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Babylon Judged for Sins against Israel

This is what the LORD says:“Behold, I am going to stir up1The aspirit of a destroyer against BabylonAnd against the inhabitants of 2Leb-kamai.

2 “I will send 1foreigners to Babylon so that they may awinnow herAnd devastate her land;For they will be opposed to her on every sideOn the day of her disaster.3 “Let not 1him who 2abends his bow 3bend it,Nor let him rise up in his bcoat of armor.Do not spare her young men;Devote all her army to destruction.4 “They will fall down 1dead in the land of the Chaldeans,And apierced through in their streets.”
5 For aneither Israel nor Judah has been 1forsakenBy his God, the LORD of armies,Although their land is bfull of guilt2Before the Holy One of Israel.6 aFlee from the midst of Babylon,And each of you save his life!Do not bperish in her 1punishment,For this is the cLORD’S time of vengeance;He is going to drepay to her what she deserves.7 Babylon has been a golden acup in the hand of the LORD,Intoxicating all the earth.The bnations have drunk of her wine;Therefore the nations are cgoing insane.8 Suddenly aBabylon has fallen and been broken;bWail over her!cBring 1balm for her pain;Perhaps she may be healed.9 We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;Abandon her and alet’s each go to his own country,For her judgment has breached to heavenAnd it rises to the clouds.10 The LORD has abrought 1about our vindication;Come and let’s brecount in ZionThe work of the LORD our God!
11 aSharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,Because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it;For it is the bvengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple.12 aLift up a signal flag against the walls of Babylon;Post a strong guard,Station 1sentries,Set up an ambush!For the LORD has both bplanned and performedWhat He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.13 You who alive by many waters,Abundant in btreasures,Your end has come,The 1measure of your 2cend.14 The aLORD of armies has sworn by Himself:“I will certainly fill you with a 1population like blocusts,And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you.”
15 It is aHe who made the earth by His power,Who established the world by His wisdom,And by His understanding He bstretched out the heavens.16 When He utters His avoice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,And He makes the bclouds ascend from the end of the earth.He makes lightning for the rainAnd brings out cwind from His storehouses.17 aEvery person is stupid, devoid of knowledge;Every goldsmith is put to shame by his 1idols,For his cast metal images are bdeceitful,And there is no breath in them.18 They are aworthless, a work of mockery;At the time of their punishment they will perish.19 The aportion of Jacob is not like these;For He is the 1Maker of everything,And of the 2tribe of His inheritance;The bLORD of armies is His name.20 He says, “You are My 1awar-club, My weapon of war;And with you I bshatter nations,And with you I destroy kingdoms.21 “With you I ashatter the horse and his rider,And with you I shatter the bchariot and its rider,22 And with you I shatter aman and woman,And with you I shatter the old man and byouth,And with you I shatter the young man and virgin,23 And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,And with you I shatter the farmer and his team,And with you I shatter governors and officials.

24 “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of aChaldea for ball their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the LORD.

25 “Behold, aI am against you, mountain of bdestructionThat destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD,“And I will stretch out My hand against you,And roll you down from the rocky cliffs,And I will make you a cburnt out mountain.26 “They will not take from you even a stone for a cornerNor a stone for foundations,But you will be adesolate forever,” declares the LORD.
27 aLift up a signal flag in the land,Blow a trumpet among the nations!Consecrate the nations against her,Summon against her the bkingdoms of cArarat, Minni, and dAshkenaz;Appoint an officer against her,Bring up the ehorses like bristly locusts.28 Consecrate the nations against her,The kings of the Medes,1Their governors and all 2their officials,And every land 3under their control.29 So the aland quakes and writhes,For the plans of the LORD against Babylon stand,To make the land of Babylon1A bdesolation without inhabitants.30 The awarriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,They stay in the strongholds;bTheir strength is 1exhausted,They are becoming clike women;Their homes are set on fire,The dbars of her gates are broken.31 One 1acourier runs to meet 2another,And one 3bmessenger to meet 4another,To tell the king of BabylonThat his city has been captured from end to end;32 The river crossing places have been seized,And they have burned the marshes with fire,And the men of war are terrified.
33 For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says:“The daughter of Babylon is like a athreshing floorAt the time that 1it is tread down;In just a little while the time of bharvest will come for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has adevoured me, he has crushed me,He has set me down like an bempty vessel;He has cswallowed me like a monster,He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;He has washed me away.35 “May the aviolence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”The 1inhabitant of Zion will say;And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”Jerusalem will say.

36 Therefore this is what the LORD says:“Behold, I am going to aplead your caseAnd btake vengeance for you;And cI will dry up her 1seaAnd make her fountain dry.

37 “aBabylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,An bobject of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.38 “They will roar together like ayoung lions,They will growl like lions’ cubs.39 “When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquetAnd amake them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph,And may bsleep a perpetual sleepAnd not wake up,” declares the LORD.40 “I will bring them down like 1lambs ato the slaughter,Like rams together with male goats.
41 “How 1aSheshak has been captured,And bthe praise of the whole earth has been seized!How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!42 “The 1asea has come up over Babylon;She has been engulfed by its roaring waves.43 “Her cities have become an aobject of horror,A dry land and a desert,A land in which bno one livesAnd through which no 1one of mankind passes.44 “aI will punish Bel in Babylon,And I will make what he has swallowed bcome out of his mouth;And the nations will no longer cstream toward him.Even the dwall of Babylon has fallen down!
45 “aCome out from her midst, My people,And each of you bsave yourselvesFrom the fierce anger of the LORD.46 “Now, aso that your heart does not grow faint,And you are not afraid at the breport that will be heard in the land—For the report will come in 1one year,And after that 2another report in 3another year,And violence will be in the landWith cruler against ruler—47 Therefore behold, days are comingWhen I will punish the aidols of Babylon;And her whole land will be bput to shame.And all her slain will fall in her midst.48 “Then aheaven and earth and everything that is in themWill shout for joy over Babylon,Because bthe destroyers will come to her from the north,”Declares the LORD.
49 aIndeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,As bthe slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon.50 You awho have escaped the sword,Go! Do not stay!bRemember the LORD from far away,And let Jerusalem 1come to your mind.51 aWe are ashamed because we have heard rebuke;Disgrace has covered our faces,Because bstrangers have enteredThe holy places of the LORD’S house.
52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,“When I will punish her aidols,And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.53 “Though Babylon aascends to the heavens,And though she fortifies 1her lofty stronghold,Destroyers will come from bMe to her,” declares the LORD.
54 The asound of an outcry from Babylon,And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!55 For the LORD is going to destroy Babylon,And He will make her loud 1noise vanish from her.And their awaves will roar like many waters;The clamor of their voices 2sounds forth.56 For the adestroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,And her warriors will be captured,Their bbows shattered;For the LORD is a God of cretribution,He will fully repay.57 “I will amake her leaders and her wise men drunk,Her governors, her officials, and her warriors,So that they will sleep a bperpetual sleep and not wake up,”cDeclares the King, whose name is the LORD of armies.

58 This is what the LORD of armies says:“The broad awall of Babylon will be completely demolished,And her high bgates will be set on fire;So the peoples will clabor for nothing,And the nations become dexhausted only for fire.”

59 The 1command that Jeremiah the prophet 2gave Seraiah the son of aNeriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with bZedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (And Seraiah was quartermaster.) 60 Jeremiah awrote 1on a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. 61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, 62 and say, ‘You, LORD, have 1promised concerning this place to acut it off, so that there will be bnothing living in it, 2whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.’ 63 And as soon as you finish reading this 1scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and athrow it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and anot rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become bexhausted.’” cTo this point are the words of Jeremiah.