Day 292 of 365

¹The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

²"Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and do not conceal: say, 'Babylon is taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed; her images are disappointed, her idols are dismayed.

³For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and animal.

⁴In those days, and in that time,' says the Lord, 'the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek the Lord their God.

⁵They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, "Come, and join yourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten."

⁶My people have 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 resting place.

⁷All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, "We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of righteousness, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers."

⁸Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats before the flocks.

⁹For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.

¹⁰Chaldea shall be a prey: all who prey on her shall be satisfied,' says the Lord.'

¹¹Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;

¹²your mother shall be utterly disappointed; she who bore you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴"Set yourselves 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.

¹⁵Shout against her all around: she has submitted herself; her towers are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn everyone to his people, and they shall flee everyone to his own land."'

¹⁷'Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.

¹⁸Therefore 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 Assyria.

¹⁹I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

²⁰In those days, and in that time, says 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 leave as a remnant."'"

²¹"Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: kill and utterly destroy after them," says the Lord, "and do according to all that I have commanded you.

²²A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

²³How is the hammer of the whole earth cut apart and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

²⁴I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren't aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against the Lord.

²⁵The Lord has opened his armory, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, the Lord of hosts, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come against her from the utmost border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.

²⁷Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation."

²⁸The voice of those who 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 those who bend the bow; encamp against her all around; let none of it escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day," says the Lord.

³¹"Behold, I am against you, you proud one," says the Lord, the Lord of hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.

³²The proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are around him."

³³Thus says the Lord of hosts: "The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵A sword is on the Chaldeans," says the Lord, "and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on her princes, and on her wise men.

³⁶A sword is on the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.

³⁷A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures, and they shall be robbed.

³⁸A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they glory over idols.

³⁹Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be lived in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it," says the Lord, "so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein."

⁴¹"Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

⁴²They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.

⁴³The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labor.

⁴⁴Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? And who will appoint me a time? And who is the shepherd who can stand before me?"

⁴⁵Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: "Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.

⁴⁶At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations."

¹Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

²I will send to Babylon foreigners who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.

³Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

⁴They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

⁵"For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of the Lord of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

⁶Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; do not be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of the Lord's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.

⁷Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

⁸Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

⁹'We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.'

¹⁰'The Lord has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.'

¹¹Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.

¹²Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for the Lord has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.

¹⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, "Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you."

¹⁵He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.

¹⁶When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

¹⁷Every man has become brutish without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and is the tribe of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.

²⁰"You are my battle axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

²¹and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

²²and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein; and with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

²³and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

²⁴I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight," says the Lord.

²⁵"Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain," says the Lord, "which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.

²⁶They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever," says the Lord.

²⁷Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm.

²⁸Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.

²⁹The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.

³¹One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

³²and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.

³³For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.

³⁴'Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out.

³⁵The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,' shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, 'My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,' shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

³⁷Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.

³⁸They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' cubs.

³⁹When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake," says the Lord.

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

⁴¹How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

⁴²The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.

⁴³Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall."

⁴⁵"My people, go away from the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of the Lord.

⁴⁶Do not let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷Therefore behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north," says the Lord.

⁴⁹As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

⁵⁰You who have escaped the sword, go, do not stand still; remember the Lord from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

⁵¹"We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house."

⁵²"Therefore behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come to her," says the Lord.

⁵⁴"The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!"

⁵⁵For the Lord lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:

⁵⁶for the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for the Lord is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.

⁵⁷"I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up," says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus says the Lord of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary."

⁵⁹The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.

⁶⁰Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

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

⁶²and say, 'Lord, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor animal, but that it shall be desolate forever.'

⁶³It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:

⁶⁴and you shall say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary.'" Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; 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, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

³For through the anger of the Lord it happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

⁵So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

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

⁷Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city all around;) and they went toward the Arabah.

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

⁹Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment on him.

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

¹¹He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹²Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:

¹³and he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.

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

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.

¹⁷The Chaldeans broke the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

¹⁸They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered.

¹⁹The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver.

²⁰They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of the Lord. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.

²¹As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow.

²²A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.

²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:

²⁵and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.

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

²⁷The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

²⁸This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews;

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons;

³⁰in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

³¹It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;

³²and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

³³and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:

³⁴and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

¹I cry with my voice to the Lord. With my voice, I ask the Lord for mercy.

²I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles.

³When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my path. In the way in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.

⁴Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

⁵I cried to you, Lord. I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

⁶Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than me.

⁷Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.

¹A wise son listens to his father's instruction, but a scoffer doesn't listen to rebuke.

²By the fruit of his lips, a man enjoys good things; but the unfaithful crave violence.

³He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.

⁵A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰Pride only breeds quarrels, but with ones who take advice is wisdom.

¹¹Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding wins favor; but the way of the unfaithful is hard.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.

¹⁹Longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.

²³An abundance of food is in poor people's fields, but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous one eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.