d[See ver. 1 above]
g[See ver. 1 above]
h[See ver. 1 above]
bx[See ver. 11 above]
cu[See ver. 27 above]
cv[See ver. 27 above]
fb[See ver. 47 above]
fy[See ver. 63 above]

Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur

1Now aPashhur the priest, the son of bImmer, who was cchief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2Then dPashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him ein the stocks that were in the upper fBenjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. 3The next day, when gPashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name hPashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you ia terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. 5Moreover, jI will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its kprized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. 6And you, lPashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, mto whom you have prophesied falsely.”

7 O Lord, nyou have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
oyou are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
pI have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, qViolence and destruction!”
For rthe word of the Lord has become for me
sa reproach and tderision all day long.
9If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
uthere is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and vI am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 wFor I hear many whispering.
xTerror is on every side!
Denounce him! yLet us denounce him!”
say all my zclose friends,
aawatching for abmy fall.
Perhaps he will be deceived;
then acwe can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”
11But adthe Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
aethey will not overcome me.
afThey will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their ageternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
12O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,
ahwho sees the heart and the mind,
Hebrew kidneys

let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
13 ajSing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
14 akCursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
15Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
almaking him very glad.
16Let that man be like amthe cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
anlet him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,
17 aobecause he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb forever great.
18 apWhy did I come out from the womb
aqto see toil and sorrow,
and spend my days in shame?

Jeremiah 51

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

1 Thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will stir up arthe spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon,
against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,
A code name for Chaldea

2and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
and atthey shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
when they come against her from every side
auon the day of trouble.
3 avLet not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not stand up in his armor.
Spare not her young men;
awdevote to destruction
That is, set apart ( devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
all her army.
4They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
ayand wounded in her streets.
5 azFor Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeans
Hebrew their land
is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 bbFlee from the midst of Babylon;
let every one save his life!
bcBe not cut off in her punishment,
bdfor this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance,
the repayment he is rendering her.
7Babylon was bea golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
bfmaking all the earth drunken;
bgthe nations drank of her wine;
therefore the nations went mad.
8 bhSuddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
biwail for her!
bjTake balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
bkForsake her, and bllet us go
each to his own country,
for bmher judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10 bnThe Lord has brought about our vindication;
bocome, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
11 bpSharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!
bqThe Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of brthe Medes, because bshis purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, btfor that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for buhis temple.

12 bv“Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
bwmake the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
prepare the ambushes;
bxfor the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 byO you who dwell by many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.
14 bzThe Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, caas many as locusts,
cband they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
15 cc“It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
16When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
18They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
20 “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I cdbreak nations in pieces;
with you I destroy kingdoms;
21with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22with you I break in pieces man and woman;
with you I break in pieces cethe old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces cfthe young man and the young woman;
23with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
with you I break in pieces cggovernors and commanders.
24 ch“I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord.

25 Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

declares the Lord,
which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
and roll you down from the crags,
ciand make you a burnt mountain.
26No cjstone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be cka perpetual waste,
declares the Lord.
27 cl“Set up a standard on the earth;
cmblow the trumpet among the nations;
cnprepare cothe nations for war against her;
summon against her cpthe kingdoms,
cqArarat, Minni, and crAshkenaz;
appoint a csmarshal against her;
ctbring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 cuPrepare cvthe nations for war against her,
the kings of cwthe Medes, cxwith their governors cyand deputies,
and every czland under their dominion.
29 daThe land trembles and writhes in pain,
dbfor the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
30The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
dcthey have become women;
ddher dwellings are on fire;
deher bars are broken.
31One dfrunner runs to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
that his city is taken on every side;
32the fords have been dgseized,
the marshes are burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.
33For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
dhThe daughter of Babylon is like dia threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and djthe time of her harvest will come.”
34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon dkhas devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
dlhe has swallowed me like dma monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me out.
Or  he has expelled me

35The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
let Jerusalem say.
36Therefore thus says the Lord:
Behold, doI will plead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
dpI will dry up her sea
and dqmake her fountain dry,
37and Babylon shall become dra heap of ruins,
dsthe haunt of jackals,
dta horror duand a hissing,
without inhabitant.
38 dv“They shall roar together dwlike lions;
they shall growl like lionscubs.
39 dxWhile they are inflamed dyI will prepare them a feast
and dzmake them drunk, that they may become merry,
eathen sleep a perpetual sleep
and not wake, declares the Lord.
40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and male goats.
41 How ebBabylon
Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon
is taken,
edthe praise of the whole earth eeseized!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
42 efThe sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43Her cities have become a horror,
ega land of drought and a desert,
eha land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
44And I will punish eiBel in Babylon,
and ejtake out of his mouth ekwhat he has swallowed.
elThe nations shall no longer flow to him;
emthe wall of Babylon has fallen.
45 Go out of the midst of her, enmy people!
Let every one save his life
from eothe fierce anger of the Lord!
46Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
epat the report heard in the land,
eqwhen a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
erand ruler is against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when esI will punish the images of Babylon;
ether whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 euThen the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
evfor the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,

declares the Lord.
49Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
ewjust as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50 ex“You who have escaped from the sword,
go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51 ey‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
ezdishonor has covered our face,
fafor foreigners have come
into the holy places of the Lord’s house.’
52 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when fbI will execute judgment upon her images,
fcand through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
53Though Babylon should fdmount up to heaven,
and though she should fefortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
declares the Lord.
54 ff“A voice! A cry from Babylon!
The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her mighty voice.
fgTheir waves roar like many waters;
the noise of their voice is raised,
56for a destroyer has come upon her,
upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken in pieces,
fhfor the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will surely repay.
57 fiI will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
fjher governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
declares fkthe King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad flwall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
fmand her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
fnThe peoples labor for nothing,
and fothe nations weary themselves only for fire.”
59The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah fpthe son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, fqin the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 frJeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, fsall these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so ftthat nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be fudesolate forever.’ 63When you finish reading this book, fv, fwtie a stone to it fxand cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64and say, fyThus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, fzand they shall become exhausted.’”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

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