| 1 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and
against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind. 2 And I will send
unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land:
for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3 Against
him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him
that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young
men; destroy ye utterly all her host. 4 And they shall fall down slain in
the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets. 5 For Israel
is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though their
land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee 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 Jehovah's vengeance; he will render unto her
a recompense. 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that
made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the
nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her;
take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We 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. 10 Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let
us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God. 11 Make sharp the arrows;
hold firm the shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the
Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the
vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up a standard
against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen,
prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he
spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O thou that dwellest upon
many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy
covetousness. 14 Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying,
Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm; and they shall
lift up a shout against thee. 15 He 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: 16 when he uttereth his voice, there is a
tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the
ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the
wind out of his treasuries. 17 Every man is become brutish and is
without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his
molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are
vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall
perish. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of
all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of
hosts is his name. 20 Thou 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; 21 and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
22 and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth
therein; and 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 virgin; 23 and 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. 24 And 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 Jehovah. 25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain,
saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand
upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt
mountain. 26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a
stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith Jehovah.
27 Set 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 canker-worm. 28 Prepare against her the nations,
the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof,
and all the land of their dominion. 29 And the land trembleth and is in
pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land
of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30 The mighty men of Babylon
have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might hath
failed; they are become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her
bars are broken. 31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger
to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every
quarter: 32 and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned
with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. 33 For thus saith Jehovah 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. 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured
me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath, like a
monster, swallowed me up, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath
cast me out. 35 The 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. 36 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I
will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea,
and make her fountain dry. 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a
dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without
inhabitant. 38 They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl
as lions' whelps. 39 When 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 Jehovah. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the
slaughter, like rams with he-goats. 41 How is Sheshach taken! and the
praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among
the nations! 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the
multitude of the waves thereof. 43 Her 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. 44 And I will execute 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 any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall
fall. 45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves
every man from the fierce anger of Jehovah. 46 And let not your heart
faint, neither fear ye for the tidings that shall be heard in the land; for
tidings shall come one year, and after that in another year shall
come tidings, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the
graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her
slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers
shall come unto her from the north, saith Jehovah. 49 As Babylon hath
caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all
the land. 50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still;
remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We
are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our
faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute
judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall
groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should
fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come unto
her, saith Jehovah. 54 The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great
destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! 55 For Jehovah layeth Babylon
waste, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like
many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered: 56 for the destroyer is
come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows
are broken in pieces; for Jehovah is a God of recompenses, he will surely
requite. 57 And 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 Jehovah of
hosts. 58 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be
utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the
peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall
be weary. 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
to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief
chamberlain. 60 And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come
upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, then see
that thou read all these words, 62 and say, O Jehovah, 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. 63 And 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 the Euphrates: 64 and 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.
Genesis - Public
Domain
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