Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah (Azariah) the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached

²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our petition be presented before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, that is, for all this remnant [of the people of Judah]; for we were once many, but now [only] a few of us are left, as you see with your own eyes, [so please pray]

³that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do."

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Now hear me, I will pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will declare to you whatever message the LORD answers; I will keep nothing back from you."

⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to act in accordance with all the things that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.

⁶Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to and honor the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God."

⁷Now after ten days [of prayer] had passed the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

⁸Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest,

⁹and said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:

¹⁰'If you will indeed remain in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I will relent and be satisfied concerning the disaster that I have inflicted on you [as discipline, and I will replace judgment with compassion].

¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear [as if he were deity]; do not be afraid of him,' says the LORD, 'for [he is a mere man, but I am the living, omniscient God and] I am with you [always] to protect you and to deliver you from his hand.

¹²And I will show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.

¹³But if you are going to say, "We will not stay in this land," and [in so doing] do not listen to the voice of the LORD your God,

¹⁴saying, "No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the [warrior's] trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,"

¹⁵then in that case listen to the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "If you are really determined to go to Egypt and to reside there [temporarily],

¹⁶then the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine of which you are afraid will follow closely after you in Egypt, and you will die there.

¹⁷So all the men who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there [temporarily] will die by the sword, by famine and by virulent disease; none of them will remain or survive the disaster that I am going to bring on them."'"

¹⁸For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "As My anger and My wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become detested, an object of horror, a curse and a people scorned; and you will no longer see this place."

¹⁹The LORD has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, "Do not go into Egypt!" Know with certainty that I [Jeremiah] have warned you and testified to you this day

²⁰that you have deceived yourselves; for you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray for us to the LORD our God; and whatever the LORD our God says, declare it to us and we will do it."

²¹And so I have told you today, but you have not listened to the voice of the LORD your God, in anything that He has sent me to tell you.

²²Now therefore know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by virulent disease in the land [of Egypt] where you wish to reside [temporarily].

¹Now it happened when Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God—that is, all these words—

²Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the proud and insolent men said to Jeremiah, "You are not telling the truth! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'Do not go into Egypt to live there.'

³But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so they may [either] put us to death or exile us to Babylon."

⁴So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people disobeyed the voice of the LORD [which told them] to stay in the land of Judah.

⁵But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven—

⁶the men, women, and children, the king's daughters (ladies of the court), and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; he also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah.

⁷So they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the LORD) and they went in as far as Tahpanhes.

⁸Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

⁹"Take some large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the brickwork [of the terrace] which is at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of some of the men of Judah;

¹⁰and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I am going to send and get Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I am going to set his throne over these stones that I have hidden; and his [majestic, royal] canopy will be spread over them.

¹¹He will also come and strike the land of Egypt, giving those who are [destined] for death, to death, and those who are [destined] for captivity, to captivity, and those who are [destined] for the sword, to the sword.

¹²And [through him] I will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them (Egyptian idols) captive. He will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will go away from there safely.

¹³Nebuchadnezzar will also break the images and shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis in the land of Egypt; and he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt."'"

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who were living in the land of Egypt—at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,

²"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'You have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and see, this day they are desolated and no one lives in them

³because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and incense to serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

⁴Yet I sent to you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, "Oh, do not do this shamefully vile thing which I hate."

⁵But they did not listen or turn [obediently] from their wickedness, and stop burning sacrifices and incense to other gods.

⁶Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; so they have become a ruin and a desolation, as it is this day.

⁷Therefore now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, "Why did you commit this great evil against yourselves [bringing disaster] that will cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant?

⁸Why do you [deliberately] provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) of your hands, burning sacrifices and incense to [make-believe] gods in the land of Egypt, where you [of your own accord] have come to live [as temporary residents], that you might be cut off and become a curse and a disgrace [an object of taunts] among all the nations of the earth?

⁹Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives [who served their foreign gods], your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives [who imitated the sin of the queens], which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰They have not become apologetic [for their guilt and sin] even to this day; they have not feared [Me with reverence] nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers."'

¹¹"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe—even to cut off (destroy) all Judah [from the land].

¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah who have decided to go into the land of Egypt to live there [instead of surrendering to the Chaldeans as directed], and they will all fall and die in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword or perish by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword or by famine; and they will become detestable, an object of horror, a curse, and a disgrace.

¹³For I will punish all the inhabitants of the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with virulent disease;

¹⁴so none of the survivors from the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to live there will survive, even though they lift up their souls in longing to return to the land of Judah, [the place] to which they long to return to live; none will return except a few refugees.'"

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing by, a large group, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah, saying,

¹⁶"As for the word (message) that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you.

¹⁷But rather we will certainly perform every word of the vows we have made: to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven (Ishtar) and to pour out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves and our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for [then] we had plenty of food and were prosperous and saw no misfortune.

¹⁸But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine."

¹⁹And said the wives, "When we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without [the knowledge and approval of] our husbands that we made cakes [in the shape of a star] to represent her and pour out drink offerings to her?"

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women and to all the people who had given him that answer,

²¹"The smoking sacrifices (incense) that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land—did not the LORD remember [in detail your idolatry] and did it not all come into His mind?

²²The LORD could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your acts and the repulsive acts which you have committed; because of them your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

²³Because you have burned sacrifices [to idols] and because you have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law and in His statutes and in His testimonies, therefore this tragedy has fallen on you, as it has this day."

²⁴Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all [you of] Judah who are in the land of Egypt,

²⁵thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: 'You and your wives have both declared with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand, saying, "We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven (Ishtar) and to pour out drink offerings to her." Surely then confirm your vows and go ahead and perform your vows! [If you intend to defy all My warnings, proceed!]'

²⁶Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all [you people of] Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, 'Behold, I have sworn [an oath] by My great Name,' says the LORD, 'that My Name shall never again be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord GOD lives."

²⁷Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine until they are all destroyed.

²⁸Yet a small number [of My choosing] who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.

²⁹And this will be the sign to you,' says the LORD, 'that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.'

³⁰Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.'"

¹The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

²"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch:

³'You said, "Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and sighing and I find no rest."'

⁴Say this to him, 'The LORD speaks in this way, "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will uproot, that is, the whole land."

⁵And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring disaster on all flesh,' says the LORD, 'but I will give your life to you [as your only reward and] as a prize of war wherever you go.'"

¹The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the [Gentile] nations.

²Concerning Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated [decisively] in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³"Line up the buckler (small shield) and [large] shield, And advance for battle!

⁴"Harness the horses, And mount, you riders! Take your stand with your helmets! Polish the spears, Put on the coats of mail!

⁵"Why have I seen it? They are terrified And have turned back, And their warriors are beaten down. They take flight in haste Without looking back; Terror is on every side!" Says the LORD.

⁶Do not let the swift man run, Nor the mighty man escape; In the north by the river Euphrates They have stumbled and fallen.

⁷Who is this that rises up like the Nile [River], Like the rivers [in the delta of Egypt] whose waters surge about?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile, Even like the rivers whose waters surge about. And He has said, "I will rise, I will cover that land; I will certainly destroy the city and its inhabitants."

⁹Charge, you horses, And drive like madmen, you chariots! Let the warriors go forward: Ethiopia and Put (Libya) who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. And the sword will devour and be satiated And drink its fill of their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice [like that of a great sin offering] In the north country by the river Euphrates.

¹¹Go up to Gilead and obtain [healing] balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you use many medicines; For you there is no healing or remedy.

¹²The nations have heard of your disgrace and shame, And your cry [of distress] has filled the earth. For warrior has stumbled against warrior, And both of them have fallen together.

¹³The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

¹⁴"Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol, And proclaim in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; Say, 'Take your stand and get yourself ready, For the sword has devoured those around you.'

¹⁵"Why have your strong ones been cut down? They do not stand because the LORD drove them away.

¹⁶"He will make many stumble and fall; Yes, they have fallen one on another. Then they said, 'Arise, and let us go back To our own people and to the land of our birth, Away from the sword of the oppressor.'

¹⁷"They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is destroyed and is merely a loud noise; He has let the appointed time [of opportunity] pass by!'

¹⁸"As I live," says the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts, "Surely like Tabor among the mountains Or like Carmel by the sea, So shall he [the great king of Babylon] come.

¹⁹"O you daughter who dwells in Egypt and you who dwell with her, Prepare yourselves [with all you will need] to go into exile, For Memphis will become desolate; It will even be burned down and without inhabitant.

²⁰"Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But a horsefly (Babylonia) is coming [against her] out of the north!

²¹"Also her mercenaries in her army Are like fattened calves, For they too have turned back and have fled together; They did not stand [their ground], Because the day of their disaster has come upon them, The time of their punishment.

²²"The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like [the rustling of] an escaping serpent, For her foes advance with a mighty army And come against her like woodcutters with axes.

²³"They have cut down her forest," says the LORD; "Certainly it will no longer be found, Because they (the invaders) are more numerous than locusts And cannot be counted.

²⁴"The Daughter of Egypt has been shamed, Given over to the power of the people of the north [the Chaldeans of Babylonia]."

²⁵The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, "Behold, I am going to punish Amon [chief god of the sacred city] of Thebes [the capital of Upper Egypt], and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings—even Pharaoh and those who put their trust in him [as a shield against Babylon].

²⁶I will put them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. Afterward Egypt will be inhabited as in the days of old," says the LORD.

²⁷"But as for you, do not fear, O My servant Jacob, Nor be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from [your captivity in] a distant land, And your descendants from the land of their exile; And Jacob will return and be quiet and secure, And no one will make him afraid.

²⁸"Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD, "For I am with you. For I will make a full and complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you; Yet I will not make a full end of you. But I will discipline and correct you appropriately And by no means will I declare you guiltless or leave you unpunished."

¹The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked and conquered [the Philistine city of] Gaza.

²Thus says the LORD: "Behold, waters are going to rise out of the north (Babylonia) And become an overflowing stream And overflow the land and all that is in it, The city and those who live in it. Then the people will cry out, And all the inhabitants of the land [of Philistia] will wail.

³"Because of the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of the war-horses [of the Babylonian king], The rattling of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers have not looked and turned back for their children, So weak are their hands [with terror]

⁴Because of the day that is coming To destroy all the Philistines And to cut off from Tyre and Sidon Every ally who remains. For the LORD is going to destroy the Philistines, The remnant [still surviving] of the coastland of Caphtor.

⁵"Baldness [as a sign of mourning] will come on Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off and ruined. O remnant of their valley, How long will you gash yourselves [as a sign of mourning]?

⁶"O you sword of the LORD, How long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself into your sheath; Rest and be still.

⁷"How can His sword be quiet When the LORD has given it an order? Against Ashkelon and against the [whole Philistine] seashore There He has assigned it."

¹Concerning Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Woe (judgment is coming) to [the city of] Nebo, for it has been destroyed! Kiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured; Misgab [the high fortress] has been shamed, broken down and crushed.

²"The glory of Moab is no more; In Heshbon they planned evil against her, Saying, 'Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!' You also, O [city of] Madmen, shall be silenced; The sword will pursue you.

³"The sound of an outcry from Horonaim, 'Desolation and great destruction!'

⁴"Moab is destroyed; Her little ones have called out a cry of distress [to be heard as far as Zoar].

⁵"For the Ascent of Luhith Will be climbed by [successive groups of] fugitives with continual weeping; For on the descent of Horonaim They have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

⁶"Run! Save your lives, That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

⁷"For because you have trusted in your works [your hand-made idols] and in your treasures [instead of in God], Even you yourself will be captured; And Chemosh [your disgusting god cannot rescue you, but] will go away into exile [along with the fugitives] Together with his priests and his princes.

⁸"And the destroyer will come upon every city; No city will escape. The [Jordan] valley also will be ruined And the plain will be devastated, As the LORD has said.

⁹"Give a gravestone to Moab, For she will fall into ruins; Her cities (pastures, farms) will be desolate, Without anyone to live in them.

¹⁰"Cursed is the one who does the work of the LORD negligently, And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood [in executing the judgment of the LORD].

¹¹"Moab has been at ease from his youth; He has also been undisturbed, and settled like wine on his dregs, And he has not been emptied from one vessel to another, Nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his flavor remains in him, And his scent has not changed.

¹²Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will send to Moab those who will tip him over and who will empty his vessels and break his [earthenware] jars in pieces.

¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh [his worthless, disgusting god], as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their [misplaced] confidence.

¹⁴"How can you say, 'We are great warriors And valiant men in war?'

¹⁵"Moab has been made desolate and his cities have gone up [in smoke and flame]; And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter," Says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁶"The destruction of Moab will come soon, And his disaster hurries quickly.

¹⁷"Show sympathy for him, all you [nations] who are around him, And all you [distant nations] who know his name; Say, 'How has the mighty scepter [of national power] been broken, And the splendid staff [of glory]!'

¹⁸"Come down from your glory, O Daughter living in Dibon, And sit on the parched ground [among the thirsty]! For the destroyer of Moab has advanced against you; He has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹"O inhabitant of Aroer, Stand by the road and keep watch! Ask [of] him who flees and [ask of] her who escapes, Saying, 'What has happened?'

²⁰"Moab is shamed, for she has been broken down and shattered. Wail and cry out! Tell by [the banks of] the Arnon That Moab has been destroyed.

²¹"Judgment has come on [the land of] the plain—upon Holon, Jahzah, and against Mephaath,

²²against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

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

²⁵The horn (strength) of Moab has been cut off and his arm [of authority] is shattered," says the LORD.

²⁶Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD [by denying Reuben's occupation of the land the LORD had assigned him]. Moab also will wallow in his vomit, and he too shall become a laughingstock.

²⁷For was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he caught among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head in scorn.

²⁸"You inhabitants of Moab, Leave the cities and live among the rocks, And be like the dove that makes her nest In the walls of the yawning ravine.

²⁹"We have heard of the [giddy] pride of Moab, the extremely proud one— His haughtiness, his arrogance, his conceit, and his self-exaltation.

³⁰"I know his [insolent] wrath," says the LORD, "But it is futile; His idle boasts [in his deeds] have accomplished nothing.

³¹"Therefore I will wail over Moab, And I will cry out for all Moab. I will sigh and mourn over the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth).

³²"O vines of Sibmah, I will weep for you More than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards]. Your tendrils [of influence] stretched across the sea, Reaching [even] to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen On your summer fruits and your [season's] crop of grapes.

³³"So joy and gladness are taken away From the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. And I have made the wine cease from the wine presses; No one treads the grapes with shouting. Their shouting is not joyful shouting [but is instead, a battle cry].

³⁴From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolations.

³⁵Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab," says the LORD, "the one who ascends and offers sacrifice in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.

³⁶"Therefore My heart moans and sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans and sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore [the remnant of] the abundant riches they gained has perished.

³⁷For every head is [shaven] bald and every beard cut off; there are cuts (slashes) on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins [all expressions of mourning].

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation (expressions of grief for the dead) everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure," says the LORD.

³⁹How it is broken down! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab will become a laughingstock and a [horrifying] terror to all who are around him."

⁴⁰For thus says the LORD: "Behold, one (Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) will fly swiftly like an eagle And spread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹"Kerioth [and the cities] has been taken And the strongholds seized; And the hearts of the warriors of Moab in that day Shall be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

⁴²"Moab will be destroyed from being a nation (people) Because he has become arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD.

⁴³"Terror and pit and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab," says the LORD.

⁴⁴"The one who flees from the terror Will fall into the pit, And the one who gets up out of the pit Will be taken and caught in the trap; For I shall bring upon it, even upon Moab, The year of their punishment," says the LORD.

⁴⁵"In the shadow of Heshbon The fugitives stand powerless [helpless and without strength], For a fire has gone out from Heshbon, A flame from the midst of Sihon; It has destroyed the forehead of Moab And the crowns of the heads of [the arrogant Moabites] the ones in tumult.

⁴⁶"Woe (judgment is coming) to you, O Moab! The people of [the pagan god called] Chemosh have perished; For your sons have been taken away captive And your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷"Yet I will return the captives and restore the fortunes of Moab In the latter days," says the LORD. Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

¹Concerning the sons (descendants) of Ammon. Thus says the LORD: "Does Israel have no sons [to reclaim Gad from the Ammonites]? Has he no heir? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad And [why do] his people live in the cities [of Gad]?

²"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "When I will cause an alarm of war to be heard Against Rabbah of the Ammonites; And it [along with the high ground on which it stands] will become a desolate heap, And its villages will be set on fire. Then will Israel take possession of his possessors," Says the LORD.

³"Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai [in Ammon] has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Wrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief), And rush back and forth inside the enclosures; For Malcam [your powerless god] will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

⁴"Why do you boast of your valleys? Your valley is flowing away, [O Ammon] rebellious and faithless daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, 'Who will come against me?'

⁵"Behold, I am going to bring terror on you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts, "From all who are around you; And each of you will be driven out headlong, And there will be no one to gather the fugitives together.

⁶"But afterward I will reverse The captivity of the children of Ammon and restore their fortunes," Says the LORD.

⁷Concerning Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Has good counsel vanished from the intelligent and prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸"Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths [of the desert to escape the judgment of Edom], O inhabitants of Dedan, For I will bring the destruction of Esau (Edom) upon him When I inspect and punish him.

⁹"If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some ungleaned grapes [on the vines]? If thieves came by night, Would they not destroy [only] what is enough [for them]?

¹⁰"But I have stripped Esau (Edom) bare; I have uncovered his hiding places And he cannot hide himself. His descendants have been destroyed along with his brothers (relatives) and his neighbors; And he is no more.

¹¹"Leave your orphans behind; I will [do what is needed to] keep them alive. And let [those who are] your widows trust and confide in Me."

¹²For thus says the LORD, "Behold, those (Israel) who were not sentenced to drink the cup [of wrath] shall certainly drink it, and are you to remain unpunished? You will not be acquitted and go unpunished, but you will certainly drink [from the cup of wrath and judgment].

¹³For I have sworn [an oath] by Myself," says the LORD, "that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins."

¹⁴I have heard a report from the LORD, And a messenger has been sent to the nations, saying, "Gather together and come against her, And rise up for the battle."

¹⁵"For behold, [Edom] I have made you small among the nations And despised among men.

¹⁶"As for Your terror, The pride and arrogance of your heart have deceived you, O you who live in the clefts of the rock (Sela also called Petra), Who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there," says the LORD.

¹⁷"Edom will become an object of horror; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and shall hiss [scornfully] at all its plagues and disasters.

¹⁸As [it was] in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with their neighboring cities," says the LORD, "no man will live there, nor will a son of man dwell in it.

¹⁹See, one will come like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan against the enduring habitation [of Edom] and its watered pastures; for in an instant I will make him (Edom) run from his land. I will appoint over him the one whom I choose. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me [into court] and prosecute Me [for this]? Who is the [earthly] shepherd who can stand [defiantly] before Me?"

²⁰Therefore hear the plan of the LORD which He has devised against Edom, and [hear] what He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will be dragged away, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate because of them.

²¹The earth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The sound of its noise has been heard at the Red Sea.

²²Behold, He will mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread His wings against [the city of] Bozrah; and in that day the heart of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

²³Concerning Damascus [in Syria]. "Hamath and Arpad are perplexed and shamed, For they have heard bad news; They are disheartened; Troubled and anxious like a [storm-tossed] sea Which cannot be calmed.

²⁴"Damascus has become helpless; She has turned away to flee, Terror (panic) has seized her; Anguish and distress have gripped her Like a woman in childbirth.

²⁵"Why has the renowned city not been deserted, The city of My joy!

²⁶"Therefore, her young men will fall in her streets, And all her men of war will be destroyed in that day," says the LORD of hosts.

²⁷"I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, And it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad."

²⁸Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the LORD, "Arise, go up against Kedar And destroy the men of the east.

²⁹"They (the Babylonians) will take away their tents and their flocks; They will carry off for themselves Their tent curtains, all their goods and their camels, And they will call out to one another, 'Terror on every side!'

³⁰"Flee, run far away! Dwell in the depths [of the desert], O inhabitants of Hazor," says the LORD, "For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has planned a course of action against you And devised a scheme against you.

³¹"Arise [Nebuchadnezzar], go up against a nation which is at ease, Which lives securely," says the LORD, "A nation which has neither gates nor bars; They dwell apart and alone.

³²"Their camels will become plunder, And their herds of cattle a spoil; And I will scatter to all the [four] winds those who cut the corners of their hair [as evidence of their idolatry], And I will bring their disaster from every side," says the LORD.

³³"Hazor will become a haunt and dwelling place of jackals, A desolation forever; No one will live there, Nor will a son of man reside in it."

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:

³⁵"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold (listen carefully), I am going to break the bow of Elam, The finest [weapon] of their strength.

³⁶'And I will bring upon Elam the four winds From the four corners of heaven; And I will scatter them toward all those winds, And there will be no nation To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

³⁷'So I will cause Elam to be shattered (dismayed) before their enemies And before those who seek their lives; And I will bring disaster on them, Even My fierce anger,' says the LORD. 'And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.

³⁸'Then I will set My throne [of judgment] in Elam And I will destroy from there the king and princes,' Says the LORD.

³⁹'But it will be in the last days (the end of days) That I will reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Elam,'" Says the LORD.

¹The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon and concerning the land of the Chaldeans through Jeremiah the prophet:

²"Declare among the nations. Lift up a signal [to spread the news]—publish and proclaim it, Do not conceal it; say, 'Babylon has been taken, Bel [the patron god] has been shamed, Marduk (Bel) has been shattered. Babylon's images have been shamed, her [worthless] idols have been thrown down.'

³For out of the north a nation (Media) has come against her which will make her land desolate, and no one will live there. They have fled, they have gone away—both man and animal.

⁴"In those days and at that time," says the LORD, "the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will come up weeping [in repentance] as they come and seek the LORD their God [inquiring for and of Him].

⁵They will ask the way to Zion, with their faces in that direction, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.'

⁶"My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them turn aside [to the seductive places of idolatry] on the mountains. They have gone along [from one sin to another] from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their [own] resting place.

⁷"All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries have said, 'We are not guilty, Because they have sinned against the LORD [and are no longer holy to Him], their [true] habitation of righteousness and justice, Even the LORD, the [confident] hope of their fathers.'

⁸"Wander away from the midst of Babylon And go out of the land of the Chaldeans; Be like the male goats [who serve as leaders] at the head of the flocks.

⁹"For behold, I will stir up and bring up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country. They will equip themselves and set up the battle lines against her; From there she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior Who will not return empty-handed.

¹⁰"Chaldea will become plunder; All who plunder her will be satisfied," says the LORD.

¹¹"Though you are glad, though you rejoice, O you who plunder My heritage, Though you are wanton and skip about like a heifer in the grass And neigh like stallions,

¹²Your mother [Babylon] shall be greatly shamed; She who gave you birth will be ashamed. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a parched land and a desert.

¹³"Because of the wrath of the LORD she will not be inhabited But she will be completely desolate; Everyone who goes by Babylon will be appalled And will hiss (mock) at all her wounds and plagues.

¹⁴"Set yourselves in battle formation against Babylon on every side, All you archers. Shoot at her! Do not spare the arrows, For she has sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵"Raise the battle cry against her on every side! She has given her hand [in agreement] and has surrendered; her pillars have fallen, Her walls have been torn down. For this is the vengeance of the LORD: Take vengeance on her; As she has done [to others], do to her.

¹⁶"Cut off the sower from Babylon And the one who handles the sickle at the time of harvest. For fear of the sword of the oppressor Everyone will return to his own people And everyone will flee to his own land.

¹⁷Israel is a hunted and scattered flock [driven here and there as prey]; the lions have chased them away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken (gnawed) his bones.

¹⁸Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will visit (inspect, examine) and punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I visited and punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹And I will bring Israel [home] again to his pasture and he will graze on [the most fertile lands of] Carmel [in the west] and Bashan [in the east], and his soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰In those days and at that time,' says the LORD, 'a search will be made for the wickedness of Israel, but there will be none and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.'

²¹"Go against [Babylon] the land of Merathaim (Double Rebellion), Go up against it and against the people of Pekod (Punishment). Kill and utterly destroy them," says the LORD, "And do everything that I have commanded you."

²²"The noise of battle is in the land, And [the noise of] great destruction.

²³"How the hammer of the whole earth Is crushed and broken! How Babylon has become A horror [of desolation] among the nations!

²⁴"I set a trap for you and you also were caught, O Babylon, And you did not know it; You have been found and also seized Because you have struggled against the LORD."

²⁵The LORD has opened His armory And has brought out [the nations who unknowingly are] the weapons of His indignation (wrath), For it is a work of the Lord GOD of hosts In the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses; Pile it up like heaps of rubbish. Burn and destroy her completely; Let nothing be left of her.

²⁷Kill all her young bulls [her strength—her young men]; Let them go down to the slaughter! Woe (judgment is coming) to the Chaldeans, for their day has come, The time of their punishment.

²⁸Listen to the voice of the refugees who flee and escape from the land of Babylon, Proclaiming in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, The vengeance [of the LORD against the Chaldeans] for [plundering and destroying] His temple.

²⁹"Call together many [archers] against Babylon, All those who bend the bow. Encamp against her on every side; Let no one from there escape. Repay her according to her actions; Just as she has done, do to her. For she has been proudly defiant and presumptuous against the LORD, Against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰"Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, And all her soldiers will be destroyed on that day," says the LORD.

³¹"Behold, I am against you, [O Babylon, you] arrogant one, [you who are pride and presumption personified]," Says the Lord GOD of hosts, "For your day has come, The time when I will punish you.

³²"The arrogant (proud) one will stumble and fall With no one to raise him up; And I will set fire to his cities And it will devour all who are around him."

³³Thus says the LORD of hosts, "The children of Israel are oppressed, And the children of Judah as well; And all who took them captive have held them tightly, They have refused to let them go.

³⁴"Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is His name. He will most certainly plead their case and defend their cause So that He may bring rest to their land, But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵"A sword against the Chaldeans," says the LORD, "And against the inhabitants of Babylon And against her princes (officials, civic rulers) and against her wise men (astrologers, religious rulers)!

³⁶"A sword against the oracle priests (the babbling liars), and they will become fools! A sword against her mighty warriors, and they will be shattered and destroyed!

³⁷"A sword against their horses and against their chariots And against all the foreign troops that are in her midst, And they will become [as weak and defenseless as] women! A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

³⁸"A drought on her waters, and they will dry up! For it is a land of [worthless] idols, And they are mad over fearsome idols [those objects of terror in which they foolishly trust].

³⁹"Therefore wild beasts of the desert will live there [in Babylon] with the jackals; The ostriches also will live there, And it will never again be inhabited [with people] Or lived in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰"As when God overthrew Sodom And Gomorrah and their neighboring cities," says the LORD, "So no man will live there; Nor shall any son of man live there."

⁴¹"Behold, a people is coming from the north, And a great nation and many kings Will be stirring from the remote parts of the earth.

⁴²"They seize their bow and spear; They are cruel and have no compassion. They sound like the roaring of the sea; They ride on horses, Every man equipped like a man [ready] for the battle Against you, O Daughter of Babylon.

⁴³"The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, And his hands fall limp and helpless; Anguish has seized him, And agony like that of a woman in childbirth.

⁴⁴"See, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan against the enduring habitation [of Babylon] and its watered pastures; for in an instant I will make Babylon run from his land. I will appoint over Babylon the one whom I choose. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me [into court] and prosecute Me [for this]? Who is the [earthly] shepherd who can stand [defiantly] before Me?"

⁴⁵Therefore hear the plan of the LORD which He has devised against Babylon, and hear what He has purposed against [the inhabitants of the land of] the Chaldeans: surely they will be dragged away, [even] the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their habitation desolate because of them.

⁴⁶At the shout, "Babylon has been seized!" the earth quakes, and an outcry is heard among the nations.

¹Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am going to stir up and put into action [a fury] against Babylon And against the [rebellious] people of Leb-kamai (Chaldea) A destroying wind and hostile spirit;

²"And I will send foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate and empty her land; For in the day of destruction They will be against her on every side.

³"Do not let him (the Chaldean defender) who bends his bow bend it, Nor let him rise up in his coat of armor. So do not spare her young men; Devote her entire army to destruction.

⁴"They shall fall down dead in the land of the Chaldeans, And wounded in her streets."

⁵For neither Israel nor Judah has been abandoned By his God, the LORD of hosts, Though their land is full of sin and guilt Before the Holy One of Israel.

⁶Flee out of Babylon, Let every one of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, For this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He is going to pay her what she has earned.

⁷Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, Intoxicating all the earth. The nations drank her wine; Therefore the nations have gone mad.

⁸Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered! Wail for her [if you care to]! Get balm for her [incurable] pain; Perhaps she may be healed.

⁹We would have healed Babylon, but she was not to be healed. Abandon her and let each [captive] return to his own country, For her guilt and judgment have reached to heaven And are lifted up to the very skies.

¹⁰The LORD has brought about our vindication and has revealed the righteousness of our cause; Come and let us proclaim in Zion The work of the LORD our God!

¹¹Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields [and cover yourselves]! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it; For that is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance [on Babylon] for [plundering and destroying] His temple.

¹²Set up a signal on the walls of Babylon [to spread the news]; Post a strong blockade, Station the guards, Prepare the men for ambush! For the LORD has both purposed and done That which He spoke against the people of Babylon.

¹³[O Babylon] you who live by many waters, Rich in treasures, Your end has come, And the line measuring your life is cut.

¹⁴The LORD of hosts has sworn [an oath] by Himself, saying, "Surely I will fill you with men, as with [a swarm of] locusts [who strip the land clean], And they will lift up a song and shout of victory over you."

¹⁵He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom And stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹⁶When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

¹⁷Every man has become stupid and brutelike, without knowledge [of God]; Every goldsmith is shamed by the cast images he has made; For his molten idols are a lie, And there is no breath [of life] or spirit in them.

¹⁸They are worthless (empty, false, futile), a work of delusion and worthy of derision; In the time of their inspection and punishment they will perish.

¹⁹The Portion of Jacob [the true God of Israel] is not like these [handmade gods]; For He is the Maker of all and the One who formed and fashioned all things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance— The LORD of hosts is His name.

²⁰"You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-axe and weapon of war— For with you I shatter nations, With you I destroy kingdoms.

²¹"With you I shatter the horse and his rider, With you I shatter the chariot and its driver,

²²With you I shatter man and woman, With you I shatter old man and youth, With you I shatter young man and virgin,

²³With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, With you I shatter the farmer and his yoke of oxen, And with you I shatter governors and commanders.

²⁴"And I will [completely] repay Babylon and all the people of Chaldea for all the evil that they have done in Zion—before your very eyes [I will do it]," says the LORD.

²⁵"Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain [conqueror of nations], Who destroys the whole earth," declares the LORD, "I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the [rugged] cliffs, And will make you a burnt mountain (extinct volcano).

²⁶"They will not take from you [even] a stone for a cornerstone Nor any rock for a foundation, But you will be desolate forever," says the LORD.

²⁷Lift up a signal in the land [to spread the news]! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Dedicate the nations [for war] against her; Call against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; Cause the horses to come up like bristly locusts [with their wings not yet released from their cases].

²⁸Prepare and dedicate the nations for war against her— The kings of Media, With their governors and commanders, And every land of their dominion.

²⁹The land trembles and writhes [in pain and sorrow], For the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, To make the land of Babylon A desolation without inhabitants.

³⁰The mighty warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight; They remain in their strongholds. Their strength and power have failed; They are becoming [weak and helpless] like women. Their dwelling places are set on fire; The bars on her gates are broken.

³¹One courier runs to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To tell the king of Babylon That his city has been captured from end to end;

³²And that the fords [across the Euphrates] have been blocked and [the ferries] seized, And they have set the [great] marshes on fire, And the men of war are terrified.

³³For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor At the time it is being trampled and prepared; Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her."

³⁴"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, He has set me down like an empty vessel. Like a monster he has swallowed me up, He has filled his belly with my delicacies; He has spit me out and washed me away.

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

³⁶Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will plead your case And take full vengeance for you; I will dry up her sea and great reservoir And make her fountain dry.

³⁷"Babylon will become a heap [of ruins], a haunt and dwelling place of jackals, An object of horror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing [of scorn and amazement], without inhabitants.

³⁸"They (the Chaldean lords) will be roaring together [before their sudden capture] like young lions [roaring over their prey], They (the princes) will be growling like lions' cubs.

³⁹"When they are inflamed [with wine and lust during their drinking bouts], I will prepare them a feast [of My wrath] And make them drunk, that they may rejoice And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares the LORD.

⁴⁰"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams together with male goats.

⁴¹"How Sheshak (Babylon) has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror among the nations!

⁴²"The sea has come up over Babylon; She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves.

⁴³"Her cities have become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror, A parched land and a desert, A land in which no one lives, And through which no son of man passes.

⁴⁴"I will punish and judge Bel [the handmade god] in Babylon And take out of his mouth what he has swallowed up [the stolen sacred articles and the captives of Judah and elsewhere]. The nations will no longer flow to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon has fallen down!

⁴⁵"Come out of her midst, My people, And each of you [escape and] save yourself From the fierce anger of the LORD.

⁴⁶"Now beware so that you do not lose heart, And so that you are not afraid at the rumor that will be heard in the land— For the rumor shall come one year, And after that another rumor in another year, And violence shall be in the land, Ruler against ruler—

⁴⁷"Therefore behold (listen carefully), the days are coming When I will judge and punish the idols of Babylon; Her whole land will be perplexed and shamed, And all her slain will fall in her midst.

⁴⁸"Then heaven and earth and all that is in them Will shout and sing for joy over Babylon, For the destroyers will come against her from the north," Says the LORD.

⁴⁹Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, As also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen.

⁵⁰You who have escaped the sword, Go away! Do not stay! Remember the LORD from far away, And let [desolate] Jerusalem come into your mind.

⁵¹We are perplexed and ashamed, for we have heard reproach; Disgrace has covered our faces, For foreigners [from Babylon] have come Into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the LORD [even those places forbidden to all but the appointed priest].

⁵²"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "When I will judge and punish the idols [of Babylon], And throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan."

⁵³"Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, Yet destroyers will come on her from Me," says the LORD.

⁵⁴The sound of an outcry [comes] from Babylon, And [the sound] of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵For the LORD is going to destroy Babylon and make her a ruin, And He will still her great voice [that hums with city life]. And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters, The noise of their voices is raised up [like the marching of an army].

⁵⁶For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon; And her mighty warriors will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the LORD is a God of [just] restitution; He will fully repay.

⁵⁷"I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, Her governors and her commanders and her mighty warriors; They will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up," Says the King—the LORD of hosts is His name.

⁵⁸Thus says the LORD of hosts, "The broad wall of Babylon will be completely overthrown and the foundations razed And her high gates will be set on fire; The peoples will labor in vain, And the nations become exhausted [only] for fire [that will destroy their work]."

⁵⁹The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was chief chamberlain or quartermaster [and brother of Baruch].

⁶⁰So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the disaster which would come on Babylon, [that is] all these words which have been written concerning Babylon.

⁶¹Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words aloud,

⁶²and say, 'You, O LORD, have promised concerning this place to cut it off and destroy it, so that there shall be nothing living in it, neither man nor animal, but it will be perpetually desolate.'

⁶³And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.

⁶⁴Then say, 'In the same way Babylon will sink down and not rise because of the disaster that I will bring on her; and the Babylonians will become [hopelessly] exhausted.'" Thus the words of Jeremiah are completed.

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

²He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD like all that Jehoiakim had done.

³For all this came about in Jerusalem and Judah because of the anger of the LORD, and [in the end] He cast them from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they camped against it and built moveable towers and siege mounds all around it.

⁵So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

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

⁷Then the city was broken into, and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night [as Ezekiel prophesied] passing through the gate between the two walls by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They fled by way of the Arabah (the Jordan Valley).

⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and his entire army was scattered from him.

⁹Then they seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the [Syrian] land of Hamath [on the northern border of Israel], where he pronounced sentence on him.

¹⁰The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the princes of Judah at Riblah.

¹¹Then the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon and there he put him in prison[in a mill] until the day of his death.

¹²Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

¹³He burned down the house of the LORD and the king's palace and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house or important structure he set on fire.

¹⁴So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away into exile some of the poorest of the people, those who were left in the city [at the time it was captured], along with those who deserted to join the king of Babylon [during the siege] and the rest of the artisans.

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

¹⁷Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the pillars of bronze which belonged to the house of the LORD, and the bronze pedestals [which supported the ten basins] and the [enormous] bronze Sea, which were in the house of the LORD, and carried all the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁸They also took away the pots [for carrying away ashes] and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.

¹⁹The captain of the guard also took away the [small] bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the incense cups and the bowls for the drink offerings—whatever was made of fine gold and whatever was made of fine silver.

²⁰The two pillars, the one [enormous] Sea (basin), and the twelve bronze bulls under the Sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD—the bronze of all these things was beyond weighing.

²¹Concerning the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits (twenty-seven feet), and a line [an ornamental molding] of twelve cubits (eighteen feet) went around its circumference; it was four fingers thick, and [the pillar was] hollow.

²²A capital of bronze was on [top of] it. The height of each capital was five cubits (seven and one-half feet), with a lattice-work and pomegranates around it, all of bronze. The second pillar also, with its pomegranates, was similar to these.

²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; and a hundred pomegranates were on the lattice-work all around.

²⁴Then the captain of the guard took [as prisoners] Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three doorkeepers.

²⁵He also took out of the city one official who was overseer of the soldiers, and seven of the king's advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men who were still in the city.

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

²⁷Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led away into exile from its own land.

²⁸This is the number of people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive and exiled: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, [he took captive] 832 persons from Jerusalem;

³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the [Babylonian] guard took captive 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.

³¹Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin [also called Coniah and Jeconiah] king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.

³²He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne above the thrones of the kings who were [captives] with him in Babylon.

³³Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king's table all the days of his life.

³⁴And his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion [according to his needs] until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

¹How solitary and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] That was [once] full of people! How like a widow she has become. She who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces, Has become a forced laborer!

²She weeps bitterly in the night And her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks; Among all her lovers (political allies) She has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.

³Judah has gone into exile under affliction And under harsh servitude; She dwells among the [pagan] nations, But she has found no rest; All her pursuers have overtaken her In the midst of [her] distress.

⁴The roads to Zion are in mourning Because no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests are groaning, Her virgins are grieved and suffering, And she suffers bitterly.

⁵Her adversaries have become her masters, Her enemies prosper; For the LORD has caused her grief Because of the multitude of her transgressions; Her young children have gone Into captivity before the enemy.

⁶All her beauty and majesty Have departed from the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem). Her princes have become like deer That have found no pasture; They have fled without strength Before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious things That she had from the days of old, When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, And no one helped her, The enemy saw her, They mocked at her downfall.

⁸Jerusalem sinned greatly; Therefore she has become an unclean thing [and has been removed]. All who honored her [now] despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she herself groans and turns [her face] away.

⁹Her (ceremonial) uncleanness was on her skirts; She did not [seriously] consider her future. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] in an astonishing manner; She has no comforter. "O LORD" [cries Jerusalem], "look at my affliction, For the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!"

¹⁰The adversary has spread out his hand Over all her precious and desirable things; For she has seen the [Gentile] nations enter her sanctuary (the Jerusalem temple)— The ones whom You commanded That they should not enter into Your congregation [not even in the outer courts].

¹¹All her people groan, seeking bread; They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for food To restore their lives. "See, O LORD, and consider How despised and repulsive I have become!"

¹²"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain Which was severely dealt out to me, Which the LORD has inflicted [on me] on the day of His fierce anger.

¹³"From on high He sent fire into my bones, And it prevailed over them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and hopelessly miserable, Faint all the day long.

¹⁴"The yoke of my transgressions is bound; By His hand they are knit and woven together. They have come upon my neck. He has made my strength fail; The Lord has put me into the hand Of those against whom I cannot stand.

¹⁵"The Lord has rejected all the strong men In my midst; He has proclaimed an established time against me To crush my young men. The Lord has trampled down as in a wine press The Virgin Daughter of Judah.

¹⁶"I weep for these things; My eyes overflow with tears, Because a comforter, One who could restore my soul, is far away from me. My children are desolate and perishing, For the enemy has prevailed."

¹⁷Zion stretches out her hands, But there is no comforter for her. The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob That his neighbors should be his enemies; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing [an object of contempt] among them.

¹⁸"The LORD is righteous and just; For I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear now, all you peoples, And look at my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

¹⁹"I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers (political allies), but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city While they looked for food to restore their strength.

²⁰"See, O LORD, how distressed I am! My spirit is deeply disturbed; My heart is overturned within me and cannot rest, For I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword kills and bereaves; In the house there is [famine, disease and] death!

²¹"People have heard that I groan, That I have no comforter [in You]. All my enemies have heard of my desperation; They are delighted [O LORD] that You have done it. Oh, that You would bring the day [of judgment] which You have proclaimed So that they will become like me.

²²"Let all their wickedness come before You; And deal with them as You have dealt with me Because of all my transgressions; For my groans are many and my heart is faint."

¹How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) With a cloud in His anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth The glory and splendor of Israel And has not remembered His footstool In the day of His anger.

²The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared All the country places of Jacob. In His wrath He has thrown down The strongholds of the Daughter of Judah (Jerusalem). He has brought them down to the ground [in disgrace]; He has debased the kingdom and its princes.

³In fierce anger He has cut off and destroyed Every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn His right hand From the presence of the enemy. And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming all around.

⁴He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were delightful and pleasing to the eye; In the tent of the Daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.

⁵The Lord has become like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all its palaces; He has destroyed its strongholds And multiplied in the Daughter of Judah Mourning and lamentation (expressions of grief).

⁶And He has violently broken down His temple like a [fragile] garden hedge; He has destroyed His appointed meeting place. The LORD has caused the appointed feast and Sabbath To be forgotten in Zion And has despised and rejected the king and the priest In the indignation of His anger.

⁷The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary. He has given into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces; They have made a noise in the house of the LORD As on a day of an appointed feast.

⁸The LORD determined to lay in ruins The [city] wall of the Daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line, He has not stopped His hand from destroying. He has caused the rampart and the wall to lament (mourn in grief); They have languished together.

⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are [exiled] among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets no longer find Vision from the LORD.

¹⁰The elders of the Daughter of Zion Sit on the ground keeping silent; They have thrown dust on their heads, They have covered themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.

¹¹My eyes fail because of tears [mourns Jeremiah], My spirit is deeply disturbed; My heart is poured out on the earth [in grief] Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Jerusalem], When little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city.

¹²They cry to their mothers, "Where is grain and wine?" As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their life [slips away and] is poured out In their mothers' arms.

¹³How shall I console you? To what shall I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? With what shall I compare you, so that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea; Who can heal you?

¹⁴Your prophets have seen (imagined) for you False and foolish visions; And they have not exposed your wickedness To restore you from captivity [by teaching you to repent], But they have seen (imagined) and declared to you false and misleading oracles.

¹⁵All who pass along the way Clap their hands in derision at you; They scoff and shake their heads At the Daughter of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city that was called 'The perfection of beauty, The joy of all the earth'?"

¹⁶All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They [scornfully] hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, "We have swallowed her up! Certainly this is the day for which we waited; We have reached it, we have seen it!"

¹⁷The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has demolished without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the power of your enemies.

¹⁸Their hearts cried out to the Lord. "O wall of the Daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.

¹⁹"Arise, cry aloud in the night, At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint from hunger At the head of every street."

²⁰See, O LORD, and look! With whom have You dealt this way? Should women eat their offspring, The little ones who were born healthy and beautiful? Should priest and prophet be killed In the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹The young and the old Lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing.

²²You [LORD] called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors (dangers) on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of the Lord's anger. Those I have cared for and brought up with tenderness, My enemy annihilated them.