Old/New Testament
51 The Lord says this:
‘I will send an enemy to destroy Babylon and the people of Babylonia.
It will come like a strong wind that blows them away.
2 I will send foreign soldiers to remove them from their land,
like a wind that blows chaff away.
They will make the land become empty.
On the day of that great trouble,
they will attack Babylonia from all directions.
3 Do not give Babylon's soldiers time to pick up their weapons!
Do not give them time to put on their armour!
Kill all their young men.
Completely destroy their whole army.
4 Their dead bodies will lie on the ground
all over Babylonia and in the streets of the city.
5 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God,
will not leave Israel and Judah on their own.
Those people are guilty of many bad things
that they have done against Israel's holy God.[a]
6 Run away from Babylonia!
Run quickly to escape from there!
Do not stay there to die along with Babylonia's people.
The time has come for the Lord to pay them back for their sins.
He will punish them as they deserve.
7 Babylon has been like a gold cup of wine in the Lord's hand.
The nations of the world had to drink that wine.[b]
It made everyone become drunk,
and so they all became crazy.
8 But now Babylon will quickly fall.
An enemy will destroy it, so weep for it!
Find some medicine that will make its wounds better.
Perhaps it will become well again.
9 The foreign people in Babylon say,
“We tried to make its wounds better,
but it was not possible to do it.
Now we must leave it.
We must each go back to our own country.
Its punishment will have no end.
It will reach as high as the sky!”
10 The people from Judah who are in Babylon say,
“The Lord has shown that we are his people.
Now we must go to Jerusalem.
We must tell people in Zion
about how the Lord our God has helped us.” ’
11 ‘Make your arrows sharp!
Prepare your weapons!
The Lord has caused Media's kings to prepare for war.
He will use them to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will punish the people of Babylonia
because they destroyed his temple.
12 Wave a flag and prepare to attack Babylon's city walls!
Bring plenty of guards to watch all around the city.
Put soldiers to catch anyone who tries to escape.
Yes, the Lord will now do everything that he has decided.
He will punish Babylon's people, as he said he would do.
13 You people of Babylon, who live beside many rivers,
it is now time for you to die.
You have become rich with many valuable things,
but now your lives will finish.’[c]
14 The Lord Almighty has made this strong promise
with the authority of his own name:
‘I will cause the enemy's soldiers to fill your cities.
They will come like a big crowd of locusts.
They will shout loudly when they take your city for themselves.’
A song to praise the Lord[d]
15 The Lord used his power to make the earth.
He used his wisdom to make it strong.
He knew how to put the sky to cover the earth.
16 When he shouts like thunder,
the water in the sky roars.
He brings the clouds from the far places of the earth.
He causes bright lightning to show in the storms.
He opens his rooms so that the wind comes out
and it blows everywhere.
17 People who worship idols are stupid.
They do not understand what they are doing.
The men who make idols will be ashamed.
They make images of gods that are false.
None of their idols have the breath of life in them.
18 They are useless things that people should laugh at.
When the time for their punishment arrives,
God will destroy them.
19 The God that Jacob's descendants worship
is not like those idols.
He created everything.
He chose Israel's people to belong to him.
His name is the Lord Almighty.
20 ‘You are the weapon that I use to fight my battles.[e]
I have used you to punish nations.
I have used you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I have used you to destroy whole armies,
with their horses, chariots and riders.
22 I have used you to destroy men and women,
old men, young men, boys and girls.
23 I have used you to destroy shepherds and their sheep,
as well as farmers and their oxen.
I have used you to destroy rulers and their officers.
24 But now I will punish Babylon
and all the people who live in Babylonia.
I will pay them back for all the evil things that they did in Jerusalem.
And you will see me do that.’
That is what the Lord says.
25 The Lord says,
‘Listen to me, Babylon! I am your enemy!
You are like a strong mountain that destroys the whole earth.
I will punish you with all my strength.
I will push you down from your high place.
I will make you a heap of ashes.
26 Nobody will be able to use any of your stones
as a foundation for a new building.
You will remain as empty as a desert for ever.’
That is what the Lord says.
27 ‘Call the nations to come and fight a battle against Babylonia.
Wave a flag and make a noise with trumpets,
so that these kingdoms prepare their armies to attack:
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.
Choose a captain to lead them into battle.
Send an army of soldiers on horses to attack,
like a large crowd of locusts.
28 Tell the nations to prepare their armies for war against Babylonia.
Tell the kings of Media to get ready,
as well as their leaders and officers.
The armies of the countries that they rule must also be ready to fight.
29 The whole earth will shake with pain
as the Lord punishes Babylonia.
He will certainly do what he has decided to do.
He will make the land of Babylonia as empty as a desert.
Nobody will live there.
30 The brave soldiers of Babylonia are no longer fighting!
They remain inside their strong buildings.
Their strength has gone! They are as weak as women.
In their cities, enemy soldiers are burning their houses.
They have broken down the city gates.
31 Now people run to send the news to the king of Babylon.
They pass this message along the line:
“The enemy has taken power over the whole city!
32 They have guards to stop people escaping across the rivers.
They have burned the reeds in the wet fields.
All our soldiers are afraid.”
33 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this:
Babylon is like a threshing floor
that is ready for people to stamp on wheat.
The harvest time will soon come!
Then the enemy will cut down Babylon,
and they will stamp all over it!’
34 ‘King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has destroyed us with his army.
He has made us weak and confused.
He has eaten us like a hungry monster.
He has filled himself with all our good things.
Then he spat us out of his mouth.’
35 Zion's people then say to the Lord,
‘Please punish the people of Babylonia,
because they did cruel things to us.’
Jerusalem's people say,
‘Pay back the people of Babylonia,
because they killed our relatives.’
36 So the Lord says,
‘I will help you to win.
I will punish the people of Babylonia for what they have done to you.
I will cause all their rivers and their springs to become dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of stones.
Wild animals will live there.
People will see that it is a disgusting place,
and they will laugh at it.
Nobody will live there.
38 Its people shout loudly, like lions that roar.
They make a noise like baby lions that are hungry.
39 While they are feeling so hungry,
I will prepare a feast for them.
I will cause them to become drunk,
and they will become helpless.
They will sleep for ever
and they will never wake up again.’
That is what the Lord says.
40 ‘I will take them down to the place of death.
People will kill them as if they are lambs, sheep and goats.’
41 ‘Now an enemy will take power over Babylon!
Everyone in the world praised it as a great nation.
But now all the nations will see that it is a disgusting place.
42 The sea will pour over it.
Many waves of water will cover it.
43 Babylonia's towns will become heaps of stones.
The land will be dry and empty, like a desert.
Nobody will live there any more.
Nobody will even travel through the land.
44 I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon.
I will cause him to give back everything that he has taken.
Nations will never go to worship him again.
Yes, the walls of Babylon will fall down!’
45 ‘Escape from Babylon, my people!
Run away to save your lives!
The Lord is very angry with that place,
so run away from there!
46 You must be brave!
When you hear news in Babylon of what is happening,
do not be afraid.
People will report one thing this year,
and next year they will report a different thing.
They will speak about violence in the land,
and about rulers who are fighting against each other.
47 So the time will soon come when I will punish Babylon's idols.
The whole country will become ashamed.
Its people will die and their dead bodies will lie everywhere.
48 Then everyone in heaven and everyone on the earth
will shout with joy because of what happens to Babylon.
They will be happy because an army will come from the north to destroy it.’
That is what the Lord says.
49 ‘Babylon's people have caused the death of people everywhere.
They have killed many Israelites.
So now Babylon must lose its power.
50 You Israelites who are still alive,
leave Babylon now! Do not wait!
You are far away from your homes.
But remember that the Lord is with you.
Think about Jerusalem.
51 You say, “We are ashamed. People have insulted us.
We hide our faces in shame
because foreigners have gone into the holy places of the Lord's temple.” ’
52 But the Lord says this:
‘The time will soon come when I will punish Babylon's idols.
People everywhere in that land will cry with pain,
because their wounds are causing them to die.
53 Babylon's people may build their city very high.
They may make its walls very strong.
But I will send an army to destroy it.’
That is what the Lord says.
54 ‘Listen to the noise that comes from Babylon!
People are crying in pain.
Listen to the noise of the enemy army
as it destroys Babylonia.
55 The Lord is preparing to destroy Babylon.
No noise will come from there any more.
The enemy soldiers will attack like great waves of water.
There will be a loud noise of battle.
56 An army is coming to destroy Babylon.
They will take hold of its brave soldiers.
They will break their weapons.
The Lord is a God who punishes people as they deserve.
He always pays them back for their sins.
57 I will make Babylon's officers and its wise men drunk,
as well as its rulers, its leaders and its soldiers.
They will sleep for ever
and they will never wake up again.’
That is what the King says. His name is the Lord Almighty.
58 The Lord Almighty says this:
‘The enemy will completely knock down the strong walls of Babylon.
They will burn its high gates with fire.
The nations work very hard,
but their work is useless.
They make themselves tired,
but fire destroys all their work.’
Jeremiah sends God's message to Babylon
59 This is the command that the prophet Jeremiah gave to the king's officer Seraiah. Seraiah was the son of Neriah and the grandson of Mahseiah. He took the message when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. That happened in the fourth year that Zedekiah had ruled Judah as king. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll a list of all the terrible troubles that would happen to Babylon. Those were all the messages that he had written about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, ‘When you arrive in Babylon, you must read aloud all these messages. 62 Then say, “Lord, you have said that you will destroy this place. Then no people or animals will live in it any longer. It will be empty for ever.” 63 When you have finished reading aloud all the words on the scroll, tie a big stone to it. Throw it all into the middle of the Euphrates river. 64 Then say, “That is how Babylon will sink! It will go down and it will never rise up again. The Lord is ready to cause all these terrible troubles to happen to Babylon. Its people will be too weak to stop it.” ’
That is the end of Jeremiah's messages.
Nebuchadnezzar gets power over Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah.[f] 2 Zedekiah did things that the Lord said were evil, as Jehoiakim had done.
3 All this trouble happened to Jerusalem and to Judah because the Lord was very angry with them. In the end, the Lord sent them away from himself. This is what happened when King Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.
4 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched with his army to attack Jerusalem. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth year when Zedekiah had ruled Judah. His soldiers made their camp all around the city. They built heaps of earth all around Jerusalem's walls. 5 Babylon's army stayed around the city until the 11th year that Zedekiah had been king.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month there was a very bad famine in the city. There was no food for the people to eat. 7 Then Babylon's army broke down Jerusalem's wall so that they could go into the city. Their soldiers were all around the city. So the king of Judah and all his army tried to escape in the night. They went through the gate that was near the king's garden. The path went between the two walls of the city. They ran towards the Jordan Valley. 8 But the soldiers of Babylon's army chased after King Zedekiah. They caught him on the flat land near Jericho. All King Zedekiah's soldiers ran away from him in many directions.
9 Babylon's soldiers took hold of Zedekiah. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, in Hamath region. Nebuchadnezzar decided how to punish Zedekiah. 10 He told his soldiers to kill all Zedekiah's sons, while Zedekiah watched. He also punished all the officers of Judah with death there at Riblah. 11 Then they cut out Zedekiah's eyes to make him blind. They tied him with chains and they took him to Babylon as their prisoner. They kept him in prison until the day that he died.
12 King Nebuchadnezzar had an officer whose name was Nebuzaradan. He was the captain of the king's royal guards. Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar had ruled Babylon for 19 years. It was on the tenth day of the fifth month. 13 Nebuzaradan destroyed the Lord's temple, the king's palace and all the other houses in Jerusalem. He burned them all with fire, so that he destroyed every important building in the city. 14 Then Nebuzaradan commanded his whole army to knock down the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Captain Nebuzaradan sent away as prisoners some of the poor people and the rest of the people who remained in Jerusalem. He also sent away those people who had agreed to serve the king of Babylon, and the workers who had special skills. 16 But he let some of the poorest people stay there. He gave them vineyards and fields to work in.
17 The soldiers from Babylon broke the two bronze pillars that were in the Lord's temple. They also broke the carts which carried the buckets for water and the large bath called ‘the Sea’. They carried all the bronze pieces away to Babylon. 18 They also took away the pots, the bowls, the spades, the small tools for the lamps, and the dishes. They took all the bronze tools that the priests used in the temple. 19 Captain Nebuzaradan also took away everything that was made from gold or silver. He took the dishes, the baskets that carried hot coals, the bowls for water, the pots, the lampstands and other bowls.
20 The bronze from the things that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple was very heavy. They included the two bronze pillars, the large bath called ‘the Sea’, the 12 bronze bulls under the bath and the carts which carried the buckets for water. The bronze from all these things was more than they could weigh. 21 Each pillar was 8 metres high and 5 metres around. The bronze was 8 centimetres thick and each pillar was empty inside. 22 The bronze piece on the top of one pillar was more than a metre high. It had rows of chains with images of pomegranates made from bronze all around it. The other pillar, with its rows of chains and pomegranates, was the same. 23 There were 96 images of pomegranates around the sides of the pillars. There were 100 images of pomegranates on the chains at the top.
24 Captain Nebuzaradan took hold of these people:
Seraiah, the leader of the priests.
Zephaniah, the next most important priest.
The three temple guards.
25 He also took hold of these people who remained in Jerusalem:
The palace officer with authority over the soldiers.
Seven of the king's advisors.
The army secretary who took men to join the army.
60 other people of Judah who were inside the city.
26 Captain Nebuzaradan took hold of all those people. He brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There, at Riblah in the Hamath region, the king of Babylon commanded his soldiers to punish them all with death.
That was how Judah's people went into exile, away from their own land.
28 This is a list of the number of people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners to Babylon:
He took 3,023 people from Judah in his seventh year as king.
29 He took 832 people from Jerusalem in his 18th year.
30 Captain Nebuzaradan took 745 people from Judah in Nebuchadnezzar's 23rd year as king.
So Nebuchadnezzar took 4,600 people away as his prisoners.
Jehoiachin lives in Babylon[g]
31 37 years after King Jehoiachin of Judah had gone as a prisoner to Babylon, Evil-Merodach became the king of Babylon. On the 25th day of the 12th month, he took Jehoiachin out from his prison so that he became free. 32 King Evil-Merodach spoke in a kind way to Jehoiachin. He gave him more honour than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 Jehoiachin no longer had to wear the clothes of a prisoner. Every day for the rest of his life, he ate a meal at the king's table in Babylon. 34 The king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin everything that he needed each day of his life until he died.
The old agreement and the tabernacle
9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. 2 Israel's people made a special tent for God.[a] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.[b]
3 Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. 4 The gold altar for incense was in there.[c] The Covenant Box was there too.[d] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.[e] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.[f] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. 5 The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.
6 So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. 7 But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.[g] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.
8 In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. 9 This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. 10 The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.
God's new agreement
11 But now Christ has come as our special priest. He brings us the good things that are now here. He has gone into God's own place in heaven. That is a greater and much better tent than the old tabernacle. No person made this tent. It does not belong to this world at all. 12 Christ went into the Most Holy Place on our behalf. He did this once, for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats or young cows when he went in there. Instead, he took the blood of his own death to offer to God. In that way, he made us free from sin for ever. 13 The old rules said that the priest must use the blood of goats or bulls to make people clean. Or he could burn a young cow and mix the ashes with water.[h] He would then splash the blood or the ashes over the people who were unclean. Then those people became clean again in their bodies, and they could worship God.
14 But the blood of Christ's sacrifice will do much more than that! Christ offered himself to God, in the power of his Spirit, who lives for ever. That sacrifice was completely good. There was no wrong thing in Christ. He offered his own blood to make us completely clean inside ourselves. We no longer have to do things that lead to death. Instead, we can serve the God who lives for ever. 15 So, by Christ's death, God brings a new agreement between him and his people. God's people receive from him the good things that will be with them for ever. God has promised to give those things to the people that he has chosen. Christ's death has made them free from their sins. God will no longer punish them like the first agreement says should happen.
16 Think about this. A person may make an agreement about who will receive his things after his death. But nobody receives anything until it is clear that the person has really died. 17 The agreement only has authority after the death of the person who made it. It has no authority while that person is still alive.
18 So even God's first agreement with his people needed the blood of an animal. The agreement only had authority after a death. 19 It was like this. Moses read God's laws aloud to all Israel's people. He told them every rule that God had given them. After that, Moses killed some young cows and goats. He took some of their blood and he mixed it with water. He threw some of the blood to drop onto the book of God's laws. He also caused some to drop onto all the people. He used red sheep's hair and some small branches of a plant called hyssop to throw the blood and water. 20 When Moses did this, he said to the people, ‘This blood shows that God's agreement with you has authority.’ 21 In the same way, Moses threw some of the blood onto the tabernacle. He also caused blood to drop onto all the things that the priests used to serve God there.[i] 22 God's Law taught that blood was necessary to make almost everything clean. We see that God does not forgive people for their sins unless there is blood from a death.
Christ's sacrifice on the cross
23 The tabernacle and the things that were in it needed animals' blood to make them clean. That was a picture of the true place in heaven where people worship God. But the true things in heaven need better sacrifices to make them clean than the sacrifices of animals. 24 Christ did not go into a holy place that people had made on earth. A place like that is only a picture of the true place in heaven. No, Christ went into heaven itself, where God is. Now he is there with God and he speaks to God on our behalf.
25 The leader of the priests here on earth goes into the Most Holy Place every year. Each time, he takes with him the blood of an animal and he offers it to God. But when Christ went into heaven to offer himself to God, he did not do that again and again. 26 To do that, he would need to die again and again, many times since the world began. No! Christ has appeared just once. He has appeared now, when time is near its end. He came and he died as a sacrifice. In that way, he has removed the power of sin. 27 Every person must die once. After death, God will judge each person. 28 Christ also died only once as a sacrifice. In this way, he took God's punishment for the sins of many people. Christ will return to earth a second time, but that will not be as a sacrifice for sins. That time, he will come to save those people who are waiting patiently for him.
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