Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 21: Jeremiah and Lamentations, Part V, tr. by John King, [1847-50], at sacred-texts.com
1 Concerning Moab: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, — Woe upon Nebo! for it is laid waste, Ashamed, taken is Kiriathaim; Ashamed is Misgab and dismayed.
2 No more shall be the boasting of Moab over Heshbon; They have consulted an evil against her, — “Come and let us cut her off from being a nation.” Also Madmen, thou shalt be cut off, After thee shall go the sword.
3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim! A waste and great destruction!
4 Distressed is Moab; A cry have her little ones made to be heard.
5 For in the ascent to Luhith, With weeping shall ascend weeping; For in the descent to Horonaim, The enemies a cry of distress shall hear:
6 Flee ye, save your lives; And ye shall be as the juniper in the desert,
7 Therefore, because thy confidence Was in thy works and in thy treasures, Even thou shalt be taken: And go forth shall Chemosh into captivity, His priests and his princes together.
8 And come shall a waster to every city, Nor shall a city escape; Perish also shall the valley, And destroyed shall be the plain, As Jehovah hath spoken.
9 Give wings to Moab, For flying she shall fly, And her cities shall be a waste, That there will be none to inhabit them.
10 Cursed is he who doeth the work of Jehovah deceitfully, And cursed is he who restrains his sword from blood.
11 Quiet has been Moab from his childhood, And hath settled on his dregs, And hath not been changed from vessel to vessel, And to captivity he hath not gone: Therefore remained has his flavor in him, And his odor was not changed.
12 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That I will send to him drivers, Who will drive him out; And his vessels will they empty, And his bottles will they scatter:
13 And ashamed will be Moab of Chemosh, As ashamed was the house of Israel of Bethel, The object of their confidence.
14 How say ye, “We are valiant, and men strong for war:”
15 Wasted is Moab, and from his cities they have vanished, And his young men have descended to the slaughter, Saith the King, Jehovah of hosts is his name.
16 Nigh is the destruction of Moab to come, And her calamity greatly hastens. Be ye moved for him all who are around him, And all ye who know his name, say, — “How has the strong staff been broken, the beautiful rod!”
17 Come down from glory, and dwell in thirst, Thou inhabitant, the daughter of Dibon!
18 For the waster of Moab comes up against thee, The destroyer of thy fortresses.
19 On the way stand and look, Thou inhabitant of Aroer. Ask the fugitive, and her who has escaped, “Say, what hath happened?”
20 Ashamed is Moab, for he is broken. Howl ye, and cry out, And proclaim in Arnon that Moab is laid waste.
21 Judgment also shall come on the plain country, On Holon, and on Jahazah, and on Mephaath,
22 And on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth-diblathaim,
23 And on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-gamul, and on Beth-meon,
24 And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, And on all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near
25 Cut, off is the horn of Moab, And his strength is broken, saith Jehovah.
26 Make him drunk, for against Jehovah hath he magnified him- self; And roll himself shall Moab in his own vomit; And he also shall be a derision;
27 For has not Israel been a derision to thee? Has he been found among thieves? For since thou hast spoken of him, thou hast been excited.
28 Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, Ye inhabitants of Moab: And they shall be as a dove, Which makes a nest in the passages, Beyond the mouth of the cleft.
29 Heard have we of the pride of Moab; Very proud is his haughtiness, And his pride, and the loftiness of his heart.
30 I know, saith Jehovah, his insolence, And his lies are not stable they shall not do so
31 Therefore for Moab will I howl, And to all Moab will I cry aloud; I will mutter to the men of the city of potsherd.
32 With the weeping of Jazer Will I weep for thee, vine of Sibmah: Thy shoots have passed over the sea, Even to the sea came Jazer: On thy summer-fruits and on thy vintages Has fallen a waster.
33 And taken away shall be joy and exultation, From the fruitful field, from the land of Moab; And the wine from the presses will I make to cease: He will not tread with shouting, shouting, There will not be shouting.
34 At the cry of Heshbon, to Elealeh, to Jahaz, Will they send forth their voice, From Zoar to Horonaim; An heifer three years old is Moab; Verily even the waters of Nimrim shall be dried up.
35 And I will cause to cease from Moab, saith Jehovah, Him who offers on the high place, And who burns incense to his gods
36 Therefore my heart for Moab Shall make a sound like pipes, And my heart for the men of the city of potsherd Like pipes shall make a sound; For the treasures he had made have perished.
37 For on every head shall be baldness, And to every beard, a shaving, And on all hands, incisions, and on loins, sackcloth.
38 On all the roofs of Moab, And in all her streets, shall be mourning altogether; For I will break Moab like a vessel In which there is no pleasure, saith Jehovah.
39 How Moab is broken! they will howl; How has he turned his back! he is ashamed: Yea, Moab is become a derision, And a terror to all around.
40 For thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, as an eagle will he fly, And extend his wings over Moab:
41 Taken are the cities, the strongholds are seized, And the heart of the men of Moab shall be in that day As the heart of a woman in distress.
42 And broken shall Moab be, so as not to be a people, Because against Jehovah hath he exalted himself.
43 Terror, and the pit, and the snare, shall be on thee, Inhabitant of Moab, saith Jehovah:
44 He who flies from terror shall fall into the pit, And he who ascends from the pit shall be taken in the snare; For I will bring upon her, upon Moab, The year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.
45 Under the shadow of Heshbon shall they stand, Who from violence shall flee: But fire shall go forth from Heshbon, And a flame from the midst of Sihon; And it shall consume the corner of Moab, And the extremities of the sons of tumult.
46 Woe to thee, Moab! Perished have the people of Chemosh! For driven have been thy sons into captivity, And thy daughters into exile.
47 But I will restore the captivity of Moab In the latter days, saith Jehovah. Thus far the judgment of Moab.
1 Concerning the children of Ammon: Thus saith Jehovah, — Hath Israel no children? hath he no heir? Why doth their king inherit Gad, And his people dwell in its cities?
2 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That I will cause to be heard the trumpet of war At Rabbah, of the children of Ammon; And she shall be a heap of desolation, And her daughters shall be burned with fire, And possess his possessors shall Israel, saith Jehovah.
3 Howl thou, Heshbon, for laid waste is Ai; Cry aloud, ye daughters of Rabbah. Gird on sackcloth, lament, Run here and there by the fences; For their king, into captivity is he gone, And his priests and his princes with him.
4 Why gloriest thou in thy deep valleys? Flown down has thy valley, rebellious daughter! Who trusted in her hidden places, Saying, Who can come to me?
5 Behold, I will bring on thee terror, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, from all around thee; And ye shall be driven out, each one before him, And there will be none to gather the dispersed.
6 But I will afterwards restore The captivity of the children of Ammon, saith Jehovah.
7 Concerning Edom: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Is there not wisdom any more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the intelligent? Overflowing has been their wisdom!
8 Flee, ye inhabitants of Dedan, Who have turned and made deep your dwelling; For the ruin of Esau will I bring on him, At the time of his visitation.
9 If vintagers had come to thee, Would they not have left some grapes? If thieves in the night, would they not have destroyed What would suffice them?
10 But I will uncover Esau, I will disclose his hidden things, So that he cannot be concealed: Plundered shall be his seed, And his brethren and his neighbors; And he shall be no more.
11 Leave thy orphans, I will nourish them; And thy widows, let them trust in me.
12 For thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, those to whom it was not their judgment To drink the cup, shall surely drink, And shalt thou be exempted? Thou shalt not be exempted, For drinking thou shalt drink it.
13 For I have by myself sworn, saith Jehovah, That a waste, a reproach, a desert, And a curse, shall Bozrah become; And all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.
14 A hearing have we heard from Jehovah, And a messenger to the nations has been sent, — “Be ye gathered and come against her, And rise ye up to the battle.”
15 For behold, small made I thee among the nations, Contemptible among men:
16 Deceived thee has thy terror, the pride of thine heart; Thou who dwellest in the fissures of rocks, Who occupiest the heights of mountains: Though thou raisest high, as an eagle, thy nest, Thence will I draw thee down, saith Jehovah.
17 And Edom shall become a waste; Every one passing by her shall be astonished, And shall hiss on account of all her strokes.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah And of their neighboring cities, saith Jehovah, Dwell there shall no man, Nor shall a son of man abide there.
19 Behold, as a lion from the swelling of Jordan, Will he ascend to the habitation of strength: After having made him to rest, I will make him flee from her; And who is the chosen one whom I shall set over her? For who is as I am? And who will protest against me? And who is the shepherd that before me will stand?
20 Therefore, hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, Which he hath counseled against Edom, And his thoughts which he hath thought Against the inhabitants of Teman; Surely draw them forth shall the least of the flock, Surely destroyed over them shall be their dwellings.
21 At the sound of their fall, tremble shall the earth, The cry of their voice shall at the Red Sea be heard.
22 Behold, as an eagle will he ascend and fly, And will spread his wings over Bozrah; And the heart of the valiant men of Edom in that day Shall be like the heart of a sorrowful woman.
23 Concerning Damascus: Ashamed is Hamath and Arpad; Because they heard a bad report, they melt away, Like a turbulent sea which cannot rest.
24 Weakened is Damascus, she turns to flight, Terror hath laid hold on her, Anguish and pangs have seized her, As a woman in travail.
25 How is not forsaken the city of praise — The city of my joy?
26 Yet fall shall her young men in her streets, And all the men of war shall be cut off In that day, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
27 For I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.
28 Concerning Kedar, and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had smitten: Thus saith Jehovah, — Arise ye, ascend against Kedar, And destroy the children of the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away, And their curtains and all their vessels; Their camels also shall they take to themselves, And they shall cry to them, “Terror is on every side.”
30 Flee ye, depart far away, (Though deep have they made to dwell The inhabitants of Hazor, saith Jehovah;) For consulted against you hath Nebuchadnezzar, The king of Babylon, a counsel, And he hath purposed against you a purpose.
31 Arise ye, ascend against a secure nation, That dwelleth in confidence, saith Jehovah; It hath neither gates nor bars, it dwelleth alone.
32 And their camels shall became a prey, And the abundance of their cattle a plunder; And I will scatter them to every wind, Even the utmost corners; And from all the sides thereof Will I bring their destruction, saith Jehovah.
33 And Hazor shall be the habitation of dragons, A perpetual desolation; Dwell there shall no man, Nor shall a son of man abide in her.
34 The word which came to Jeremiah, the prophet, against Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, saying:
35 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, The chief part of their strength;
36 And I will bring against Elam four winds From the four quarters of the heavens; And I will scatter them to these four winds, And there shall not be a nation To which some fugitives from Elam shall not come.
37 For I will terrify Elam before their enemies, And before those who seek their life; And I will bring on them the evil Of the indignation of my wrath, saith Jehovah; And I will send after them the sword Until I shall have consumed them;
38 And I will erect my throne in Elam, And destroy thence the king and the princes, saith Jehovah.
39 But it shall be in the latter days That I will restore the captivity of Elam, saith Jehovah.
1 The word which Jehovah spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:
2 Tell ye among the nations, proclaim, Raise up also a banner, proclaim, conceal not; Say ye, “Taken is Babylon, Confounded is Bel, broken is Merodach, Confounded are her images, broken are her idols.”
3 For ascend against her shall a nation from the north, Which will turn her land to a waste, So that there will be no dweller in it, man or beast; They have fled, they have departed.
4 In those days and at that time, saith Jehovah, Come shall the children of Israel And the children of Judah together; Going and weeping they shall come, And Jehovah their God will they seek.
5 To Sion will they ask the way, hither their faces, — “Come ye and let us join ourselves to Jehovah, By a perpetual covenant, not to be forgotten.”
6 A lost sheep have been my people; Their pastors have made them to wander; On the mountains they strayed, From mountain to hill they went, They forgot the place of their lying down.
7 All who found them devoured them, And their adversaries said, “We sin not, Because they have sinned against Jehovah, The habitation of justice, And the hope of their fathers, even Jehovah.”
8 Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, And from Chaldea go forth, And be as he-goats before the flock.
9 For, behold, I will rouse and bring against Babylon, An assembly of great nations from the land of the north, And they shall set in order against her; Thence taken will she be; Their arrows, like those of a skillful valiant man, They shall not return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall be a prey, And all who plunder her shall be satiated, saith Jehovah,
11 Surely ye rejoiced and exulted When ye plundered mine heritage; Ye became fat as a heifer well fed, And neighed like strong horses.
12 Ashamed greatly shall be your mother, Blush shall she who bare you; Behold, the last of nations shall she be, A desert, a waste, a solitude!
13 Because of the indignation of Jehovah She shall not be inhabited, And shall be an entire waste; All who pass by Babylon shall be astonished, And shall hiss for all her strokes.
14 Set in order against Babylon around; All ye who bend the bow, Shoot at her, spare not the arrows, For against Jehovah hath she sinned.
15 Cry ye aloud against her around; She hath given her hand, Fallen have her foundations, Demolished have been her walls, Because it is the vengeance of Jehovah; Vengeance take ye on her; as she has done, do to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, And him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: From the face of the wasting sword Every one shall look to his own people, Every one to his own land shall flee.
17 A scattered flock hath Israel been, Lions have driven him out; The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria, And this last hath broken his bones, Even Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.
18 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel — Behold, I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, As I visited the king of Assyria:
19 And I will restore Israel to his folds, And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, And on mount Ephraim and Gilead; And satisfied shall be his soul.
20 In those days and at that time, saith Jehovah, Sought will be the iniquity of Israel, and there will be none; And the sin of Judah, and it shall not be found: For I will pardon those whom I shall reserve.
21 On the land of the exasperating ascend, And against the inhabitants of visitation, Slay and destroy after them, saith Jehovah; And do all that I have commanded thee.
22 A sound of battle in the land and a great ruin!
23 Now has the hammer of the whole earth Been cut off and broken in pieces! How has Babylon become a waste among the nations!
24 I set a snare for thee, therefore taken wert thou, Babylon, though thou knewest not: Thou wept found, and hence taken, Because against Jehovah thou didst contend.
25 Opened hath Jehovah his treasure, And brought forth the instruments of his wrath; For this is the work of the Lord, the Jehovah of hosts, In the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come ye against her from the extremity, Open her repositories, tread her as heaps, Destroy her wholly, that there may be to her no remnant.
27 Slay all her bullocks, Let them descend to the slaughter Woe to them, for their day is come, The time of their visitation.
28 The voice of these who flee and escape From the land of Babylon! To announce in Sion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, The vengeance of his temple.
29 Summon against Babylon the mighty, All who bend the bow; Besiege her around, that there may be no escape; Render to her according to her work, According to all she has done, do ye to her; For against Jehovah has she acted proudly, Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore fall shall her young men in her streets, And all her men of war shall be destroyed In that day, saith Jehovah.
31 Behold, I am against thee, the proud one, Saith the Lord, the Jehovah of hosts; For come is thy day, the time of thy visitation.
32 And stumble shall the proud and fall, And there will be no one to raise him up; And I will kindle a fire in his cities, And it shall consume all round him.
33 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Oppressed have been the children of Israel And the children of Judah together; And all who led them captives have prevailed against them, They have refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of hosts is his name, Their cause pleading he will plead, So as to destroy the land, And to make to tremble the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword on the Chaldeans, saith Jehovah! And on all the inhabitants of Babylon! And on all her princes and on her wise men!
36 A sword on her diviners! and they shall become foolish; A sword on her valiant men! and they shall be terrified;
37 A sword on her horses! and on her chariots! And on her multitude, in the midst of her! They shall be as women; A sword on her treasures! and they shall be plundered;
38 A drought on her waters! and they shall be dried up: For it is the land of carved images, And in idols they glory.
39 Therefore dwell there shall wild birds with wild beasts, And dwell there shall the daughters of ostriches; And it shall not be inhabited any more for ever; It shall not be an habitation to all generations.
40 As in God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, And of their neighboring cities, saith Jehovah, Dwell there shall no man, For shall a son of man abide there.
41 Behold, a people cometh from the north, Even a great nation and many kings Shall be roused from the sides of the earth.
42 On the bow and the shield shall they lay hold, Cruel shall they be, and will shew no mercy; Their voice like the sea shall roar, And on horses shall they ride, Prepared as a man for battle Against thee, daughter of Babylon.
43 Heard has the king of Babylon a report of them, And feeble became his hands; Anxiety laid hold on him, And anguish, like a woman in travail.
44 Behold, as a lion from the swelling of Jordan Will he ascend to the strong habitation: After having made him to rest, I will make him flee from her; And who is the chosen one whom I shall set over her? For who is as I am? And who will protest against me? And who is the shepherd that before me will stand?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, Which he hath counseled against Babylon; And his thoughts which he has thought Against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely draw them forth shall the least of the flock, Surely destroyed over them shall be their dwellings.
46 At the sound of Babylon being taken, tremble shall the earth, And a cry among the nations shall be heard.
1 Thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, I will raise a destroying wind against Babylon, And against boasters of wisdom, my adversaries;
2 And I will send against Babylon winnowers, And they shall winnow her and empty her land; For they shall be against her around in the day of evil.
3 As to him who bends the bow, And him who raises himself up in his coat of mail, — Spare ye not her young men, Destroy all her army
4 And fall shall they wounded, in her land, And pierced through in her streets.
5 For not widowed is Israel, nor Judah By his God, by Jehovah of hosts: But rather their land is filled with sin On account of the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, And save ye, every one his life, Lest ye perish in her iniquity; For it is the time of Jehovah’s vengeance, A reward will he render to her
7 A golden cup has Babylon been In Jehovah’s hand, inebriating the whole earth; From her wine have the nations drunk, Therefore have the nations become mad.
8 Suddenly has Babylon fallen, and is broken; Howl ye for her, take rosin for her wound, It may be that she can be healed!
9 We have tried to heal Babylon, But she was not healed; Leave her, and let us depart, Every one to his own land; For to the heavens has reached her judgment And has risen up to the clouds.
10 Brought forth has Jehovah our righteousness; Come ye and let us declare in Sion The work of Jehovah our God.
11 Polish the arrows, prepare the shields, Rouse will Jehovah the spirit of the kings of Media; For as to Babylon his thought is to destroy her. For it is Jehovah’s vengeance, the vengeance of his temple.
12 On the wails of Babylon raise the standard, Increase the watch, set the watchmen, Set in order the ambushes: For as Jehovah has thought, so will he do What he hath spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 Thou that dwellest among great waters, Who aboundest in treasures, Come is thine end, the measure of thy cupidity.
14 Sworn hath Jehovah by himself, — Surely I will fill thee with men as with locusts, Who will shout over thee with the vintage-shouting, —
15 (Even) he who made the earth by his power, Who hath constituted the world by his wisdom, And by his knowledge extended the heavens,
16 At whose voice there is abundance of waters in the heavens, Who raises vapors from the extremity of the earth, Who makes the lightnings and the rain, And brings out the wind from his treasures.
17 Infatuated is every man become by his knowledge, Put to shame shall be every founder by the graven image, For a lie is the molten image, And there is no breath in them:
18 Vanity are they, the work of illusions; At the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19 Not like these is the portion of Jacob; For the former of all things is He, And the rod of his inheritance is Israel; Jehovah of hosts is his name.
20 A hammer hast thou been to me, weapons of war; And by thee have I broken nations in pieces, And by thee destroyed kingdoms:
21 Yea, by thee have I broken in pieces The horses and their riders, And by thee have I broken in pieces The chariots and their riders2
22 And by thee have I broken in pieces Men and women, And by thee have I broken in pieces Old men and children, And by thee have I broken in pieces Young men and maidens,
23 And by thee have I broken in pieces The shepherds and their flocks, And by thee have I broken in pieces The husbandmen and their yokes of oxen, And by thee have I broken in pieces The captains and the rulers.
24 But I will render to Babylon And to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, All the evils which they have done in Sion, Before your eyes, saith Jehovah.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, Which destroyest all the earth; And I will extend my hand over thee, And will roll thee down from the rocks, And will make thee a burnt mountain:
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, Nor a stone for foundations; For perpetual wastes shalt thou be, saith Jehovah.
27 Raise a banner in the land, Sound a trumpet among the nations, Prepare the nations against her, Assemble against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Of Minni and of Ashkenaz; Set up against her a leader, Bring forth the horse as the horrible locust;
28 Prepare against her the nations, The kings of Media, her captains and her princes, And all the land of its dominion.
29 And tremble shall the land and be in pain, For confirmed as to Babylon shall be the thoughts of Jehovah: To set the land of Babylon a waste, So as to have no inhabitant.
30 Ceased have the valiant men of Babylon to fight, They sat down in their fortresses; Fail did their valor, they became women, Burnt were her dwellings, broken her bars.
31 A runner to meet a runner ran, And a messenger to meet a messenger, To announce to the king of Babylon That taken was the city at its extremity;
32 And the fords were taken, And the pools were burnt with fire, And the men of war were broken in pieces.
33 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, — The daughter of Babylon shall be like a threshing-floor, (Come will) the time of treading her; Yet a little while and come will her harvest.
34 Devoured me, broken me in pieces, Hath Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon; He hath set me an empty vessel, He hath swallowed me like a dragon, He hath filled his belly with my delicacies, He hath cast me off.
35 My plunder and my flesh be on Babylon, Shall the inhabitant of Sion say; My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea, Shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, I will plead thy cause, And avenge thy vengeance, For I will make dry her sea, And will dry up her fountain:
37 And Babylon shall become heaps An habitation of dragons, A wonder and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They will roar as lions, They will roar as whelps of lions.
39 In their heat will I make their feasts, And make them drunk, that they may exult And sleep a perpetual sleep, And not awake, saith Jehovah.
40 I will bring them as lambs to the slaughter, As rams and he-goats.
41 How has Sheshach been taken! And captured, the praise of the whole land! How has Babylon become a waste among nations!
42 Come up over Babylon has the sea, With the multitude of its waves is she covered.
43 Her cities shall be a waste, And a land of desert, and a land of drought, Pass through it shall no man, And dwell in it shall no son of man.
44 And I will visit Bel in Babylon; And I will draw what he hath swallowed out of his month: And flow to him together shall nations no more: Even the wall of Babylon hath fallen.
45 Go out from the midst of her, my people, And save ye, every one his life, From the indignation of Jehovah’s wrath.
46 And let not faint be your heart, And fear ye not the rumor heard in the land; Come in one year shall a rumor, And afterwards in another year, a rumor; — And violence shall be in the land, And a ruler after a ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, That I will visit the images of Babylon; And her whole land shall be ashamed, And all her slain, they shall fall in the midst of her.
48 And rejoice over Babylon shall heaven and earth, And all the things that are in them; When from the north shall come to her Destroyers, saith Jehovah.
49 As Babylon made to fall the slain of Israel, So for Babylon they shall fall, the slain of all the land.
50 Ye who have escaped from the sword, Depart, stand not still; From afar remember Jehovah, And let Jerusalem come to your minds.
51 We are ashamed, because we have heard reproach; Shame hath covered our faces, because strangers came Into the sanctuaries of the house of Jehovah.
52 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That I will visit her graven images, And in the whole land groan shall the wounded.
53 Though Babylon ascended into heaven, And though in the height she fortified her strength, From me would come to her wasters, saith Jehovah.
54 The voice of a cry from Babylon! And a great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For Jehovah will lay waste Babylon, And will destroy from her the voice of boasting: And sound shall their waves like great waters, Sent forth shall be the sound of their voice.
56 For come to her, to Babylon, is a waster, And taken are her valiant men, Broken is their bow; For the God of retributions is Jehovah, Recompensing he will recompense.
57 And I will inebriate her princes and her wise men, And her captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, And shall not awake, saith the King, Whose name is Jehovah of hosts.
58 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — The wall of Babylon, though wide, Shall yet surely be demolished; And her gates, though high, Shall yet be consumed with fire: Thus labored have the people for nothing, And the nations for the fire, and wearied themselves.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neraiah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went for Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon, in the fourth year of
60 his reign; and Seraiah was a quiet prince: and Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all
61 These words which had been written against Babylon; and Jeremiah said to Seraiah, — “When thou comest to Babylon and hast seen it, then read
62 All these words, and say, — ‘O Jehovah, thou hast spoken against this place, to destroy it, so that there should be no inhabitant in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall become perpetual desolations.’
63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt tie a stone
64 To it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and shalt say, — ‘Thus sink shall Babylon, and shall not rise from the evil which I shall bring on her, though they may weary themselves.’ Thus far the words of Jeremiah.
1 Twenty-one years old was Zedekiah when he began to reign, and eleven years reigned he in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all the things which Jehoiakim had done:
3 And on account of the indignation of Jehovah against Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them away from his presence, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 And it was in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and built against it a fortress on every side.
5 And the city was besieged till the eleventh year of Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the famine prevailed in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land:
7 And the city was broken in upon, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the gate, between two walls, which were near the king’s garden; (and the Chaldeans were near the city around:) and they went out by the way of the desert.
8 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they took Zedekiah in the deserts of Jericho; for all his army were scattered from him.
9 They then took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon in Riblah, to the land of Hamath; who pronounced judgment upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; and all the princes of Judah he also slew in Riblah:
11 But he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with chains; And the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day in which he died.
12 Now, in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, (that year was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,) Nebuzar-adan, the prince of the soldiers, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem,
13 And burnt the house of Jehovah and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burnt with fire:
14 And all the walls of Jerusalem around they destroyed, even the whole army of the Chaldeans, which was with the prince of the soldiers.
15 And some of the poor of the people and the rest of the people who had remained in the city, and the fugitives who had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzar-adan, the prince of the soldiers, led away captive.
16 But some of the poor of the land, Nebuzar-adan, the prince of the soldiers, left to be vinedressers and husbandmen.
17 And the brass pillars which were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brazen sea which was in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried away all their brass to Babylon.
18 The pots also, and the shovels and the snuffers and the basons and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass, with which they ministered, they took away.
19 And the dishes and the pans and the basons and the pots and the candlesticks and the spoons and the bowls, some of which were all of gold and some were all of silver, the prince of the soldiers took away.
20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve oxen of brass, which were under the bases which Solomon had made in the house of Jehovah, there was no weight as to the brass of all these vessels.
21 As to the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow.
22 And the chapiter which was over it was brass, and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, and net-work and pomegranates were on the chapiter around; all these were of brass; and like these were the second pillar and the pomegranates.
23 And there were pomegranates, ninety-six on one side; all the pomegranates on the net-work around were one hundred.
24 The prince of the soldiers took away also Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
25 And from the city he took away one eunuch, who had been set over the men of war: and seven men of those who attended the king, who were found in the city, and a scribe, the chief of the army, who gathered to the army the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.
26 And Nebuzar-adan, the prince of the soldiers, took them away and brought them to the king of Babylon in Riblah:
27 And the king of Babylon smote them and slew them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he removed Judah from his own land.
28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews;
29 In the eighteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two souls;
30 In the three-and-twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzar-adan, the prince of the soldiers, carried away Jews, seven hundred and forty-five souls; — all the souls were four thousand and six hundred.
31 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach, the king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and brought him forth from prison;
32 And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings, who were with him in Babylon;
33 And he changed his prison garments, and ate bread before him always, all the days of his life.
34 And his portion, a perpetual portion was given him by the king of Babylon every day, until the day he died, all the days of his life.