The word
that the Lord spake against Babylon and against
the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the
prophet.
02 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and
set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say,
Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is
broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her
images are broken in pieces.
03 For out of the north there cometh up a nation
against her, which shall make her land desolate,
and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove,
they shall depart, both man and beast.
04 In those days, and in that time, saith the
Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and
the children of Judah together, going and
weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their
God.
05 They shall ask the way to Zion with their
faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join
ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant
that shall not be forgotten.
06 My people hath been lost sheep: their
shepherds have caused them to go astray, they
have turned them away on the mountains: they have
gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten
their restingplace.
07 All that found them have devoured them: and
their adversaries said, We offend not, because
they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation
of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their
fathers.
08 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go
forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as
the he goats before the flocks.
09 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up
against Babylon an assembly of great nations from
the north country: and they shall set themselves
in array against her; from thence she shall be
taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty
expert man; none shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil
her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O
ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are
grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as
bulls;
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that
bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost
of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land,
and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not
be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate:
every one that goeth by Babylon shall be
astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round
about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her,
spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the
Lord.
15 Shout against her round about: she hath given
her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls
are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the
Lord: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done,
do unto her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that
handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for
fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn
every one to his people, and they shall flee
every one to his own land.
17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have
driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath
devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon hath broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of
Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king
of Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his
habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and
Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon
mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, and in that time, saith the
Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found: for I will pardon
them whom I reserve.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even
against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod:
waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the
Lord, and do according to all that I have
commanded thee.
22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great
destruction.
23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut
asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a
desolation among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art
also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware:
thou art found, and also caught, because thou
hast striven against the Lord.
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25 The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath
brought forth the 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 utmost border, open
her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and
destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the
slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come,
the time of their visitation.
28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of
the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the
vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of
his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all
ye that bend the bow, camp against it round
about; let none thereof escape: recompense her
according to her work; according to all that she
hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud
against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the
streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off
in that day, saith the Lord.
31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud,
saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come,
the time that I will visit thee.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and
none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire
in his cities, and it shall devour all round
about him.
33 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The children of
Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed
together: and all that took them captives held
them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is
his name: he shall throughly plead their cause,
that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet
the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord,
and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her
princes, and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall
dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they
shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their
chariots, and upon all the mingled people that
are in the midst of her; and they shall become as
women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they
shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall
be dried up: for it is the land of graven images,
and they are mad upon their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with
the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there,
and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be
no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be
dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the
neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so
shall no man abide there, neither shall any son
of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north,
and a great nation, and many kings shall be
raised up from the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they
are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice
shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon
horses, every one put in array, like a man to the
battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of
them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took
hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the
swelling of Jordan unto the habitation 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? and who
will appoint me the time? and who is that
shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord,
that he hath taken against Babylon; and his
purposes, that he hath purposed against the land
of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock
shall draw them out: surely he shall make their
habitation desolate with them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the
earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the
nations.
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