Judgment on Elam

34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against aElam, in the bbeginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Behold, I will break cthe 3bow of Elam,

The foremost of their might.

36 Against Elam I will bring the four winds

From the four quarters of heaven,

And scatter them toward all those winds;

There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.

37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies

And before those who seek their life.

dI will bring disaster upon them,

My fierce anger,’ says the Lord;

‘And I will send the sword after them

Until I have consumed them.

38 I will eset My throne in Elam,

And will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the Lord.

39 ‘But it shall come to pass fin the latter days:

I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the Lord.”

Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

50 The word that the Lord spoke aagainst Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 “Declare among the nations,

Proclaim, and 1set up a standard;

Proclaim—do not conceal it—

Say, ‘Babylon is btaken, cBel is shamed.

2Merodach is broken in pieces;

dHer idols are humiliated,

Her images are broken in pieces.’

3 eFor out of the north fa nation comes up against her,

Which shall make her land desolate,

And no one shall dwell therein.

They shall 3move, they shall depart,

Both man and beast.

4 “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,

“The children of Israel shall come,

gThey and the children of Judah together;

hWith continual weeping they shall come,

iAnd seek the Lord their God.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion,

With their faces toward it, saying,

‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord

In ja perpetual covenant

That will not be forgotten.’

6 “My people have been klost sheep.

Their shepherds have led them lastray;

They have turned them away on mthe mountains.

They have gone from mountain to hill;

They have forgotten their resting place.

7 All who found them have ndevoured them;

And otheir adversaries said, p‘We have not offended,

Because they have sinned against the Lord, qthe habitation of justice,

The Lord, rthe hope of their fathers.’

8 “Move sfrom the midst of Babylon,

Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;

And be like the 4rams before the flocks.

9 tFor behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the north country,

And they shall array themselves against her;

From there she shall be captured.

Their arrows shall be like those of 5an expert warrior;

uNone shall return in vain.

10 And Chaldea shall become plunder;

vAll who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

11 “Because wyou were glad, because you rejoiced,

You destroyers of My heritage,

Because you have grown fat xlike a heifer threshing grain,

And you 6bellow like bulls,

12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;

She who bore you shall be ashamed.

Behold, the least of the nations shall be a ywilderness,

A dry land and a desert.

13 Because of the wrath of the Lord

She shall not be inhabited,

zBut she shall be wholly desolate.

aEveryone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified

And hiss at all her plagues.

14 “Put byourselves in array against Babylon all around,

All you who bend the bow;

Shoot at her, spare no arrows,

For she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Shout against her all around;

She has cgiven her hand,

Her foundations have fallen,

dHer walls are thrown down;

For eit is the vengeance of the Lord.

Take vengeance on her.

As she has done, so do to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.

For fear of the oppressing sword

fEveryone shall turn to his own people,

And everyone shall flee to his own land.

17 “Israel is like gscattered sheep;

hThe lions have driven him away.

First ithe king of Assyria devoured him;

Now at last this jNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,

As I have punished the king of kAssyria.

19 lBut I will bring back Israel to his home,

And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;

His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,

m“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;

And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;

For I will pardon those nwhom I preserve.

21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,

And against the inhabitants of oPekod.

7Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,

“And do paccording to all that I have commanded you.

22 qA sound of battle is in the land,

And of great destruction.

23 How rthe hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!

How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

I have laid a snare for you;

24 You have indeed been strapped, O Babylon,

And you were not aware;

You have been found and also caught,

Because you have tcontended against the Lord.

25 The Lord has opened His armory,

And has brought out uthe weapons of His indignation;

For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her from the farthest border;

Open her storehouses;

Cast her up as heaps of ruins,

And destroy her utterly;

Let nothing of her be left.

27 Slay all her vbulls,

Let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them!

For their day has come, the time of wtheir punishment.

28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon

xDeclares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

The vengeance of His temple.

29 “Call together the archers against Babylon.

All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;

Let none of them 8escape.

yRepay her according to her work;

According to all she has done, do to her;

zFor she has been proud against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

30 aTherefore her young men shall fall in the streets,

And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.

31 “Behold, I am against you,

O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;

“For your day has come,

9The time that I will punish you.

32 The most bproud shall stumble and fall,

And no one will raise him up;

cI will kindle a fire in his cities,

And it will devour all around him.”

33 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The children of Israel were oppressed,

Along with the children of Judah;

All who took them captive have held them fast;

They have refused to let them go.

34 dTheir Redeemer is strong;

eThe Lord of hosts is His name.

He will thoroughly plead their fcase,

That He may give rest to the land,

And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 “A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,

“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,

And gagainst her princes and hher wise men.

36 A sword is iagainst the soothsayers, and they will be fools.

A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

37 A sword is against their horses,

Against their chariots,

And against all jthe mixed peoples who are in her midst;

And kthey will become like women.

A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.

38 lA 1drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.

For it is the land of carved images,

And they are insane with their idols.

39 “Therefore mthe wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,

And the ostriches shall dwell in it.

nIt shall be inhabited no more forever,

Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

40 oAs God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

And their neighbors,” says the Lord,

“So no one shall reside there,

Nor son of man pdwell in it.

41 “Behold, qa people shall come from the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.

42 rThey shall hold the bow and the lance;

sThey are cruel and shall not show mercy.

tTheir voice shall roar like the sea;

They shall ride on horses,

Set in array, like a man for the battle,

Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43 “The king of Babylon has uheard the report about them,

And his hands grow feeble;

Anguish has taken hold of him,

Pangs as of a woman in vchildbirth.

44 “Behold, whe shall come up like a lion from the 2floodplain of the Jordan

Against the dwelling place of the strong;

But I will make them suddenly run away from her.

And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?

For who is like Me?

Who will arraign Me?

And xwho is that shepherd

Who will withstand Me?”

45 Therefore hear ythe counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,

And His zpurposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:

aSurely the least of the flock shall draw them out;

Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.

46 bAt the noise of the taking of Babylon

The earth trembles,

And the cry is heard among the nations.

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

51 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will raise up against aBabylon,

Against those who dwell in 1Leb Kamai,

bA destroying wind.

2 And I will send cwinnowers to Babylon,

Who shall winnow her and empty her land.

dFor in the day of doom

They shall be against her all around.

3 Against her elet the archer bend his bow,

And lift himself up against her in his armor.

Do not spare her young men;

fUtterly destroy all her army.

4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,

gAnd those thrust through in her streets.

5 For Israel is hnot forsaken, nor Judah,

By his God, the Lord of hosts,

Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

6 iFlee from the midst of Babylon,

And every one save his life!

Do not be cut off in her iniquity,

For jthis is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;

kHe shall recompense her.

7 lBabylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,

That made all the earth drunk.

mThe nations drank her wine;

Therefore the nations nare deranged.

8 Babylon has suddenly ofallen and been destroyed.

pWail for her!

qTake balm for her pain;

Perhaps she may be healed.

9 We would have healed Babylon,

But she is not healed.

Forsake her, and rlet us go everyone to his own country;

sFor her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.

10 The Lord has trevealed our righteousness.

Come and let us udeclare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

11 vMake 2the arrows bright!

Gather the shields!

wThe Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.

xFor His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,

Because it is ythe vengeance of the Lord,

The vengeance for His temple.

12 zSet up the standard on the walls of Babylon;

Make the guard strong,

Set up the watchmen,

Prepare the ambushes.

For the Lord has both devised and done

What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

13 aO you who dwell by many waters,

Abundant in treasures,

Your end has come,

The measure of your covetousness.

14 bThe Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:

“Surely I will fill you with men, cas with locusts,

And they shall lift dup a shout against you.”

15 eHe has made the earth by His power;

He has established the world by His wisdom,

And fstretched out the heaven by His understanding.

16 When He utters His voice—

There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:

g“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;

He makes lightnings for the rain;

He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

17 hEveryone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;

Every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image;

iFor his molded image is falsehood,

And there is no breath in them.

18 They are futile, a work of errors;

In the time of their punishment they shall perish.

19 The Portion of Jacob is not like them,

For He is the Maker of all things;

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance.

The Lord of hosts is His name.

20 “You jare My battle-ax and weapons of war:

For with you I will break the nation in pieces;

With you I will destroy kingdoms;

21 With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider;

With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;

22 With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;

With you I will break in pieces kold and young;

With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;

23 With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;

With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;

And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.

24 “And lI will repay Babylon

And all the inhabitants of Chaldea

For all the evil they have done

In Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.

25 “Behold, I am against you, mO destroying mountain,

Who destroys all the earth,” says the Lord.

“And I will stretch out My hand against you,

Roll you down from the rocks,

nAnd make you a burnt mountain.

26 They shall not take from you a stone for a corner

Nor a stone for a foundation,

oBut you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.

27 pSet up a banner in the land,

Blow the trumpet among the nations!

qPrepare the nations against her,

Call rthe kingdoms together against her:

Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.

Appoint a general against her;

Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.

28 Prepare against her the nations,

With the kings of the Medes,

Its governors and all its rulers,

All the land of his dominion.

29 And the land will tremble and sorrow;

For every spurpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,

tTo make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.

30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,

They have remained in their strongholds;

Their might has failed,

uThey became like women;

They have burned her dwelling places,

vThe bars of her gate are broken.

31 wOne runner will run to meet another,

And one messenger to meet another,

To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;

32 xThe passages are blocked,

The reeds they have burned with fire,

And the men of war are terrified.

33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“The daughter of Babylon is ylike a threshing floor

When zit is time to thresh her;

Yet a little while

aAnd the time of her harvest will come.”

34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon

Has bdevoured me, he has crushed me;

He has made me an cempty vessel,

He has swallowed me up like a monster;

He has filled his stomach with my delicacies,

He has spit me out.

35 Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,”

The inhabitant of Zion will say;

“And my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!”

Jerusalem will say.

36 Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, dI will plead your case and take vengeance for you.

eI will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

37 fBabylon shall become a heap,

A dwelling place for jackals,

gAn astonishment and a hissing,

Without an inhabitant.

38 They shall roar together like lions,

They shall growl like lions’ whelps.

39 In their excitement I will prepare their feasts;

hI will make them drunk,

That they may rejoice,

And sleep a perpetual sleep

And not awake,” says the Lord.

40 “I will bring them down

Like lambs to the slaughter,

Like rams with male goats.

41 “Oh, how iSheshach 3is taken!

Oh, how jthe praise of the whole earth is seized!

How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!

42 kThe sea has come up over Babylon;

She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

43 lHer cities are a desolation,

A dry land and a wilderness,

A land where mno one dwells,

Through which no son of man passes.

44 I will punish nBel 4in Babylon,

And I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed;

And the nations shall not stream to him anymore.

Yes, othe wall of Babylon shall fall.

45 “My ppeople, go out of the midst of her!

And let everyone deliver 5himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 And lest your heart faint,

And you fear qfor the rumor that will be heard in the land

(A rumor will come one year,

And after that, in another year

A rumor will come,

And violence in the land,

Ruler against ruler),

47 Therefore behold, the days are coming

That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon;

Her whole land shall be ashamed,

And all her slain shall fall in her midst.

48 Then rthe heavens and the earth and all that is in them

Shall sing joyously over Babylon;

sFor the plunderers shall come to her from the north,” says the Lord.

49 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,

So at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.

50 tYou who have escaped the sword,

Get away! Do not stand still!

uRemember the Lord afar off,

And let Jerusalem come to your mind.

51 vWe are ashamed because we have heard reproach.

Shame has covered our faces,

For strangers whave come into the 6sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will bring judgment on her carved images,

And throughout all her land the wounded shall groan.

53 xThough Babylon were to 7mount up to heaven,

And though she were to fortify the height of her strength,

Yet from Me plunderers would come to her,” says the Lord.

54 yThe sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

And great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,

55 Because the Lord is plundering Babylon

And silencing her loud voice,

Though her waves roar like great waters,

And the noise of their voice is uttered,

56 Because the plunderer comes against her, against Babylon,

And her mighty men are taken.

Every one of their bows is broken;

zFor the Lord is the God of recompense,

He will surely repay.

57 “And I will make drunk

Her princes and awise men,

Her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men.

And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep

And not awake,” says bthe King,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly cbroken, 8

And her high gates shall be burned with fire;

dThe people will labor in vain,

And the nations, because of the fire;

And they shall be weary.”

Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah

59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of eNeriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 So Jeremiah fwrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all these words, 62 then you shall say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that gnone shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, hthat you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. 64 Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be weary.’ ”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed

52 Zedekiah was atwenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of bLibnah. 2 He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah crebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 Now it came to pass in the dninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the 1plain.

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. 9 eSo they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. 10 fThen the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11 He also gput out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in 2bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.