Jeremiah 28

1Thus says the Lord; Behold, I stir up against Babylon, and against the Chaldeans dwellingtherein, a deadly burning wind. 2And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall spoil her, and shall ravageher land. Woe to Babylon round abouther in the day of her affliction. 3Let the archer bend his bow, and him that has armor put it on: and spare you⌃ not heryoung men, but destroy you⌃ all her host. 4And slain men shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, andmen pierced through shall fall without it. 5For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken of their God, of the Lord Almighty; whereastheir land was filled with iniquity against the holy things of Israel. 6Flee you⌃ out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every one his soul: and be not overthrownin her iniquity; for it is the time of her retribution from the Lord; he is rendering to her a recompence. 7Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, causing all the earth to be drunken:the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore they were shaken. 8And Babylon is fallen suddenly, and is broken to pieces: lament for her; take balm forher deadly wound, if by any means she may be healed. 9We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed: let us forsake her, and depart everyone to his own country: for her judgment has reached to the heaven, it has mounted up to the stars. 10The Lord has brought forth his judgment: come, and let us declare in Sion the works ofthe Lord our God. 11Prepare the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kingof the Medes: for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy it utterly; for it is the Lord's vengeance,it is the vengeance of his people. 12Lift up a standard on the walls of Babylon, prepare the quivers, rouse the guards, preparethe weapons: for the Lord has takenthe work in hand, and will execute what he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon, 13dwelling on many waters, and amidst the abundance of her treasures; your end is comeverily into your bowels. 14For the Lord has sworn by his arm,saying,I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they that come down shall cry against you. 15The Lord made the earth by his power, preparing the world by his wisdom, by his understandinghe stretched out the heaven. 16Athis voice he makes a sound of water in the heaven, and brings up clouds from the extremityof the earth; he makes lightnings for rain, and brings light out of his treasures. 17Every man has completely lost understanding; every goldsmith is confounded because ofhis gravenimages: for they have cast falsegods, there is no breath in them. They are vain works, objects of scorn; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. Not such is Jacob's portion; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; theLord is his name. You scatter for me the weapons of war: and I will scatter nations by you, and will destroykings by means of you. And by you I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by you I will scatter chariotsand them that ride in them. And by you I will scatter youth and maid; and by you I will scatter man and woman. And by you I will scatter the shepherd and his flock; and by you I will scatter the husbandmanand his husbandry; and by you I will scatter leaders and the captains. And I will recompense to Babylon and to all the Chaldeans that dwellthere all their mischiefs that they have done to Sion before your eyes, says the Lord. Behold, I am against you, the ruined mountain, that destroys the whole earth; and I willstretch out mine hand upon you, and will roll you down upon the rocks, and will make you as a burnt mountain. And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation:for you shall be a desolation for ever, says the Lord. Lift up a standard in the land, sound the trumpet among the nations, consecrate the nationsagainst her, raise up kings against her by me, andthat for the people of Achanaz; set against her engines of war; bring up against her horsesas a multitude of locusts. Bring up nations against her,even the king of the Medes and of the whole earth, his rulers, and all his captains. The earth has quaked and been troubled, because the purpose of the Lord has risen upagainst Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, and uninhabitable. The warrior of Babylon has failed to fight; they shall sit there in the siege; theirpower is broken; they are become like women; her tabernacles have been set on fire; her bars are broken. One shall rush, running to meetanother runner, and oneshall go with tidings to meetanother with tidings, to bring tidings to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken. At the end of his passages they were taken, and his cisterns they have burnt with fire,and his warriors are going forth. For thus says the Lord, The houses of the king of Babylon shall be threshed as a floorin the season; yet a little while, and her harvest shall come. He has devoured me, he has torn me asunder, airy darkness has come upon me; Nabuchodonosorking of Babylon has swallowed me up, as a dragon has he filled his belly with my delicacies. My troubles and my distresses have driven me out into Babylon, shall she that dwellsin Sion say; and my bloodshall be upon the Chaldeans dwellingthere, shall Jerusalem say. Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will judge your adversary, and I will executevengeance for you; and I will waste her sea, and dry up her fountain. And Babylon shall be a desolation, and shall not be inhabited. For they rose up together as lions, and as lions' whelps. In their heat I will give them a draught, and make them drunk, that they may be stupified,and sleep an everlasting sleep, and not awake, says the Lord. And bring you them down as lambs to the slaughter, and rams with kids. How has the boast of all the earth been taken and caught in a snare! how has Babylonbecome a desolation among the nations! The sea has come up upon Babylon with the sound of its waves, and she is covered. Her cities are become like a dry and trackless land; not so much as oneman shall dwell in it, neither shall a son of man lodge in it. And I will take vengeance on Babylon, and bring forth out of her mouth what she has swalloweddown, and the nations shall no more be gathered to her: and in Babylon the slain men of all the earth shall fall. Go forth of the land, you⌃ that escape, and stay not; you⌃ that are afar off, rememberthe Lord, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. We are ashamed, because we have heard our reproach; disgrace has covered our face; aliensare come into our sanctuary,even into the house of the Lord. Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will take vengeance upon hergravenimages: and slain men shall fall in all her land. For though Babylon should go up as the heaven, and though she should strengthen her wallswith her power, from me shall come they that shall destroy her, says the Lord. A sound of a cry in Babylon, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans: for the Lord has utterly destroyed Babylon, and cut off from her the great voice soundingas many waters: he has consigned her voice to destruction. For distress has come upon Babylon, her warriors are taken, their bows are useless: forGod recompenses them. The Lord recompenses, and will make her leaders and her wise men and her captains completelydrunk, says the King, the Lord Almighty is his name. Thus says the Lord, The wall of Babylon was made broad, but it shall be completely brokendown, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire; and the peoples shall not labor in vain, nor the nationsfail intheir rule. THE WORD WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED THE PROPHET JEREMIAS to say to Saraeas son of Nerias,son of Maasaeas, when he went from Sedekias king of Juda to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign.And Saraeas was over the bounties. And Jeremias wrote in a book all the evils which should come upon Babylon,even all these words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremias said to Saraeas, When you are come to Babylon, and shall see and read allthese words; then you shall say, O Lord God, you have spoken against this place, to destroy it, andthat there should be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast; for it shall be a desolation for ever. And it shall come to pass, when you shall cease from reading this book, that you shallbind a stone upon it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; and shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise, because of the evils which I bringupon it.

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