gets out of the pit will be trapped in the snare,
for I will bring on Moab the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.
45 Those who fled stand helpless under the shadow of Heshbon,
because a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
and a flame from the midst of Sihon.
It has burned the foreheads of Moab,
and the tops of the heads of those who boast.[h]
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh are destroyed,
for your sons are taken away captive,
and your daughters go into exile.
47 Nevertheless, I will reverse the captivity of Moab in days to come,
declares the Lord.
This is the conclusion of the judgment against Moab.
A Prophecy About Ammon
49 Concerning the people of Ammon, this is what the Lord says:
Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then does Milcom[i] possess Gad?
Why do his people live in Israel’s cities?
2 Watch, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will sound a battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites,
and it will become a desolate heap.
Her villages will be burned down,
and then Israel will possess those who possessed him,
declares the Lord.
3 Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry, you daughters of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth and mourn.
Run back and forth behind the walls,
because Milcom is about to go into captivity,
with his priests and his officials.
4 Why do you boast about your valleys,
your flowing valley, you backsliding daughter?
You trusted in your treasures, saying,
“Who will come against me?”
5 Look out! I will bring terror upon you,
says the Lord God of Armies,
terror from every side.
All of you will be completely driven out,
and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives.
6 But afterward I will restore the captives of the Ammonites,
declares the Lord.
A Prophecy Against Edom
7 Concerning Edom, this is what the Lord of Armies says:
Is there no more wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?[j]
Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee! Turn back!
Dwell in the depths, you who live in Dedan,
for I will bring the disaster of Esau on him when I punish him.
9 If grape pickers came to you,
wouldn’t they leave some grapes for gleaning?
If thieves came by night,
wouldn’t they stop when they had stolen enough?
10 But I have stripped Esau bare.
I have uncovered his secret places,
and he will not be able to hide himself.
His offspring are destroyed,
along with his brothers and his neighbors,
and he is no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children.
I will preserve their lives.
Let your widows trust in me.
12 For the Lord says: If those who did not deserve to drink from the cup must drink it, will you escape unpunished? No, you will not remain unpunished. You must drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah will become a horror, a disgrace, ruins, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual ruins.
14 I have heard news from the Lord,
and a messenger has been sent to the nations:
“Gather yourselves together,
and come against her!
Rise up for the battle!”
15 Look, I have made you small among the nations
and despised among mankind.
16 The terror you instill has deceived you,
the pride of your heart.
You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
who occupy the high point of the hill,
even though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s nest,
I will bring you down from there, declares the Lord.
17 Edom will become a horror.
Everyone who passes by it will be shocked,
and they will hiss because of all its disasters.
18 As Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring cities were overthrown,
says the Lord,
no one will live there.
Not one person will dwell in it.
19 Watch this.
Like a lion coming out of the thickets of the Jordan
into the pastures that are always green,
I will suddenly chase Edom away from its land,
and I will appoint whomever I choose over it.
For who is like me?
Who can challenge me?
What shepherd can stand before me?
20 Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned for Edom,
what he intends to do against the people of Teman.
Even the little ones of the flock will be dragged away.
He will make their pasture desolate because of them.
21 The earth will tremble at the noise of their fall.
Their cry will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.
22 Watch, he will come up and fly like an eagle.
He will spread out his wings against Bozrah.
In that day the hearts of the strong warriors of Edom
will be like the heart of a woman during her labor pains.
A Prophecy Against Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus:
Hamath and Arpad are troubled,
for they have heard bad news.
They melt in fear.
Like a troubled sea,
they cannot find rest.
24 Damascus has become feeble.
She turns to flee.
Panic has seized her.
Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
like those of a woman in labor.
25 Why is this famous city not yet forsaken,[k]
the joyful city?[l]
26 Therefore, her young men will fall in her streets,
and all her warriors will be destroyed on that day,
declares the Lord of Armies.
27 I will set fire to the walls of Damascus,
and it will devour the citadels of Ben Hadad.
A Prophecy Against Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck, this is what the Lord says:
Arise, go up to Kedar,
and destroy the people of the East.
29 Their tents and their flocks will be taken,
their tent curtains and everything in their tents.
Their camels will be taken away from them,
and men will shout to them, “Terror on every side!”
30 Quick, fly away!
Hide in deep caves, you who live in Hazor,
declares the Lord,
because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plotted against you,
and he has made plans to defeat you.
31 Arise! Attack a nation at ease, that lives without care,
declares the Lord,
a nation that has neither gates nor bars, that lives by itself.
32 Their camels will be plunder,
and their vast herds of livestock a prize.
I will scatter to all the winds those who live in distant places,[m]
and I will bring disaster on them from every side,
declares the Lord.
33 Hazor will be a place where jackals live,
a desolate place forever.
No man will live there.
No one will live in that place even as a temporary resident.
A Prophecy About Elam
34 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:
35 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
Look, I will break the bow of Elam,[n]
the main source of its power.
36 I will bring against Elam the four winds,
from the four corners of the sky.
I will scatter its people to the four winds.
There will not be a nation
where the outcasts of Elam do not go.
37 I will make Elam terrified of their enemies,
those who seek their lives.
I will bring disaster on them,
namely, my fierce anger, declares the Lord,
and I will send the sword after them,
until I have consumed them.
38 I will set up my throne in Elam,
and there I will destroy their king and officials,
declares the Lord.
39 Yet I will reverse the captivity of Elam in days to come,
declares the Lord.
A Prophecy About Babylon and Israel
50 The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 Declare and proclaim this among the nations.
Set up a signal flag.
Proclaim and do not hide it.
Say this:
Babylon has been taken.
Bel has been put to shame.
Marduk is terrified.
Babylon’s images have been put to shame.
Her filthy idols are terrified.
3 A nation has come up against her out of the north.
It will make her land desolate,
and no one will dwell in it.
Both man and animal have wandered away.
They are gone.
4 In those days, and in that time, declares the Lord,
the people of Israel will come,
they and the people of Judah together with them.
They will come weeping,
and they will seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion and turn toward it,
saying, “Come, join yourselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”
6 My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have turned them aside on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill.
They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them.
Their enemies said, “We are not guilty,
because they sinned against the Lord,
who is their rightful pasture,
the Lord, the hope of their fathers.”
8 Flee from Babylon!
Leave the land of the Chaldeans.
Be like the male goats that lead the flock.
9 Watch, I will stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the land of the north.
They will array themselves against her,
and she will be taken away captive from there.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10 Chaldea will be plundered.
All who prey on her will have their fill, declares the Lord.
11 Because you are glad and rejoice,
you who plunder my inheritance,
because you leap like a heifer that treads out the grain,
and you neigh like strong horses,
12 your mother will be completely put to shame.
She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.
Watch, she will become the least of the nations,
a wilderness, a desert, a wasteland.
13 Because of the Lord’s wrath she will not be inhabited.
She will be completely desolate.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be astonished.
Everyone will mock her because of all her wounds.
14 Line up for battle against Babylon and surround her.
All you who bend the bow, shoot at her.
Don’t save any arrows,
because she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout against her from all sides.
She surrenders!
Her fortifications[o] have fallen.
Her walls have been thrown down.
This is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her!
Do to her as she has done to others!
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and the one who swings the sickle at harvest time.
They will each return to their own people.
They will each flee to their own land
because they fear the sword of the oppressor.
17 Israel is a scattered flock of sheep that lions have chased away.
First, the king of Assyria devoured him.
Now, the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
18 Therefore this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
I will certainly punish the king of Babylon and his land,
as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will restore Israel to his pasture.
He will feed on Carmel and in Bashan.
His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and at that time, declares the Lord,
the guilt of Israel will be sought,
but there will be none.
The sins of Judah will be sought,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive the survivors whom I spare.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim
and against those who live in Pekod.
Kill them and destroy them, declares the Lord.
Do everything I have commanded you.
22 The noise of battle is in the land,
the noise of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is smashed and broken to pieces!
How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it.
You were found and captured,
because you fought against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his arsenal
and brought out his weapons of wrath,
for the Lord God of Armies has work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from far away.
Open up her granaries,
and pile her up like heaps of grain.
Destroy her completely.
Let nothing be left.
27 Kill all her young bulls.[p]
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time for their punishment.
28 Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon!
They proclaim in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
vengeance for what was done to his temple.
29 Call the archers to Babylon,
all those who bend the bow.
Set up camp all around her.
Don’t let her escape.
Pay her back for her deeds.
Do to her what she has done,
because she has defied the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her young men will fall in the streets.
All her soldiers will be silenced in that day, declares the Lord.
31 Look, I am against you, you proud one, declares the Lord God of Armies.
Your day has come,
the time for your punishment.
32 The proud king[q] will stumble and fall,
and no one will help him up.
In his cities I will start a fire
that will consume everyone around him.
33 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast.
They refuse to let them go.
34 But their Redeemer is strong.
The Lord of Armies is his name.
He himself will take up their cause
so that he may bring rest to the earth,
and unrest to those who live in Babylon.
35 A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
and against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials and her wise men!
36 A sword against her empty boasters!
They will become fools.
A sword against her strong warriors!
They will be filled with terror.
37 A sword against their horses and chariots!
All the foreigners in her ranks will become as weak as women.
A sword against her treasures!
They will be looted.
38 A sword against her waters!
They will be dried up,
because it is a land of idols,
and they are driven mad by those dreadful images.
39 That is why desert animals and hyenas[r] will live there,
and shrieking ostriches will dwell there.
It will never again be inhabited.
It will never be lived in from generation to generation.
40 Just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord,
no one will dwell there.
No one will live there even as a temporary resident.
41 Look! A people comes from the north!
A great nation and many kings are being stirred up
from the ends of the earth.
42 They take up bow and spear.
They are cruel and merciless.
Their roar sounds like the sea.
They ride on horses,
arrayed in battle formation against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
and his hands hang limp.
Anguish grips him,
pains like a woman in labor.
44 Watch this!
Like a lion coming out of the thickets of the Jordan
into the pastures that are always green,
I will suddenly chase Babylon away from its land,
and I will appoint whomever I choose over it.
For who is like me?
Who can challenge me?
What shepherd can stand before me?
45 Therefore hear what the Lord has planned for Babylon,
and what he intends to do against the land of the Chaldeans:
Even the little ones of the flock will be dragged away.
He will make their pasture desolate because of them.
46 The earth will tremble at the noise of Babylon’s fall.
Their cry will be heard among the nations.
51 This is what the Lord says:
Watch, I will stir up a destroying wind against Babylon
and against the people who live in Leb Kamai.[s]
2 I will send foreigners to Babylon
to winnow her and empty her land.
They will oppose her on every side in the day of trouble.
3 Bend your bow against anyone who bends a bow
and against anyone who stands in armor.[t]
Do not spare the young men.
Completely destroy her army.
4 They fall down, slain in the land of Chaldea,
mortally wounded in her streets.
5 Israel and Judah are not forsaken by God, the Lord of Armies,
though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon!
Everyone, save your lives!
Do not be cut off because of her guilt,
for it is the time for the Lord’s vengeance.
He will punish them as they deserve.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand.
She made the whole world drunk.
The nations have drunk her wine,
and now they have gone mad.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is broken.
Wail for her.
Take balm to her for her pain.
Perhaps she can be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed.
Leave her! Everyone go to his own land,
because her judgment reaches to the heavens.
It rises up to the clouds.
10 The Lord has brought our vindication.
Come, let us declare in Zion what the Lord our God has done.
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Hang on to the shields!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
because his purpose is to destroy Babylon.
This is the vengeance of the Lord,
vengeance for his temple.
12 Raise a signal flag against the walls of Babylon!
Strengthen the guard!
Set the watch,
and prepare an ambush!
The Lord has done what he said he would do
against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who live by many waters,
you who are rich in treasures,
your end has come,
the full measure[u] of your violence.
14 The Lord of Armies has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men,
as if I were filling you with locusts.
They will raise the shout of victory over you.
A Hymn of Praise
15 He is the One who made the earth by his power
and established the world by his wisdom.
By his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16 He thunders, and the waters in the heavens roar.
He makes storm clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings the wind out from his warehouses.
17 But as for mankind, they are all stupid.
Their knowledge has dried up.
Every goldsmith is embarrassed by his idols.
The images he makes are false.
There is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,
an achievement to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment, they will perish.
19 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
because he is the Maker of all things,
including the tribe that is his possession.
The Lord of Armies is his name.
Babylon, the Hammer of the Lord
20 You are my hammer, my war weapon.
With you I shatter nations.
With you I destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I shatter horse and rider.
With you I shatter chariot and driver.
22 With you I shatter man and woman.
With you I shatter the old and the young.
With you I shatter the young man and the virgin.
23 With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock.
With you I shatter the plowman and the team in his yoke.
With you I shatter governors and officials.
24 Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and everyone who lives in Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion, declares the Lord. 25 Look, I am against you, declares the Lord.
You destroying mountain,
you destroy the whole world.
I will stretch out my hand against you.
I will roll you off the cliffs,
and I will make you a burned-out volcano.
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor as a foundation stone.
You will be desolate forever, declares the Lord.
27 Raise a signal flag in the land!
Blow the ram’s horn among the nations!
Set apart the nations against her!
Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat,
Minni, and Ashkenaz!
Appoint a field marshal against her!
Bring up horses like a thick swarm of locusts!
28 Consecrate the nations against her—
the kings of the Medes, their governors, all their officials,
and all the land under their dominion.
Babylon’s Punishment
29 The land trembles and writhes
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand.
He will make the land of Babylon a desolation with no one living there.
30 The strong warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They stay in their strongholds.
Their power has failed.
They have become as weak as women.
Her dwellings are set on fire.
The bars of the gates are broken.
31 Runner follows runner,
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city is taken in every quarter.
32 The fords have been captured,
the marshes[v] are on fire,
and the soldiers are in a panic.
33 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is trampled.
In just a little while, the time of her harvest will come.
34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured us.[w]
He has crushed us
and made us like an empty jar.
Like a monster, he has swallowed us,
filled his stomach with our tastiest parts,
and spit out the rest.
35 “May the violence done to us and to our children[x] be upon Babylon,”
says she who dwells in Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
Watch! I will defend your cause
and take revenge for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a haunt for jackals,
a horror and a target of contempt,[y]
and no one will live there.
38 They will all roar together like young lions.
They will growl like lion cubs.
39 When they are ravenous, I will spread a feast.
I will make them drunk,
so that they will celebrate,[z]
and then they will go to sleep forever
and never wake up, declares the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 How Sheshak[aa] is captured!
The pride of the whole earth is seized!
Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations.
42 The sea has come all the way up to Babylon,
and she is covered with its rolling waves.
43 Her cities have become desolate,
a desert and a wasteland,
a land in which no one lives,
a land through which no man passes.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make his mouth spit out what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
The wall of Babylon will fall.
45 Come out of her, my people!
Save yourselves, every one of you,
from the Lord’s fierce anger.
46 Do not be faint of heart.
Do not fear the rumors you will hear in the land.
Rumors will come one year,
and the next year another rumor will come:
“Violence in the land!”
“Ruler against ruler!”
47 For the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Her whole land will be disgraced,
and all her slain will fall within her.
48 Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them
will rejoice over Babylon.
The destroyers will attack her from the north, declares the Lord.
49 Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
A Message to the Israelites in Babylon
The Lord or the Prophet[ab]
50 You who have escaped the sword, go!
Do not delay!
Remember the Lord from afar,
and think of Jerusalem.
The Exiles
51 We are disgraced,
because we have heard a taunt.
Dishonor covers our faces,
because strangers have come into the holy places of
the House of the Lord.
The Lord
52 So keep watch. The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will punish all her idols.
Through her whole land the wounded will groan.
53 Even if Babylon could reach the sky
and fortify the very heights of her stronghold,
I would still send destroyers to her, declares the Lord.
Further Destruction on Babylon
54 The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.
55 The Lord is destroying Babylon,
and he will silence her mighty voice.
Waves roar like many waters.
The sound of their noise rises!
56 The destroyer has come against her, against Babylon.
Her mighty warriors are captured.
Their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of retribution.
He will repay in full.
57 I will make her officials and her wise men drunk,
and her governors, officers, and strong warriors as well.
They will sleep for a long time,
and they will not wake up,
declares the King, whose name is the Lord of Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled,
and her high gates will be set on fire.
The people will toil for nothing.
The work of the nations will be nothing but fuel for the fire.
They will be worn out.
Jeremiah’s Message Is Sent to Babylon
59 These are the instructions Jeremiah the prophet gave to 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. (Seraiah was Zedekiah’s personal aide.[ac])
60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disaster that was coming to Babylon—all of these things that had been written about Babylon.
61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words aloud. 62 Say, ‘O Lord, you have spoken against this place, announcing that you would destroy it, that no one will live here anymore, neither man nor animal, and that it will be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and throw it in the middle of the Euphrates. 64 Then say, ‘In this same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster that I will bring on her. And her people[ad] will be worn out.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
The Fall of Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just like everything that Jehoiakim had done. 3 All this took place in Jerusalem and Judah because of the anger of the Lord, until he cast them out of his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army. They set up camp around the city and built siege works all around it. 5 The city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city wall, and all the men in the army fled. Since the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, the men left it at night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They fled toward the Arabah, 8 but the Chaldean army pursued the king. They caught up with King Zedekiah in the plain near Jericho, where his whole army was scattered, 9 and he was captured and taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath. There the king of Babylon passed judgment on him. 10 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 Then the king of Babylon put out the eyes of Zedekiah and put him in bronze shackles. He brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day he died.
12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He burned the temple of the Lord, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every important building. 14 The whole Chaldean army under his command broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried off some of the poorest of the people, some of the survivors left in the city, some of the people who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and farms.
17 The Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars that were in the Lord’s temple, along with the carts for water and the bronze Sea, and carried away all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers,[ae] the bowls, the dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 19 The commander of the guard took away the bowls, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes, and the drink offering bowls—the best of the gold and the best of the silver.
20 The two pillars, the Sea, and the twelve bronze bulls under the basins, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, were made of more bronze than could be weighed.
21 As for the pillars, each pillar was twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet in circumference. Each was four fingers thick and hollow. 22 Each had a bronze capital, seven and a half feet high, with a network and pomegranate decorations on the capital all around, all of bronze. The other pillar with its pomegranates was just like it. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. There was a total of one hundred pomegranates above the surrounding network.
24 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 25 From the people left in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men and seven royal advisors he found in the city. He also took the scribe of the military officer who conscripted the people of the land, along with sixty of his men who were found in the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon struck them down and executed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
So Judah was carried away into exile from its native soil.
28 This is a tally of people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away into exile:
In the seventh year, 3,023 Jews.
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, 832 people from Jerusalem.
30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away 745 Jews into exile.
There were 4,600 people in all.
Jehoiachin Released
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil Merodak[af] king of Babylon, he elevated Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne higher than the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 Jehoiachin changed from his prison clothes and ate his meals in the king’s presence continually all the days of his life. 34 For his provisions, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a set amount each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
The Humiliation of the Daughter of Zion[ag]
1 How lonely the city sits, which once was full of people!
She, who was great among the nations, is now a widow.
She, who was a princess among the provinces, now works as a slave.
2 At night she weeps bitterly, and her tears linger on her cheek.
Not one of her lovers is there to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her. They are now her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into exile. She endures affliction and harsh labor.
She lives among the nations. She finds no rest.
All her pursuers caught up with her when she was in great distress.
4 The roads to Zion are mourning,
because there are no travelers going to the appointed assemblies.
All her gates are deserted. Her priests groan.
Her virgins grieve. Her grief is bitter.
5 Her foes have risen to the top. Her enemies prosper.
Because of her many acts of rebellion, the Lord has brought grief to her.
Her children have gone into captivity in the presence of the foe.
6 The daughter of Zion[ah] has lost all her splendor.
Her officials have become like deer that find no pasture.
Powerless, they fled before[ai] the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers the days of her affliction and her homeless wandering.
She remembers all her precious things which were hers from long ago.
When her people fell under the hand of the foe, there was no one to help her.
Foes saw her and laughed at the end she has come to.
8 Jerusalem has sinned terribly, so she is unclean.[aj]
All who once honored her now despise her, because they have seen her nakedness.
She can only sigh and turn away.
9 Her flow of blood stains her skirt. She did not consider the outcome of her sin.
Her collapse was astonishing. There was no one to comfort her.
Look, Lord, at my affliction, for the enemy has done awful things.
10 The foe has laid hands on all her precious things.
She has even seen nations enter her sanctuary,
nations about whom you commanded, “They shall not enter your assembly.”
11 All her people are sighing as they search for bread.
They traded their precious things for food in order to stay alive.
Look, Lord, and see that I have become despised.
12 But nothing like this is happening to you, all you who pass me by.[ak]
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain, which was dealt out to me,
which the Lord caused me to suffer on the day of his burning anger.
13 From on high he sent fire into my bones and overpowered[al] me.
He spread a net for my feet. He turned me back.
He made me desolate. I was sick all day long.
14 The yoke of my sinful rebellion is fastened to my neck.
My sins are bound together by his hand.
They have risen up as high as my neck. He has weakened my strength.[am]
The Lord has given me into the hands of people I cannot resist.
15 The Lord has tossed aside all the strong men in my midst.
He called an assembly against me to break my best young men.
The Lord has trampled the virgin daughter of Judah in a winepress.
16 Because of these things, I am weeping. My eye, my eye flows with water,
because the comforter, the one who restores my soul, is far away from me.
My children have become desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.
17 Zion spreads out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has commanded those who surround Jacob to be his foes.
Among them, Jerusalem has become an unclean thing.
18 The Lord is righteous. I am the one who rebelled against the word from his mouth.
Please listen, all you peoples, and see my pain.
My virgins and my best young men have gone into captivity.
19 I called to my lovers, but they deceived me.
My priests and my elders perished in the city,
as they sought food for themselves to restore their lives.
20 See, Lord, I am in distress. My emotions are in turmoil.
My heart turns over inside me, because I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword takes away my children.
Inside, there is death.
21 People have heard that I am groaning. There is no one who comforts me.
All my enemies have heard about my misery, and they rejoiced that you did this.
Bring on the day that you have announced, so that they may become like me.
22 May all their wickedness come before you. Deal harshly with them,
just as you dealt harshly with me because of all my rebellion.
Yes, my groans are many, and my heart is sick.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.