Jeremiah 47-52

Jeremiah 47

¹The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.

²Thus saith the LORD: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and them that dwell therein: and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.

³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers look not back to their children for feebleness of hands;

⁴because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nought, the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?

⁶O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still.

⁷How canst thou be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given thee a charge? against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore, there hath he appointed it.

Jeremiah 48

¹Of Moab. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe unto Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken: Misgab is put to shame and broken down.

²The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her, Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue thee.

³The sound of a cry from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction!

⁴Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

⁵For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for in the going down of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

⁶Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.

⁷For, because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

⁸And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as the LORD hath spoken.

⁹Give wings unto Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.

¹⁰Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

¹¹Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.

¹²Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him them that pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.

¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el their confidence.

¹⁴How say ye, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?

¹⁵Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into her cities; and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

¹⁷All ye that are round about him, bemoan him, and all ye that know his name; say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!

¹⁸O thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy strong holds.

¹⁹O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy: ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth; say, What hath been done?

²⁰Moab is put to shame; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.

²¹And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath;

²²and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim;

²³and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon;

²⁴and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.

²⁶Make ye him drunken; for he magnified himself against the LORD: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

²⁷For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for as often as thou speakest of him, thou waggest the head.

²⁸O ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the holes mouth.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his wrath, saith the LORD, that it is nought; his boastings have wrought nothing.

³¹Therefore will I howl for Moab; yea, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir-heres shall they mourn.

³²With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah: thy branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage the spoiler is fallen.

³³And gladness and joy is taken away, from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting.

³⁴From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, even unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.

³⁵Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high place, and him that burneth incense to his gods.

³⁶Therefore mine heart soundeth for Moab like pipes, and mine heart soundeth like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: therefore the abundance that he hath gotten is perished.

³⁷For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation every where: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.

³⁹How is it broken down! how do they howl! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a dismaying to all that are round about him.

⁴⁰For thus saith the LORD: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

⁴²And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.

⁴³Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.

⁴⁴He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

⁴⁵They that fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon: for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and hath devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

⁴⁶Woe unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh is undone: for thy sons are taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Jeremiah 49

¹Of the children of Ammon. Thus saith the LORD: Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?

²Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess them that did possess him, saith the LORD.

³Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth: lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

⁴Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

⁵Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, from all that are round about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather up him that wandereth.

⁶But afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

⁷Of Edom. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

⁸Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I shall visit him.

⁹If grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?

¹⁰But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

¹¹Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

¹²For thus saith the LORD: Behold, they to whom it pertained not to drink of the cup shall assuredly drink; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink.

¹³For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

¹⁴I have heard tidings from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

¹⁵For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, and despised among men.

¹⁶As for thy terribleness, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD;

¹⁷And Edom shall become an astonishment: every one that passeth by it shall he astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

¹⁸As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

¹⁹Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of Jordan against the strong habitation: but I will suddenly make him run away from her; and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over her: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that will stand before me?

²⁰Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

²¹The earth trembleth at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise whereof is heard in the Red Sea.

²²Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

²³Of Damascus. Hamath is ashamed, and Arpad; for they have heard evil tidings, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

²⁴Damascus is waxed feeble, she turneth herself to flee, and trembling hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.

²⁵How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.

²⁷And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

²⁸Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote: Thus saith the LORD: Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the children of the east.

²⁹Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels: and they shall cry unto them, Terror on every side.

³⁰Flee ye, wander far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

³¹Arise, get you up unto a nation that is at ease, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD; which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.

³²And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter unto all winds them that have the corners of their hair polled; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, saith the LORD.

³³And Hazor shall be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation for ever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

³⁴The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

³⁵Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam; the chief of their might.

³⁶And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

³⁷And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:

³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence king and princes, saith the LORD.

³⁹But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 50

¹The word that the LORD spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

²Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.

³For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast.

⁴In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek the LORD their God.

⁵They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come ye, and join yourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.

⁶My people hath 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 resting place.

⁷All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

⁸Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.

⁹For, lo, I will stir up 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 thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.

¹⁰And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

¹¹Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder mine heritage, because ye are wanton as an heifer that treadeth out the corn, and neigh as strong horses;

¹²your mother shall be sore ashamed; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵Shout against her round about; she hath submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD; take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

¹⁷Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

¹⁸Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria;

¹⁹And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

²⁰In those days, and in that time, saith 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 them whom I leave as a remnant.

²¹Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: slay and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

²²A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

²³How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

²⁴I 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 striven against the LORD.

²⁵The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for the Lord, the LORD of hosts, hath a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

²⁷Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

²⁸The voice of them 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.

²⁹Call together the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; camp against her round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, saith the LORD.

³¹Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

³²And the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round about him.

³³Thus saith the LORD of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together: and all that took them captives hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.

³⁴Their redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

³⁶A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.

³⁷A sword is upon their horse, 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.

³⁸A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon idols.

³⁹Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

⁴¹Behold, a people cometh from the north; and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

⁴²They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses; every one set in array, as man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³The king of Babylon hath heard the fame of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

⁴⁴Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of Jordan against the strong habitation: but I will suddenly make them run away from her; and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over her: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that will stand before me?

⁴⁵Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

⁴⁶At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembleth, and the cry is heard among the nations.

Jeremiah 51

¹Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

²And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall fan her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

³Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

⁴And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

⁵For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

⁶Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

⁷Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand; that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

⁸Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

⁹We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

¹⁰The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

¹¹Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: the LORD hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his device is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

¹²Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.

¹⁴The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the cankerworm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

¹⁵He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens:

¹⁶when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.

¹⁷Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

²⁰Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

²¹and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein;

²²and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

²³and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

²⁴And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

²⁵Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

²⁶And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

²⁷Set ye 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 marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough cankerworm.

²⁸Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

²⁹And the land trembleth and is in pain: for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strong holds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.

³¹One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

³²and the passages are surprised, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

³³For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.

³⁴Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his maw with my delicates; he hath cast me out.

³⁵The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶Therefore thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

³⁷And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and an hissing, without inhabitant.

³⁸They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions’ whelps.

³⁹When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

⁴¹How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

⁴²The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

⁴³Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴And I will do judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of the LORD.

⁴⁶And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; for a rumour shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon, and her whole land shall be ashamed; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.

⁴⁹As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

⁵⁰Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember the LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

⁵¹We are ashamed, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house.

⁵²Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

⁵⁴The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵For the LORD spoileth Babylon, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters, the noise of their voice is uttered:

⁵⁶for the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces: for the LORD is a God of recompences, he shall surely requite.

⁵⁷And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus saith the LORD of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labour for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.

⁵⁹The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain.

⁶⁰And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words,

⁶²and say, O LORD, thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

⁶³And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:

⁶⁴and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 52

¹Zedekiah was one and twenty 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.

²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

³For through the anger of the LORD did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence: and Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

⁵So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

⁶In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

⁷Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about:) and they went by the way of the Arabah.

⁸But 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.

⁹Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment upon him.

¹⁰And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

¹¹And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

¹²Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, which stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:

¹³and he burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.

¹⁴And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest sort of the people, and the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

¹⁷And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases and the brasen sea that were in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

¹⁸The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

¹⁹And the cups, and the firepans, and the basons, and the pots, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

²⁰The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

²¹And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

²²And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like unto these, and pomegranates.

²³And there were ninety and six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were an hundred upon the network round about.

²⁴And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

²⁵and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and seven men of them that saw the king’s face, which were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

²⁶And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

²⁷And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

²⁸This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:

³⁰in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

³¹And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;

³²and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

³³and he changed his prison garments, and did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life.

³⁴and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.