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Jeremiah 49-52
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jeremiah 49-52
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Prophecies against Ammon
49 About the Ammonites,(A) this is what the Lord says:
Does Israel have no sons?
Is he without an heir?
Why then has Milcom[a][b] dispossessed Gad(B)
and his people settled in their cities?
2 Therefore look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will make the shout of battle(C) heard
against Rabbah of the Ammonites.
It will become a desolate mound,
and its villages will be burned down.
Israel will dispossess their dispossessors,
says the Lord.
3 Wail, Heshbon,(D) for Ai is devastated;
cry out, daughters of Rabbah!
Clothe yourselves with sackcloth,(E) and lament;
run back and forth within your walls,[c]
because Milcom will go into exile
together with his priests and officials.(F)
4 Why do you brag about your valleys,
your flowing valley,[d]
you faithless daughter?
You who trust in your treasures
and boast, “Who can attack me?”
5 Look, I am about to bring terror on you(G)—
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Hosts—
from all those around you.
You will be banished, each man headlong,
with no one to gather up the fugitives.
6 But after that, I will restore the fortunes[e] of the Ammonites.(H)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Prophecies against Edom
7 About Edom, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?[f]
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom rotted away?(I)
8 Run! Turn back! Lie low,
residents of Dedan,(J)
for I will bring Esau’s calamity on him
at the time I punish him.(K)
9 If grape harvesters came to you,
wouldn’t they leave some gleanings?(L)
Were thieves to come in the night,
they would destroy only what they wanted.(M)
10 But I will strip Esau bare;
I will uncover his secret places.(N)
He will try to hide himself, but he will be unable.
His descendants will be destroyed
along with his relatives and neighbors.
He will exist no longer.
11 Abandon your fatherless; I will preserve them;
let your widows trust in Me.(O)
12 “For this is what the Lord says: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too. 13 For by Myself I have sworn”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“Bozrah[g] will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will become ruins forever.”(P)
14 I have heard a message from the Lord;
a messenger has been sent among the nations:
Assemble yourselves to come against her.
Rise up for war!
15 Look, I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations,
despised among humanity.
16 As to the terror you cause,[h]
your presumptuous heart has deceived you.
You who live in the clefts of the rock,[i]
you who occupy the mountain summit,
though you elevate your nest like the eagle,
even from there I will bring you down.
This is the Lord’s declaration.(Q)
17 “Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.(R) 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,”(S) says the Lord, “no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.(T)
19 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[j] of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me?(U) Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”
20 Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman:(V) The flock’s little lambs will certainly be dragged away,(W) and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them. 21 At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; the sound of her cry will be heard at the Red Sea.(X) 22 Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.(Y)
Prophecies against Damascus
23 About Damascus:(Z)
Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,(AA)
for they have heard a bad report and are agitated;
in the sea there is anxiety that cannot be calmed.
24 Damascus has become weak;
she has turned to run;
panic has gripped her.
Distress and labor pains have seized her
like a woman in labor.
25 How can the city of praise not be abandoned,(AB)
the town that brings Me joy?
26 Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the declaration of
the Lord of Hosts.(AC)
27 I will set fire to the wall of Damascus;
it will consume Ben-hadad’s citadels.(AD)
Prophecies against Kedar and Hazor
28 About Kedar(AE) and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar,(AF) Babylon’s king, defeated, this is what the Lord says:
Rise up, go against Kedar,
and destroy the people of the east!
29 They will take their tents and their flocks
along with their tent curtains and all their equipment.
They will take their camels for themselves.
They will call out to them:
Terror is on every side!(AG)
30 Run! Escape quickly! Lie low,
residents of Hazor—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
has drawn up a plan against you;
he has devised a strategy against you.
31 Rise up, go up against a nation at ease,
one living in security.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They have no doors, not even a gate bar;
they live alone.(AH)
32 Their camels will become plunder,
and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil.(AI)
I will scatter them to the wind in every direction,
those who shave their temples;
I will bring calamity on them across all their borders.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
33 Hazor will become a jackals’ den,(AJ)
a desolation forever.
No one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.(AK)
Prophecies against Elam
34 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam[k] at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.(AL) 35 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
I am about to shatter Elam’s bow,(AM)
the source[l] of their might.
36 I will bring the four winds against Elam
from the four corners of the heavens,
and I will scatter them to all these winds.
There will not be a nation
to which Elam’s banished ones will not go.
37 I will devastate Elam before their enemies,
before those who want to take their lives.
I will bring disaster on them,
My burning anger.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will send the sword after them(AN)
until I finish them off.
38 I will set My throne in Elam,
and I will destroy the king and officials from there.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Prophecies against Babylon
50 The word the Lord spoke about Babylon,(AP) the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;(AQ)
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say: Babylon is captured;
Bel(AR) is put to shame;
Marduk is devastated;
her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3 For a nation from the north will come against her;(AS)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it—
both man and beast will escape.[n]
4 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.(AT)
5 They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves[o] to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant(AU) that will never be forgotten.
6 My people are lost sheep;(AV)
their shepherds have led them astray,
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.(AW)
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,(AX)
the hope of their ancestors,(AY) the Lord.”
8 Escape from Babylon;(AZ)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9 For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled[p] warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10 The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11 Because you rejoice,
because you sing in triumph—
you who plundered My inheritance—
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,(BA)
12 your mother will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all[q] the nations—
a dry land, a wilderness,(BB) an Arabah.
13 Because of the Lord’s wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be horrified
and scoff because of all her wounds.(BC)
14 Line up in battle formation around Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.(BD)
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,(BE)
take out your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor’s sword,(BF)
each will turn to his own people,(BG)
each will flee to his own land.
The Return of God’s People
17 Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.(BH)
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last one who crushed his bones
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.(BI)
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to punish the king of Babylon(BJ) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will return Israel to his grazing land,
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.(BK)
20 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
one will search for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive(BL) those I leave as a remnant.(BM)
The Invasion of Babylon
21 “Go against the land of Merathaim,
and against those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
do everything I have commanded you.(BN)
22 The sound of war is in the land(BO)—
a great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(BP)
24 Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,(BQ)
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you fought against the Lord.
25 The Lord opened His armory
and brought out His weapons of wrath,(BR)
because it is a task of the Lord God of Hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the most distant places.[r]
Open her granaries;
pile her up like mounds of grain
and completely destroy her.
Leave her no survivors.
27 Put all her young bulls to the sword;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, because their day has come,
the time of their punishment.(BS)
The Humiliation of Babylon
28 “There is a voice of fugitives and those who escape
from the land of Babylon
announcing in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance for His temple.(BT)
29 Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;(BU)
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.(BV)
30 Therefore, her young men will fall
in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the Lord’s declaration.(BW)
31 Look, I am against you, you arrogant one—
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Hosts—
because your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The arrogant will stumble and fall
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.”(BX)
The Desolation of Babylon
33 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;(BY)
they refuse to release them.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case(BZ)
so that He might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.(CA)
35 A sword is over the Chaldeans—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her sages.
36 A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
37 A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them,(CB)
and they will be like women.(CC)
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
38 A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things.[s](CD)
39 Therefore, desert creatures[t] will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.(CE)
40 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns(CF)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
so no one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it
as a temporary resident.(CG)
The Conquest of Babylon
41 Look! A people comes from the north.
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(CH)
42 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,(CI)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands fall helpless.
Distress has seized him—
pain, like a woman in labor.(CJ)
44 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[u](CK) of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon[v] away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”
45 Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them. 46 At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.(CL)
God’s Judgment on Babylon
51 This is what the Lord says:
I am about to stir up a destructive wind[w] against Babylon(CM)
and against the population of Leb-qamai.[x][y]
2 I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,(CN)
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
3 Don’t let the archer string his bow;
don’t let him put on[z] his armor.(CO)
Don’t spare her young men;
completely destroy her entire army!
4 Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets.(CP)
5 For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the Lord of Hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.(CQ)
6 Leave Babylon;(CR)
save your lives, each of you!(CS)
Don’t perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance—
He will pay her what she deserves.(CT)
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand,(CU)
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;(CV)
therefore, the nations go mad.(CW)
8 Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.
Wail for her;
get balm(CX) for her wound—
perhaps she can be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,(CY)
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.(CZ)
10 The Lord has brought about our vindication;(DA)
come, let’s tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has accomplished.(DB)
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
The Lord has put it into the mind
of the kings of the Medes
because His plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for His temple.(DC)
12 Raise up a signal flag(DD)
against the walls of Babylon;
fortify the watch post;
set the watchmen in place;
prepare the ambush.
For the Lord has both planned and accomplished
what He has threatened
against those who live in Babylon.
13 You who reside by many waters,(DE)
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.
14 The Lord of Hosts has sworn by Himself:
I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will sing the victory song over you.
15 He made the earth by His power,
established the world(DF) by His wisdom,(DG)
and spread out the heavens by His understanding.(DH)
16 When He thunders,[aa]
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,(DI)
and He causes the clouds
to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from His storehouses.(DJ)
17 Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,(DK)
for his cast images are a lie;(DL)
there is no breath in them.(DM)
18 They are worthless,(DN) a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.(DO)
19 Jacob’s Portion[ab] is not like these
because He is the One who formed all things.(DP)
Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;(DQ)
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.(DR)
20 You are My battle club,
My weapons of war.
With you I will smash nations;
with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
21 With you I will smash the horse and its rider;
with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
22 With you I will smash man and woman;(DS)
with you I will smash the old man and the youth;
with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
23 With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock;
with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team.[ac]
With you I will smash governors and officials.
24 “I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes.”(DT)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 Look, I am against you, devastating mountain—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you devastate the whole earth.
I will stretch out My hand against you,(DU)
roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain.
26 No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will become desolate forever.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
27 Raise a signal flag(DV) in the land;
blow a ram’s horn among the nations;
set apart the nations against her.(DW)
Summon kingdoms against her—
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like a swarm[ad] of locusts.
28 Set apart the nations for battle against her—
the kings of Media,
her governors and all her officials,
and all the lands they rule.
29 The earth quakes(DX) and trembles
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.
30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;(DY)
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.
Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,
her gate bars are shattered.(DZ)
31 Messenger races to meet messenger,(EA)
and herald to meet herald,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured
from end to end.
32 The fords have been seized,(EB)
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers are terrified.
33 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled.(EC)
In just a little while her harvest time will come.(ED)
34 “Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty dish;
he has swallowed me like a sea monster;(EE)
he filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has vomited me out,”[ae]
35 says the inhabitant of Zion;
“Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon.
Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am about to plead your case(EF)
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea(EG)
and make her fountain run dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,(EH)
without inhabitant.
38 They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
39 While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk so that they revel.[af](EI)
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams together with male goats.(EJ)
41 How Sheshach has been captured,
the praise(EK) of the whole earth seized.
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(EL)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;(EM)
she is covered with its turbulent waves.
43 Her cities have become a desolation,(EN)
a dry and arid land,
a land where no one lives,
where no human being passes through.
44 I will punish Bel(EO) in Babylon.
I will make him vomit what he swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him;
even Babylon’s wall will fall.
45 Come out from among her, My people!(EP)
Save your lives, each of you,
from the Lord’s burning anger.
46 May you not become cowardly and fearful
when the report is proclaimed in the land,
for the report will come one year,
and then another the next year.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, look, the days are coming
when I will punish Babylon’s carved images.(EQ)
Her entire land will suffer shame,
and all her slain will lie fallen within her.(ER)
48 Heaven and earth and everything in them
will shout for joy(ES) over Babylon
because the destroyers from the north
will come against her.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
49 Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel,
even as the slain of all the earth fell
because of Babylon.
50 You who have escaped the sword,(ET)
go and do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51 We are ashamed
because we have heard insults.(EU)
Humiliation covers our faces
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s temple.(EV)
52 Therefore, look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will punish her carved images,
and the wounded will groan
throughout her land.
53 Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens(EW)
and fortify her tall fortresses,
destroyers will come against her from Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
54 The sound of a cry from Babylon!(EX)
The sound of great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord is going to devastate Babylon;
He will silence her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like abundant waters;
the tumult of their voice resounds,
56 for a destroyer is coming against her,
against Babylon.
Her warriors will be captured,
their bows shattered,
for the Lord is a God of retribution;
He will certainly repay.
57 I will make her princes and sages drunk,
along with her governors, officials, and warriors.
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.(EY)
This is the King’s declaration;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.(EZ)
58 This is what Yahweh of Hosts says:
Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished,
and her high gates consumed by fire.
The peoples will have labored for nothing;(FA)
the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire.
59 This is what Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah,(FB) the quartermaster, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. 60 Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon;(FC) all these words were written against Babylon.
61 Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 You must say, ‘Lord, You have threatened to cut off(FD) this place so that no one will live in it—man or beast. Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.’ 63 When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.(FE) 64 Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
The Fall of Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 2 Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.(FF) 3 Because of the Lord’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He finally banished them from His presence. Nevertheless, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.(FG)
4 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall all around it. 5 The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food. 7 Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.(FH) 8 The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army was scattered from him. 9 The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.
10 At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes and also slaughtered the Judean commanders. 11 Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody[ag] until his dying day.(FI)
12 On the tenth day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of[ah] the king of Babylon. 13 He burned the Lord’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the nobles. 14 The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.(FJ) 15 Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But some of the poorest people of the land Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left to be vinedressers and farmers.(FK)
17 Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the Lord’s temple and the water carts and the bronze reservoir that were in the Lord’s temple,(FL) and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 19 The commander of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls(FM)—whatever was gold or silver.
20 As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, and the 12 bronze bulls under the water carts that King Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 21 One pillar was 27 feet[ai] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,[aj] was hollow—four fingers thick— 22 and had a bronze capital on top of it.(FN) One capital, encircled by bronze latticework and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet[ak] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. 23 Each capital had 96 pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the latticework numbered 100.
24 The commander of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. 25 From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides[al] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people who were found within the city. 26 Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.(FO)
28 These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported:(FP) in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; 29 in his eighteenth year,[am] 832 people from Jerusalem; 30 in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported 745 Jews. All together 4,600 people were deported.
Jehoiachin Pardoned
31 On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. 34 As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.(FQ)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 49:1 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads Malkam
- Jeremiah 49:1 = Molech
- Jeremiah 49:3 Or sheep pens
- Jeremiah 49:4 Or about your strength, your ebbing strength
- Jeremiah 49:6 Or will end the captivity
- Jeremiah 49:7 = a region or city in Edom
- Jeremiah 49:13 = Edom’s capital
- Jeremiah 49:16 Lit Your horror
- Jeremiah 49:16 = Petra
- Jeremiah 49:19 Lit pride
- Jeremiah 49:34 = modern Iran
- Jeremiah 49:35 Lit first
- Jeremiah 49:39 Or will end the captivity
- Jeremiah 50:3 Lit escape; they will walk
- Jeremiah 50:5 LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves
- Jeremiah 50:9 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving
- Jeremiah 50:12 Lit Look! The last of
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit from the end
- Jeremiah 50:38 Or of dreaded gods
- Jeremiah 50:39 Or desert demons
- Jeremiah 50:44 Lit pride
- Jeremiah 50:44 Lit them
- Jeremiah 51:1 Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer
- Jeremiah 51:1 Lit heart of my adversaries
- Jeremiah 51:1 = Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 51:3 Hb obscure
- Jeremiah 51:16 Lit At His giving of the voice
- Jeremiah 51:19 = the Lord
- Jeremiah 51:23 Lit yoke
- Jeremiah 51:27 Hb obscure
- Jeremiah 51:34 Lit has rinsed me off
- Jeremiah 51:39 LXX reads pass out
- Jeremiah 52:11 Lit in a house of guards
- Jeremiah 52:12 Lit Jerusalem; he stood before
- Jeremiah 52:21 Lit 18 cubits
- Jeremiah 52:21 Lit 12 cubits
- Jeremiah 52:22 Lit five cubits
- Jeremiah 52:25 Lit seven men who look on the king’s face
- Jeremiah 52:29 Some Hb mss, Syr add he deported
Jeremiah 49-52
New International Version
Jeremiah 49-52
New International Version
A Message About Ammon
49 Concerning the Ammonites:(A)
This is what the Lord says:
“Has Israel no sons?
Has Israel no heir?
Why then has Molek[a](B) taken possession of Gad?(C)
Why do his people live in its towns?
2 But the days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when I will sound the battle cry(D)
against Rabbah(E) of the Ammonites;
it will become a mound of ruins,(F)
and its surrounding villages will be set on fire.
Then Israel will drive out
those who drove her out,(G)”
says the Lord.
3 “Wail, Heshbon,(H) for Ai(I) is destroyed!
Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth(J) and mourn;
rush here and there inside the walls,
for Molek(K) will go into exile,(L)
together with his priests and officials.
4 Why do you boast of your valleys,
boast of your valleys so fruitful?
Unfaithful Daughter Ammon,(M)
you trust in your riches(N) and say,
‘Who will attack me?’(O)
5 I will bring terror on you
from all those around you,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
“Every one of you will be driven away,
and no one will gather the fugitives.(P)
6 “Yet afterward, I will restore(Q) the fortunes of the Ammonites,”
declares the Lord.
A Message About Edom(R)(S)
7 Concerning Edom:(T)
This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?(U)
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom decayed?
8 Turn and flee, hide in deep caves,(V)
you who live in Dedan,(W)
for I will bring disaster on Esau
at the time when I punish him.
9 If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave a few grapes?
If thieves came during the night,
would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
10 But I will strip Esau bare;
I will uncover his hiding places,(X)
so that he cannot conceal himself.
His armed men are destroyed,
also his allies and neighbors,
so there is no one(Y) to say,
11 ‘Leave your fatherless children;(Z) I will keep them alive.
Your widows(AA) too can depend on me.’”
12 This is what the Lord says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup(AB) must drink it, why should you go unpunished?(AC) You will not go unpunished, but must drink it. 13 I swear(AD) by myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah(AE) will become a ruin and a curse,[b] an object of horror(AF) and reproach;(AG) and all its towns will be in ruins forever.”(AH)
14 I have heard a message from the Lord;
an envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Assemble yourselves to attack it!
Rise up for battle!”
15 “Now I will make you small among the nations,
despised by mankind.
16 The terror you inspire
and the pride(AI) of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks,(AJ)
who occupy the heights of the hill.
Though you build your nest(AK) as high as the eagle’s,
from there I will bring you down,”
declares the Lord.
17 “Edom will become an object of horror;(AL)
all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff
because of all its wounds.(AM)
18 As Sodom(AN) and Gomorrah(AO) were overthrown,
along with their neighboring towns,”
says the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
no people will dwell(AP) in it.
19 “Like a lion(AQ) coming up from Jordan’s thickets(AR)
to a rich pastureland,
I will chase Edom from its land in an instant.
Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
Who is like(AS) me and who can challenge me?(AT)
And what shepherd(AU) can stand against me?”
20 Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Edom,(AV)
what he has purposed(AW) against those who live in Teman:(AX)
The young of the flock(AY) will be dragged away;
their pasture will be appalled at their fate.(AZ)
21 At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble;(BA)
their cry(BB) will resound to the Red Sea.[c]
22 Look! An eagle will soar and swoop(BC) down,
spreading its wings over Bozrah.(BD)
In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors(BE)
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.(BF)
A Message About Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus:(BG)
“Hamath(BH) and Arpad(BI) are dismayed,
for they have heard bad news.
They are disheartened,
troubled like[d] the restless sea.(BJ)
24 Damascus has become feeble,
she has turned to flee
and panic has gripped her;
anguish and pain have seized her,
pain like that of a woman in labor.(BK)
25 Why has the city of renown not been abandoned,
the town in which I delight?
26 Surely, her young men(BL) will fall in the streets;
all her soldiers will be silenced(BM) in that day,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
27 “I will set fire(BN) to the walls of Damascus;(BO)
it will consume(BP) the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.(BQ)”
A Message About Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning Kedar(BR) and the kingdoms of Hazor,(BS) which Nebuchadnezzar(BT) king of Babylon attacked:
This is what the Lord says:
“Arise, and attack Kedar
and destroy the people of the East.(BU)
29 Their tents and their flocks(BV) will be taken;
their shelters will be carried off
with all their goods and camels.
People will shout to them,
‘Terror(BW) on every side!’
30 “Flee quickly away!
Stay in deep caves,(BX) you who live in Hazor,(BY)”
declares the Lord.
“Nebuchadnezzar(BZ) king of Babylon has plotted against you;
he has devised a plan against you.
31 “Arise and attack a nation at ease,
which lives in confidence,”
declares the Lord,
“a nation that has neither gates nor bars;(CA)
its people live far from danger.
32 Their camels(CB) will become plunder,
and their large herds(CC) will be spoils of war.
I will scatter to the winds(CD) those who are in distant places[e](CE)
and will bring disaster on them from every side,”
declares the Lord.
33 “Hazor(CF) will become a haunt of jackals,(CG)
a desolate(CH) place forever.
No one will live there;
no people will dwell(CI) in it.”
A Message About Elam
34 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(CJ) early in the reign of Zedekiah(CK) king of Judah:
35 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“See, I will break the bow(CL) of Elam,
the mainstay of their might.
36 I will bring against Elam the four winds(CM)
from the four quarters of heaven;(CN)
I will scatter them to the four winds,
and there will not be a nation
where Elam’s exiles do not go.
37 I will shatter Elam before their foes,
before those who want to kill them;
I will bring disaster on them,
even my fierce anger,”(CO)
declares the Lord.
“I will pursue them with the sword(CP)
until I have made an end of them.
38 I will set my throne in Elam
and destroy her king and officials,”
declares the Lord.
39 “Yet I will restore(CQ) the fortunes of Elam
in days to come,”
declares the Lord.
A Message About Babylon(CR)
50 This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon(CS) and the land of the Babylonians[f]:
2 “Announce and proclaim(CT) among the nations,
lift up a banner(CU) and proclaim it;
keep nothing back, but say,
‘Babylon will be captured;(CV)
Bel(CW) will be put to shame,(CX)
Marduk(CY) filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
and her idols(CZ) filled with terror.’
3 A nation from the north(DA) will attack her
and lay waste her land.
No one will live(DB) in it;
both people and animals(DC) will flee away.
4 “In those days, at that time,”
declares the Lord,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together(DD)
will go in tears(DE) to seek(DF) the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way(DG) to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come(DH) and bind themselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant(DI)
that will not be forgotten.
6 “My people have been lost sheep;(DJ)
their shepherds(DK) have led them astray(DL)
and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill(DM)
and forgot their own resting place.(DN)
7 Whoever found them devoured(DO) them;
their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,(DP)
for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,
the Lord, the hope(DQ) of their ancestors.’
8 “Flee(DR) out of Babylon;(DS)
leave the land of the Babylonians,
and be like the goats that lead the flock.
9 For I will stir(DT) up and bring against Babylon
an alliance of great nations(DU) from the land of the north.(DV)
They will take up their positions against her,
and from the north she will be captured.(DW)
Their arrows(DX) will be like skilled warriors
who do not return empty-handed.
10 So Babylonia[g] will be plundered;(DY)
all who plunder her will have their fill,”
declares the Lord.
11 “Because you rejoice and are glad,
you who pillage my inheritance,(DZ)
because you frolic like a heifer(EA) threshing grain
and neigh like stallions,
12 your mother will be greatly ashamed;
she who gave you birth will be disgraced.(EB)
She will be the least of the nations—
a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.(EC)
13 Because of the Lord’s anger she will not be inhabited
but will be completely desolate.(ED)
All who pass Babylon will be appalled;(EE)
they will scoff(EF) because of all her wounds.(EG)
14 “Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you who draw the bow.(EH)
Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,(EI)
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout(EJ) against her on every side!
She surrenders, her towers fall,
her walls(EK) are torn down.
Since this is the vengeance(EL) of the Lord,
take vengeance on her;
do to her(EM) as she has done to others.(EN)
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.
Because of the sword(EO) of the oppressor
let everyone return to their own people,(EP)
let everyone flee to their own land.(EQ)
17 “Israel is a scattered flock(ER)
that lions(ES) have chased away.
The first to devour(ET) them
was the king(EU) of Assyria;
the last to crush their bones(EV)
was Nebuchadnezzar(EW) king(EX) of Babylon.”
18 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
as I punished the king(EY) of Assyria.(EZ)
19 But I will bring(FA) Israel back to their own pasture,
and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
their appetite will be satisfied(FB)
on the hills(FC) of Ephraim and Gilead.(FD)
20 In those days, at that time,”
declares the Lord,
“search will be made for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none,(FE)
and for the sins(FF) of Judah,
but none will be found,
for I will forgive(FG) the remnant(FH) I spare.
21 “Attack the land of Merathaim
and those who live in Pekod.(FI)
Pursue, kill and completely destroy[h] them,”
declares the Lord.
“Do everything I have commanded you.
22 The noise(FJ) of battle is in the land,
the noise of great destruction!
23 How broken and shattered
is the hammer(FK) of the whole earth!(FL)
How desolate(FM) is Babylon
among the nations!
24 I set a trap(FN) for you, Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it;
you were found and captured(FO)
because you opposed(FP) the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his arsenal
and brought out the weapons(FQ) of his wrath,
for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do
in the land of the Babylonians.(FR)
26 Come against her from afar.(FS)
Break open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain.(FT)
Completely destroy(FU) her
and leave her no remnant.
27 Kill all her young bulls;(FV)
let them go down to the slaughter!(FW)
Woe to them! For their day(FX) has come,
the time(FY) for them to be punished.
28 Listen to the fugitives(FZ) and refugees from Babylon
declaring in Zion(GA)
how the Lord our God has taken vengeance,(GB)
vengeance for his temple.(GC)
29 “Summon archers against Babylon,
all those who draw the bow.(GD)
Encamp all around her;
let no one escape.(GE)
Repay(GF) her for her deeds;(GG)
do to her as she has done.
For she has defied(GH) the Lord,
the Holy One(GI) of Israel.
30 Therefore, her young men(GJ) will fall in the streets;
all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,”
declares the Lord.
31 “See, I am against(GK) you, you arrogant one,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
“for your day(GL) has come,
the time for you to be punished.
32 The arrogant(GM) one will stumble and fall(GN)
and no one will help her up;(GO)
I will kindle a fire(GP) in her towns
that will consume all who are around her.”
33 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“The people of Israel are oppressed,(GQ)
and the people of Judah as well.
All their captors hold them fast,
refusing to let them go.(GR)
34 Yet their Redeemer(GS) is strong;
the Lord Almighty(GT) is his name.
He will vigorously defend their cause(GU)
so that he may bring rest(GV) to their land,
but unrest to those who live in Babylon.
35 “A sword(GW) against the Babylonians!”(GX)
declares the Lord—
“against those who live in Babylon
and against her officials and wise(GY) men!
36 A sword against her false prophets!
They will become fools.
A sword against her warriors!(GZ)
They will be filled with terror.(HA)
37 A sword against her horses and chariots(HB)
and all the foreigners in her ranks!
They will become weaklings.(HC)
A sword against her treasures!(HD)
They will be plundered.
38 A drought on[i] her waters!(HE)
They will dry(HF) up.
For it is a land of idols,(HG)
idols that will go mad with terror.
39 “So desert creatures(HH) and hyenas will live there,
and there the owl will dwell.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation.(HI)
40 As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah(HJ)
along with their neighboring towns,”
declares the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
no people will dwell in it.(HK)
41 “Look! An army is coming from the north;(HL)
a great nation and many kings
are being stirred(HM) up from the ends of the earth.(HN)
42 They are armed with bows(HO) and spears;
they are cruel(HP) and without mercy.(HQ)
They sound like the roaring sea(HR)
as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
to attack you, Daughter Babylon.(HS)
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands hang limp.(HT)
Anguish has gripped him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.(HU)
44 Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets(HV)
to a rich pastureland,
I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.
Who is the chosen(HW) one I will appoint for this?
Who is like me and who can challenge me?(HX)
And what shepherd can stand against me?”
45 Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Babylon,
what he has purposed(HY) against the land of the Babylonians:(HZ)
The young of the flock will be dragged away;
their pasture will be appalled at their fate.
46 At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble;(IA)
its cry(IB) will resound among the nations.
51 This is what the Lord says:
“See, I will stir(IC) up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon(ID) and the people of Leb Kamai.[j]
2 I will send foreigners(IE) to Babylon
to winnow(IF) her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
in the day(IG) of her disaster.
3 Let not the archer string his bow,(IH)
nor let him put on his armor.(II)
Do not spare her young men;
completely destroy[k] her army.
4 They will fall(IJ) down slain in Babylon,[l]
fatally wounded in her streets.(IK)
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken(IL)
by their God, the Lord Almighty,
though their land[m] is full of guilt(IM)
before the Holy One of Israel.
6 “Flee(IN) from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.(IO)
It is time(IP) for the Lord’s vengeance;(IQ)
he will repay(IR) her what she deserves.
7 Babylon was a gold cup(IS) in the Lord’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall(IT) and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm(IU) for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.
9 “‘We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave(IV) her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment(IW) reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.’
11 “Sharpen the arrows,(IZ)
take up the shields!(JA)
The Lord has stirred up the kings(JB) of the Medes,(JC)
because his purpose(JD) is to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will take vengeance,(JE)
vengeance for his temple.(JF)
12 Lift up a banner(JG) against the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard,
station the watchmen,(JH)
prepare an ambush!(JI)
The Lord will carry out his purpose,(JJ)
his decree against the people of Babylon.
13 You who live by many waters(JK)
and are rich in treasures,(JL)
your end has come,
the time for you to be destroyed.(JM)
14 The Lord Almighty has sworn by himself:(JN)
I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts,(JO)
and they will shout(JP) in triumph over you.
15 “He made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom(JQ)
and stretched(JR) out the heavens by his understanding.(JS)
16 When he thunders,(JT) the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain(JU)
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.(JV)
17 “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;(JW)
they have no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,(JX) the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
19 He who is the Portion(JY) of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including the people of his inheritance(JZ)—
the Lord Almighty is his name.
20 “You are my war club,(KA)
my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter(KB) nations,(KC)
with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider,(KD)
with you I shatter chariot(KE) and driver,
22 with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and young woman,(KF)
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.(KG)
24 “Before your eyes I will repay(KH) Babylon(KI) and all who live in Babylonia[n] for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.
25 “I am against(KJ) you, you destroying mountain,
you who destroy the whole earth,”(KK)
declares the Lord.
“I will stretch out my hand(KL) against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a burned-out mountain.(KM)
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor any stone for a foundation,
for you will be desolate(KN) forever,”
declares the Lord.
27 “Lift up a banner(KO) in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations for battle against her;
summon against her these kingdoms:(KP)
Ararat,(KQ) Minni and Ashkenaz.(KR)
Appoint a commander against her;
send up horses like a swarm of locusts.(KS)
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her—
the kings of the Medes,(KT)
their governors and all their officials,
and all the countries they rule.(KU)
29 The land trembles(KV) and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes(KW) against Babylon stand—
to lay waste(KX) the land of Babylon
so that no one will live there.(KY)
30 Babylon’s warriors(KZ) have stopped fighting;
they remain in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become weaklings.(LA)
Her dwellings are set on fire;(LB)
the bars(LC) of her gates are broken.
31 One courier(LD) follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,(LE)
32 the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,(LF)
and the soldiers terrified.(LG)”
33 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“Daughter Babylon(LH) is like a threshing floor(LI)
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest(LJ) her will soon come.(LK)”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar(LL) king of Babylon has devoured(LM) us,(LN)
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed(LO) us out.
35 May the violence(LP) done to our flesh[o] be on Babylon,”
say the inhabitants of Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”
says Jerusalem.(LQ)
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“See, I will defend your cause(LR)
and avenge(LS) you;
I will dry up(LT) her sea
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt(LU) of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,(LV)
a place where no one lives.(LW)
38 Her people all roar like young lions,(LX)
they growl like lion cubs.
39 But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,(LY)
so that they shout with laughter—
then sleep forever(LZ) and not awake,”
declares the Lord.(MA)
40 “I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(MB)
41 “How Sheshak[p](MC) will be captured,(MD)
the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate(ME) Babylon will be
among the nations!
42 The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves(MF) will cover her.
43 Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert(MG) land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no one travels.(MH)
44 I will punish Bel(MI) in Babylon
and make him spew out(MJ) what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall(MK) of Babylon will fall.
45 “Come out(ML) of her, my people!
Run(MM) for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger(MN) of the Lord.
46 Do not lose heart(MO) or be afraid(MP)
when rumors(MQ) are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
47 For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols(MR) of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced(MS)
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.(MT)
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout(MU) for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north(MV)
destroyers(MW) will attack her,”
declares the Lord.
49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.(MX)
50 You who have escaped the sword,
leave(MY) and do not linger!
Remember(MZ) the Lord in a distant land,(NA)
and call to mind Jerusalem.”
51 “We are disgraced,(NB)
for we have been insulted
and shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s house.”(NC)
52 “But days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish her idols,(ND)
and throughout her land
the wounded will groan.(NE)
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens(NF)
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers(NG) against her,”
declares the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry(NH) comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction(NI)
from the land of the Babylonians.[q]
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon;
he will silence(NJ) her noisy din.
Waves(NK) of enemies will rage like great waters;
the roar of their voices will resound.
56 A destroyer(NL) will come against Babylon;
her warriors will be captured,
and their bows will be broken.(NM)
For the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will repay(NN) in full.
57 I will make her officials(NO) and wise(NP) men drunk,(NQ)
her governors, officers and warriors as well;
they will sleep(NR) forever and not awake,”
declares the King,(NS) whose name is the Lord Almighty.
58 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Babylon’s thick wall(NT) will be leveled
and her high gates(NU) set on fire;
the peoples(NV) exhaust(NW) themselves for nothing,
the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”(NX)
59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah,(NY) the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah(NZ) king of Judah in the fourth(OA) year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll(OB) about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate(OC) forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.(OD) 64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more(OE) because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people(OF) will fall.’”(OG)
The words of Jeremiah end(OH) here.
The Fall of Jerusalem(OI)(OJ)(OK)
52 Zedekiah(OL) was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.(OM) 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim(ON) had done. 3 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah,(OO) and in the end he thrust them from his presence.(OP)
Now Zedekiah rebelled(OQ) against the king of Babylon.
4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth(OR) day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem(OS) with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built siege works(OT) all around it.(OU) 5 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.(OV) 7 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled.(OW) They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[r] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[s] 8 but the Babylonian[t] army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 9 and he was captured.(OX)
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah(OY) in the land of Hamath,(OZ) where he pronounced sentence on him. 10 There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons(PA) of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.(PB)
12 On the tenth day of the fifth(PC) month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan(PD) commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He set fire(PE) to the temple(PF) of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses(PG) of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 14 The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls(PH) around Jerusalem. 15 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile(PI) some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen[u] and those who had deserted(PJ) to the king of Babylon. 16 But Nebuzaradan left behind(PK) the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars,(PL) the movable stands(PM) and the bronze Sea(PN) that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.(PO) 18 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls,(PP) dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.(PQ) 19 The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers,(PR) sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands,(PS) dishes(PT) and bowls used for drink offerings(PU)—all that were made of pure gold or silver.(PV)
20 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls(PW) under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed.(PX) 21 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference[v]; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.(PY) 22 The bronze capital(PZ) on top of one pillar was five cubits[w] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates(QA) of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates(QB) above the surrounding network was a hundred.(QC)
24 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah(QD) the chief priest, Zephaniah(QE) the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.(QF) 25 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary(QG) who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city. 26 Nebuzaradan(QH) the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah,(QI) in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away(QJ) from her land. 28 This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:(QK)
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
29 in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year,
832 people from Jerusalem;
30 in his twenty-third year,
745 Jews taken into exile(QL) by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard.
There were 4,600 people in all.(QM)
Jehoiachin Released(QN)
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin(QO) king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.(QP) 34 Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance(QQ) as long as he lived, till the day of his death.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 49:1 Or their king; also in verse 3
- Jeremiah 49:13 That is, its name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that it is cursed.
- Jeremiah 49:21 Or the Sea of Reeds
- Jeremiah 49:23 Hebrew on or by
- Jeremiah 49:32 Or who clip the hair by their foreheads
- Jeremiah 50:1 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 25, 35 and 45
- Jeremiah 50:10 Or Chaldea
- Jeremiah 50:21 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 26.
- Jeremiah 50:38 Or A sword against
- Jeremiah 51:1 Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
- Jeremiah 51:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
- Jeremiah 51:4 Or Chaldea
- Jeremiah 51:5 Or Almighty, / and the land of the Babylonians
- Jeremiah 51:24 Or Chaldea; also in verse 35
- Jeremiah 51:35 Or done to us and to our children
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:54 Or Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 52:7 Or Chaldeans; also in verse 17
- Jeremiah 52:7 Or the Jordan Valley
- Jeremiah 52:8 Or Chaldean; also in verse 14
- Jeremiah 52:15 Or the populace
- Jeremiah 52:21 That is, about 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference or about 8.1 meters high and 5.4 meters in circumference
- Jeremiah 52:22 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
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