Chronological
49 ¶ Concerning the Ammonites, thus hath the LORD said: Does Israel have no sons? does he have no heir? why then does their king inherit Gad and his people dwell in his cities?
2 Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be made a desolate heap, and her cities shall be burned with fire; then shall Israel be heir unto those that were his heirs, said the LORD.
3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth; lament and run to and fro by the hedges, for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
4 Why gloriest thou in the valleys? Thy valley has slipped, O backsliding daughter that trusted in her treasures, she that saith, Who shall come against me?
5 Behold, I bring fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of the hosts, from all sides; and ye shall be driven out each man right forth in the direction he is facing; and no one shall gather up him that wanders.
6 And afterward I will turn again the captivity of the sons of Ammon, said the LORD.
7 ¶ Concerning Edom, thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Is there no more wisdom in Teman? Has the counsel of the wise perished? Is their wisdom corrupted?
8 Flee, turn back, hide in the deeps to remain, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, at the time that I have to visit him.
9 If grapegatherers came against thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, they will take what they have need of.
10 But I will make Esau bare, I will uncover his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself; his seed shall be destroyed, and his brethren and his neighbours and he shall no longer be.
11 Leave thy fatherless children; I will raise them; and thy widows shall trust in me.
12 For thus hath the LORD said: Behold, those who were not condemned to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and shalt thou be absolved of everything? Thou shalt not be absolved, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
13 For I have sworn by myself, said the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.
14 I have heard the news, that from the LORD a messenger had been sent unto the Gentiles, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
15 For, behold, I have placed thee as small among the Gentiles and despised among men.
16 Thy arrogance has deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dost dwell in the clefts of the rock, that dost hold the height of the mountain: though thou should make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from there, said the LORD.
17 Also Edom shall be a desolation; every one that goes by it shall be astonished and shall hiss at all its plagues.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, said the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the strong habitation: for I will make rest and make him run from upon her, and he who is chosen I shall appoint over her; for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Edom; and his thoughts, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall destroy their habitations with them.
21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall; at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea.
22 Behold, he shall rise up and fly as the eagle and spread his wings over Bozrah; and at that day the heart of the mighty men of Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
23 ¶ Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad, for they have heard bad news; they have melted in waters of feebleness; they cannot be reassured.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her; anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail.
25 How did they not forgive the city of praise, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, said the LORD of the hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the houses of Benhadad.
28 ¶ Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote, thus hath the LORD said; Arise ye, go up to Kedar and destroy the men of the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away; they shall take to themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels; and they shall invoke fear on every side against them.
30 Flee, get you far off, dwell in the deeps that ye may stand, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, said the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you and has conceived a purpose against you.
31 Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation that dwells without care, saith the LORD, which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells alone.
32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter them into all the winds, throwing them out unto the utmost corner; and from all their sides I will bring their ruin, said the LORD.
33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons and a desolation for ever: no man shall abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.
34 ¶ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet regarding Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Behold, I break the bow of Elam, the foundation of their might.
36 And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
37 For I will cause Elam to fear before their enemies and before those that seek their soul; and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, said 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 princes, said the LORD.
39 But it shall come to pass in the last of the days that I will turn again the captivity of Elam, said the LORD.
50 ¶ The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the Gentiles, and publish, and set up a banner; publish, and do not conceal: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein: they shall leave, they shall depart, both man and beast.
4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping they shall go and seek the LORD their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion, unto where they shall turn their faces, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in an eternal covenant that shall never 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; they have forgotten their restingplace.
7 All that 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 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the meek in front of the flocks.
9 ¶ For, behold, I awake and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and from there they shall set themselves in array against her; she shall be taken; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert one, who shall not return in vain.
10 And the land of the Chaldeans shall be for a spoil; all that spoil her shall come forth full, saith the LORD.
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced destroying my heritage, because ye filled yourselves as a heifer on grass and neighed like horses;
12 your mother was sore confounded; she that bore you was ashamed: see here the latter end of the Gentiles: wilderness, dry land, and desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the LORD, she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be completely desolate; every one that goes by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues.
14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about; all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she has sinned against the LORD.
15 Shout against her round about; she has given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD; take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do unto her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon and him that handles the sickle in the time of harvest; for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn each one to his people, and they shall flee each one to his own land.
17 Israel has been like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away; first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said; Behold, I visit the king of Babylon and his land as I have visited the king of Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, and in that time, said the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon those whom I shall have left.
21 ¶ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod; waste and utterly destroy after them, said the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
22 A sound of battle is in the land and of great destruction.
23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the Gentiles!
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught because thou hast provoked the LORD.
25 The LORD has opened his treasury and has brought forth the vessels of his indignation; for this is the work of the Lord GOD of the hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the ends of the earth, open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
28 The voice of those that 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 ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her; for she has become proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, said the LORD.
31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, said the Lord GOD of the hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.
32 And the proud one shall stumble and fall and have no one to raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 ¶ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah were oppressed together; and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of the hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, said the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her princes and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the fortune-tellers; and they shall be fools: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be broken.
37 A sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women; a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up; for it is the land of graven images, and they are become mad upon their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall no longer be inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance; they shall be cruel and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, 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 travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the strong habitation; but I will rest and will make him run from upon her; and he who shall be chosen I will appoint over her. For who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Babylon and his thoughts that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out, and they shall destroy their habitations with them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon, the earth was moved, and the cry was heard among the Gentiles.
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