Bible in 90 Days
Judgment on Moab(A)
48 Concerning Moab:
Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated.
Kiriathaim is humiliated and captured;
Misgab[a] is humiliated and dismayed.
2 There is no more praise for Moab;
in Heshbon they have devised evil against her:
“Come and let us cut it off from being a nation!”
Also you will be cut down, O Madmen.
The sword will pursue you.
3 A sound of crying will be from Horonaim:
“Devastation and great destruction!”
4 “Moab is destroyed”;
her little ones have caused a cry of distress to be heard;
5 for by the Ascent of Luhith they will go up
with continual weeping;
for at the descent of Horonaim
they have heard a cry of destruction.
6 Flee, save your lives,
and be like the juniper in the wilderness.
7 For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,
you will also be captured;
and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity
together with his priests and his officials.
8 The destroyer will come upon every city,
and no city will escape.
The valley also will perish,
and the plain will be destroyed,
as the Lord has spoken.
9 Give wings to Moab,
that she may flee and get away;
for the cities will become desolate,
without any to dwell in them.
10 Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently,
and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth,
and he has also been undisturbed,
like wine on its dregs,
and he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him,
and his scent has not changed.
12 Therefore, surely the days are coming,
says the Lord,
when I will send to him those who tip vessels,
and they will tip him over,
and will empty his vessels
and break his bottles.
13 Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed
of Bethel, their confidence.
14 How do you say, “We are mighty
and strong men for the war”?
15 Moab has been devastated and gone up out of her cities,
and her chosen young men have also gone down to the slaughter,
says the King whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
16 The calamity of Moab will come soon,
and his affliction hastens fast.
17 All you who are about him, mourn for him.
And all you who know his name,
say, “How the strong staff has been broken,
the beautiful rod!”
18 O daughter who inhabits Dibon,
come down from your glory
and sit on the parched ground,
for the destroyer of Moab
will come upon you,
and he will destroy your strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer,
stand by the road and keep watch.
Ask him who flees and her who escapes,
and say, “What has happened?”
20 Moab has been humiliated, for it has been broken down.
Howl and cry out.
Tell it in Arnon,
that Moab has been devastated.
21 And judgment has come upon the plain country:
upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,
22 and Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
23 and Kiriathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
24 and Kerioth and Bozrah,
and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 The horn of Moab has been cut off
and his arm has been broken,
says the Lord.
26 Make him drunk,
for he magnified himself against the Lord.
Moab also will wallow in his vomit,
and he also will be held in derision.
27 For was not Israel a derision to you?
Or was he caught among thieves?
For each time you speak of him,
you shake your head in scorn.
28 O you who dwell in Moab,
leave the cities and dwell in the rock,
and be like the dove that makes her nest
in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
29 We have heard of the pride of Moab
(he is very proud),
of his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his wrath,
says the Lord,
but it is futile. His lies have accomplished nothing.
31 Therefore I will howl for Moab,
and I will cry out for all Moab.
My heart shall mourn for the men of Kir Hareseth.
32 O vine of Sibmah,
I will weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer.
Your plants have stretched over the sea,
they reach even to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruits
and upon your vintage.
33 Joy and gladness are taken away
from the plentiful field, even from the land of Moab,
and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses;
no one will tread with shouting.
Their shouting will not be shouts of joy.
34 From the outcry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, and even to Jahaz,
they have uttered their voice,
from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath Shelishiyah;
for also the waters of Nimrim shall become desolate.
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,
says the Lord,
him who offers sacrifice in the high place
and him who burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore My heart will wail for Moab like pipes,
and My heart will wail like pipes for the men of Kir Hareseth,
because the riches that they have gotten have perished.
37 For every head will be bald
and every beard clipped;
upon all the hands will be gashes,
and upon the loins sackcloth.
38 There will be lamentation everywhere
upon all the housetops of Moab
and in the streets,
for I have broken Moab
like a vessel in which is no pleasure,
says the Lord.
39 How it is broken down! How they have wailed!
How Moab has turned his back with shame!
So Moab will be a derision
and a terror to all around him.
40 For thus says the Lord:
Look, one will fly as an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth has been captured,
and the strongholds have been seized,
and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab in that day
will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 Moab will be destroyed from being a people
because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
43 Fear and the pit and the snare will be upon you,
O inhabitant of Moab,
says the Lord.
44 He who flees from the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who gets up out of the pit
will be taken in the snare;
for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab,
the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.
45 The fugitives stand without strength
under the shadow of Heshbon;
for a fire will come out of Heshbon
and a flame from the midst of Sihon,
and will devour the forehead of Moab
and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished;
for your sons have been taken away captive
and your daughters into captivity.
47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the latter days,
says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
Judgment on Ammon
49 Concerning the Ammonites:
Thus says the Lord:
Does Israel have no sons?
Or has he no heirs?
Why then does their king inherit Gad
and his people dwell in his cities?
2 Therefore, surely the days are coming,
says the Lord,
when I will cause an alarm of war
to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites;
and it will be a desolate heap,
and her towns will be burned with fire.
Then Israel will be heir
to those who were his heirs,
says the Lord.
3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai has been devastated!
Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah,
gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament,
and run to and fro inside the walls;
for their king shall go into captivity,
and his priests and his officials together.
4 Why do you glory in the valleys,
your flowing valley,
O backsliding daughter
who trusts in her treasures, saying,
“Who shall come against me?”
5 I will bring a fear upon you,
says the Lord God of Hosts,
from all those who are around you;
and each of you will be driven out headlong,
and no one will gather together the fugitives.
6 Yet afterward I will restore the fortunes of the sons of Ammon,
says the Lord.
Judgment on Edom(B)
7 Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
Is there no more wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Dedan.
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time that I punish him.
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave some gleaning grapes?
If thieves came by night,
they would destroy until they had enough.
10 But I have made Esau bare,
I have uncovered his secret places
so that he will not be able to hide himself.
His seed is devastated, and his brothers, and his neighbors,
and he is no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children behind. I will preserve them alive;
and let your widows trust in Me.
12 For thus says the Lord: They whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who shall go unpunished altogether? You will not go unpunished, but you will surely drink of it. 13 For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all the cities will become perpetual wastes.
14 I have heard a message from the Lord,
and an ambassador has been sent to the nations:
“Gather together, and come against her,
and rise up to the battle!”
15 For I will make you small among the nations,
and despised among men.
16 As for the terror of you,
the pride of your heart has deceived you,
O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle,
I will bring you down from there,
says the Lord.
17 Also Edom will become a desolation;
everyone who goes by it will be astonished,
and will hiss at all its wounds.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the neighboring cities,
says the Lord,
no man will abide there,
nor will a son of man dwell in it.
19 He will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan
against the perpetually watered meadow;
but I will suddenly make him run away from her.
And I will appoint over her whomever I choose.
For who is like Me? And who will summon Me into court?
Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?
20 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has planned against Edom,
and His purposes that He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman:
Surely the least of the flock will drag them out;
surely He will make their habitations desolate because of them.
21 The earth has shaken at the noise of their fall;
there is an outcry. Its noise has been heard at the Red Sea.
22 He will mount up and fly as the eagle
and spread his wings against Bozrah;
and in that day the hearts of the mighty men of Edom
will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Judgment on Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus:
Hamath and Arpad have been humiliated,
for they have heard bad news.
They are faint-hearted;
there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quieted.
24 Damascus has become helpless;
she has turned away to flee,
and panic has seized her.
Anguish and sorrows have seized her
as a woman in labor.
25 How the city of praise has not been deserted,
the city of My joy!
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets,
and all the men of war will be cut off in that day,
says the Lord of Hosts.
27 I will kindle a fire to the wall of Damascus,
and it will consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated:
Thus says the Lord:
Arise, go up to Kedar,
and destroy the men of the East.
29 Their tents and their flocks they will take away.
They will carry away their curtains for themselves,
and all their vessels, and their camels;
and they will call out to one another,
“Terror is on every side!”
30 Flee, go far away,
dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor,
says the Lord.
For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you,
and has conceived a purpose against you.
31 Arise, go up to the nation at ease,
that dwells securely,
says the Lord.
It has neither gates nor bars;
they dwell alone.
32 Their camels will become plunder,
and the multitude of their cattle booty.
And I will scatter into all winds those who cut the corners of their hair,
and I will bring their calamity from all sides,
says the Lord.
33 Hazor will become a dwelling for jackals
and a desolation forever.
No man will abide there,
nor any son of man dwell in it.
Judgment on Elam
34 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
35 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
I will break the bow of Elam,
the chief of their might.
36 Upon Elam I will bring the four winds
from the four quarters of heaven,
and will scatter them toward all those winds.
And there will be no nation
where the outcasts of Elam will not go.
37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before those who seek their life.
And I will bring 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 in Elam
and will destroy from there the king and the officials,
says the Lord.
39 But it will come to pass in the latter days
that I will restore the fortunes of Elam,
says the Lord.
Judgment on Babylon(C)
50 The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet:
2 Declare among the nations and publish,
and set up a standard;
do not conceal it, but say,
Babylon has been captured.
Bel has been humiliated.
Marduk has been broken in pieces;
her idols have been humiliated;
her images have been broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there comes up a nation against her,
which will make her land desolate,
and no one will dwell in it.
They will wander away;
they will depart,
both man and beast.
4 In those days and at that time,
says the Lord,
the sons of Israel will come,
they and the children of Judah together.
They will go along weeping as they go,
and seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask for the way to Zion
with their faces in its direction.
They will come that they may join themselves to the Lord
in a perpetual covenant
that will not be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have caused them to go astray;
they have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill
and have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them,
and their adversaries said, “We are not guilty,
because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice,
even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.”
8 Wander away out of the midst of Babylon,
and go out of the land of the Chaldeans,
and be as the male goats before the flocks.
9 For I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
And they shall set themselves in array against her;
from there she shall be taken captive.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior;
no one shall return empty-handed.
10 Chaldea will become plunder;
all who destroy her will be satisfied,
says the Lord.
11 Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,
O you destroyers of My heritage,
because you have grown fat as the heifer at the grass,
and bellow as bulls,
12 your mother will be sorely humiliated;
she who bore you will be ashamed.
She will be the least of the nations,
a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she will not be inhabited,
but shall be wholly desolate.
Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished
and hiss at all her wounds.
14 Put yourselves in battle array against Babylon all around,
all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout against her all around;
she has given herself up, her foundations have fallen,
her walls have been thrown down.
For this is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her;
as she has done, do to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest.
For fear of the oppressing sword
everyone will turn to his people,
and everyone will flee to his own land.
17 Israel is a scattered flock.
The lions have driven him away.
First the king of Assyria
devoured him;
and this last one who has broken his bones
is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
18 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
as I have punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will bring Israel again to his habitation,
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan,
and his soul will be satisfied
upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and at that time,
says the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel will be sought for,
and there shall be none.
And the sins of Judah,
but they shall not be found;
for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it,
and against the inhabitants of Pekod.
Slay and utterly destroy them,
says the Lord,
and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 A noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
has been cut asunder and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation
among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for you,
and you were also caught, O Babylon,
and you were not aware.
You have been found, and also caught,
because you have striven against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened His armory
and has brought out the weapons of His indignation,
for this is the work of the Lord God of Hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the utmost border,
open her storehouses;
cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly;
let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bulls,
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them! For their day has come,
the time of their punishment.
28 There is the sound of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon,
to declare in Zion
the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance of His temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon.
All you who bend the bow,
encamp against it all around;
let no one escape.
Recompense her according to her work;
according to all that she has done, do to her,
for she has been proud against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,
and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,
says the Lord.
31 I am against you, O most proud,
says the Lord God of Hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The most proud will stumble and fall,
and no one will raise him up;
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all all around him.
33 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah
were oppressed together;
and all who took them captives held them fast;
they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
the Lord of Hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their case,
that He may give rest to the land,
but disquiet to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is against the Chaldeans,
says the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against her officials, and against her wise men.
36 A sword is against the oracle priests,
and they will become fools.
A sword is against her mighty men,
and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is against their horses, and against their chariots,
and against all the foreigners who are in her midst;
and they will become as women.
A sword is against her treasures,
and they will be robbed.
38 A drought is against her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is the land of graven images,
and they are mad over their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert
with the wild beasts of the islands will dwell there,
and the ostriches will dwell in it.
It will be inhabited no more forever,
nor will it be lived in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and the neighboring cities,
says the Lord,
so no man will abide there,
nor will any son of man dwell in it.
41 Look! A people shall come from the north
and a great nation, and many kings
will be raised up from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They will hold the bow and the lance;
they are cruel and will not show mercy.
Their voice shall roar like the sea;
and they shall ride on horses,
everyone put in array, like a man to the battle,
against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them,
and his hands waxed feeble.
Anguish took hold of him,
and pangs as of a woman in labor.
44 He will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan
to the perpetually watered meadow.
But I will make them suddenly run away from it,
and whoever is chosen I will appoint over it.
For who is like Me? And who will summon Me into court?
And who is the shepherd that can stand before Me?
45 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has planned against Babylon,
and His purposes that He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely the least of the flock will drag them out.
Surely He will make their habitation desolate because of them.
46 At the shout, “Babylon has been seized!” the earth is shaken,
and the outcry is heard among the nations.
The Destruction of Babylon
51 Thus says the Lord:
I will raise up against Babylon,
and against those who dwell in Leb Kamai,
the spirit of a destroyer.
2 And I will send foreigners to Babylon
that they may winnow her and empty her land.
For in the day of trouble
they will be against her all around.
3 Let not him who bends his bow bend it,
and let him not rise up in his scale-armor,
and do not spare her young men;
utterly destroy all her host.
4 Thus the slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
and those who are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah,
by his God, the Lord of Hosts,
though their land was filled with sin
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon,
and each of you deliver his soul!
Do not be cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of the vengeance of the Lord;
He will render to her a recompense.
7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord,
that made all the earth drunk.
The nations have drunk of her wine;
therefore the nations are mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed.
Howl for her.
Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9 We applied healing to Babylon,
but she is not healed.
Forsake her, and let us each go into his own country;
for her judgment reaches to heaven
and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 The Lord has brought forth our righteousness.
Come, and let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
11 Sharpen the arrows.
Gather the shields.
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
For His device is against Babylon, to destroy it;
because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
the vengeance of His temple.
12 Set up the standard against the walls of Babylon,
make the watch strong,
set up the watchmen,
prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who dwell by many waters,
abundant in treasures,
your end has come,
and the measure of your end.
14 The Lord of Hosts has sworn by Himself,
saying: Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts,
and they will lift up shouts of victory against you.
15 He has made the earth by His power;
He has established the world by His wisdom,
and has stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
16 When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,
and He causes the clouds to ascend from the remote parts of the earth;
He makes lightning with rain,
and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
17 Every man is ignorant by His knowledge;
every founder is humiliated by the graven image,
for his molded image is falsehood,
and there is no breath in them.
18 They are vanity, the work of errors;
in the time of their punishment they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like them,
for He is the former of all things,
and Israel is the rod of His inheritance.
The Lord of Hosts is His name.
20 He says: You are My battle-ax
and weapon of war:
for with you I will break in pieces the nations,
and with you I will destroy kingdoms;
21 and with you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with you I will break in pieces the chariot and his rider.
22 With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;
and with you I will break in pieces old and young;
and with you I will break in pieces the young man and the young woman.
23 I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock;
and with you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;
and with you I will break in pieces captains and rulers.
24 I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says the Lord.
25 I am against you, O destroying mountain,
says the Lord,
who destroys all the earth.
And I will stretch out My hand against you,
and roll you down from the rocks,
and will make you a burned mountain.
26 They will not take of you a stone for a corner,
or a stone for foundations,
but you will be desolate forever,
says the Lord.
27 Set up a standard in the land,
blow the trumpet among the nations,
prepare the nations against her,
call together against her the kingdoms
of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a captain against her.
Cause the horses to come up as the rough locusts.
28 Prepare against her the nations,
the kings of the Medes,
the captains, and all the rulers,
and every land of their dominion.
29 So the land trembles and sorrows,
for the purposes of the Lord will be performed against Babylon,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation
without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting;
they have remained in their strongholds.
Their might has failed;
they became as women.
They have burned her dwelling places;
the bars of her gates are broken.
31 One courier will run to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to show the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured from end to end,
32 and the passages have been seized,
and they have burned the reeds with fire,
and the men of war are terrified.
33 For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor,
it is time to thresh her;
yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
has devoured me and crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel.
He has swallowed me up like a dragon;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies,
he has cast me out.
35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
the inhabitant of Zion will say;
and, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
I will plead your cause,
and take vengeance for you.
And I will dry up her sea,
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will become heaps,
a dwelling place for jackals,
an astonishment, and a hissing,
without an inhabitant.
38 They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl as lions’ whelps.
39 When they become heated up,
I will make their feasts,
and I will make them drunk,
that they may rejoice,
and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake,
says the Lord.
40 I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
41 How Sheshak has been captured!
And how the praise of the whole earth has been seized!
How Babylon has become an astonishment
among the nations!
42 The sea has come up over Babylon;
she has been covered with the multitude of the waves.
43 Her cities have become a desolation,
a dry land and a wilderness,
a land in which no man dwells,
through which no son of man passes.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and I will bring forth from his mouth what he has swallowed up;
and the nations will not flow together any more to him.
Indeed, the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 My people, go out of her midst,
and deliver every man his soul
from the fierce anger of the Lord,
46 lest your heart grows faint, and you are afraid
for the report that will be heard in the land—
for the report will come one year, and after that in another year will come another report,
and violence will be in the land,
ruler against ruler—
47 therefore the days are coming
when I will punish the graven images of Babylon;
and her whole land will be humiliated,
and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is in it,
shall sing for joy over Babylon;
for the destroyers will come to her
from the north,
says the Lord.
49 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,
so at Babylon the slain of all the earth will fall.
50 You who have escaped the sword,
go away, do not stand still.
Remember the Lord afar off,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 We are humiliated
because we have heard reproach.
Shame has covered our faces,
for strangers have come into
the holy places of the house of the Lord.
52 Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will punish her graven images,
and the mortally wounded shall groan
through all her land.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify the height of her strength,
yet from Me will destroyers come to her,
says the Lord.
54 A sound of an outcry comes from Babylon,
and great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans,
55 because the Lord has devastated Babylon,
and destroyed the great voice out of her.
When her waves roar like great waters,
a noise of their voice is uttered.
56 Because the destroyer is coming against her, even upon Babylon,
and her mighty men will be captured,
every one of their bows are broken.
For the Lord is a God of recompense;
He will completely repay.
57 I will make her officials drunk, and her wise men,
her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men;
and they will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake,
says the King whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
58 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon will be utterly broken,
and her high gates will be burned with fire;
and the peoples will labor in vain,
and the nations become exhausted only for fire.
Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was a quartermaster. 60 So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read aloud all these words, 62 and say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, that no one will remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 It will be that when you have made an end of reading this scroll that you will bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus Babylon will sink and not rise from the disaster that I will bring upon her, and they will become weary.’ ”
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed(D)
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 the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 Through the anger of the Lord this came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until He had cast them out from His presence.
Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; they built a siege wall all around it. 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, in 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 was breached, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city, and they went by way of the Arabah. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath where he passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also slew all the officials of Judah in Riblah. 11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.
The Temple Burned
12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon came into Jerusalem, 13 and burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Even all the large houses, he burned with fire. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
17 Also the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke and carried all their bronze to Babylon. 18 The cauldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they took away. 19 The captain of the guard also took away the basins, and the fire pans, and the bowls, and the cauldrons, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups, what was of fine gold, and what was of fine silver.
20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 21 Concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and it was twelve cubits in circumference and in thickness it was four fingers,[b] and hollow. 22 A capital of bronze was upon it, and the height of one capital was five cubits,[c] with network and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like these. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.
The Babylonian Exile
24 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three officers of the temple. 25 He also took out of the city one official who had charge of the men of war, and seven men of the advisers of the king who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. 26 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon struck them and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath.
Thus Judah was carried away captive out of its own land. 28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive:
in the seventh year three thousand and twenty-three Jews.
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar
he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons.
30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five.
All the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
Jehoiachin Released(E)
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Awel-Marduk, king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison, 32 and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 Therefore Jehoiachin changed his prison garments and continually ate meals before him all the days of his life. 34 For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.
The Sorrows of Jerusalem
1 How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How she has become like a widow,
who was once great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave!
2 She weeps sorely in the night,
her tears are on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into captivity,
under affliction and great servitude;
she dwells among the nations,
she finds no rest;
all her persecutors overtook her
in the midst of distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn
because no one comes to the solemn feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
her priests sigh,
her virgins are afflicted,
and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 Her adversaries have become her masters,
her enemies prosper;
for the Lord has afflicted her
because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have gone into captivity
before the enemy.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her beauty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and misery
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things
that she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
there was no one to help her.
The adversaries saw her
and mocked at her desolation.
8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously;
therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself sighs
and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is astounding;
she has no comforter.
“O Lord, look upon my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
10 The adversary has spread his hand
over all her precious things;
for she has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom You commanded
not to enter Your congregation.
11 All her people groan,
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to restore their strength.
Look, O Lord, and consider,
for I am despised.
12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the Lord has inflicted
on the day of His fierce anger.
13 From on high He has sent fire into my bones,
and it prevailed against them;
He has spread a net for my feet;
He turned me back;
He has made me desolate
and faint all the day long.
14 The yoke of my transgressions
was bound; by His hand
they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
the Lord delivered me into the hands
of those whom I am not able to withstand.
15 The Lord has trampled underfoot
all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah
as in a winepress.
16 For these things I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for the comforter, who should relieve my soul,
is far from me.
My children are desolate
for the enemy has prevailed.
17 Zion spreads out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
and see my sorrow;
my virgins and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and my elders
perished in the city,
while they sought food
to restore their strength.
20 Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my soul is greatly troubled;
my heart is overturned within me,
for I have grievously rebelled.
In the street the sword bereaves,
at home it is like death.
21 They have heard my groaning,
yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that You have done it.
Bring the day that You have announced,
that they become like me.
22 Let all their wickedness come before You,
and do to them
as You have done to me
for all my transgressions;
for my groans are many,
and my heart is faint.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.