Bible in 90 Days
48 This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, has to say about Moab.
Next is Moab, a familiar enemy of Israel. Despite Jeremiah’s warning they will answer for their trust in themselves, their material wealth, and their god Chemosh.
Eternal One: Woe to the city of Nebo, for she is in ruins.
So, too, will Kiriathaim be put to shame when she is captured.
The proud fortress of Moab will be humbled and shattered into pieces.
2 No one will praise you, Moab—that time has gone.
Instead, in places like Heshbon, men are planning your destruction.
“Come,” they will say, “and let us finish off that nation.”
Indeed, the town of Madmen will be silenced,
for war will surely find you.
3 Do you hear the voice from Horonaim—
the cries rising up from the ruins and desolation?
4 Moab is broken,
and her little ones cry in desperation.
5 The defeated make their way up Luhith, crying bitterly as they go;
as they descend to Horonaim, they hear the anguished cries of destruction.
6 Run for your lives! Save yourselves!
Live in the desert like a juniper bush, alone and forsaken.
7 You depended on your own works and your own wealth,
and now you will be humbled and taken captive.
Your so-called god, Chemosh, will go with you into exile
along with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer is coming to each of your towns; none of them will escape.
The valley will be ruined;
The plateau will be destroyed
because I, the Eternal One, have spoken.
9 Give Moab wings so she can fly away.
Her cities will be a wasteland with no one living in them.
10 A curse on any who do not finish the work I, the Eternal One, have given you! A curse on anyone who holds back his sword and refuses to shed blood.
11 Moab has been at rest since his early days—
like wine that is carefully left to age,
Not poured from jar to jar,
not going from nation to nation in exile.
And so his flavor has remained; his aroma has not faded.
12 But all of that will change. Look, in the coming days, I, the Eternal One, declare that I will send those who will upend him, stirring him up and pouring him out until his jars have nothing left. They will empty his jars and smash the empty jugs.
13 Then Moab will be ashamed of his powerless god, Chemosh, just as the people of Israel were ashamed of Bethel when they trusted in their false gods.
14 Eternal One: How can you still boast,
“We are mighty warriors, brave in battle?”
15 Because Moab is destroyed;
invaders have laid waste his towns.
His best young men have gone down to slaughter.
So say I, the King whose name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
16 The fall of Moab is at hand;
his disaster is coming quickly.
17 Grieve for him, you neighbors of Moab,
all who know his name.
Say, “Look how his mighty scepter is broken,
how the splendor of his staff is gone!”
18 You people of Dibon, come down from your glory on the hills
and sit on the dry, dusty ground and wait,
For the same one who destroyed Moab
is coming against you and will tear down your strongholds as well.
19 Stand by the road and watch closely,
you people of Aroer.
Call out to the refugees running from Moab.
Ask them what happened!
20 And they will answer: “Moab has been humiliated and crushed.
Weep for him, and cry out.
Go down to the Arnon River and
proclaim that Moab has been destroyed.”
21 Judgment has come to the cities of the plain: to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath; 22 to Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; 23 to Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; 24 to Kerioth and Bozrah. To all the cities of Moab, far and near, judgment has come.
Eternal One: 25 The symbols of his strength are gone; the horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm broken.
26 Make Moab drink deeply from this cup until he is drunk, for he has exalted himself above the Eternal. Make him drink until he wallows in his own vomit; then he will be ridiculed by all who see him. 27 Did you not ridicule Israel? Was he guilty of a crime? Was he caught among thieves? Is that why you, Moab, shake your head in contempt every time you speak of him?
28 Eternal One: Run from your towns and live in the wilderness,
you citizens of Moab;
Hide among the rocks
like doves who nest among the cliffs.
29 We have all heard about the pride of Moab—
so vain and so smug.
We have all heard about her pride and arrogance
and her overconfident heart.
30 I, too, know of the arrogant outbursts, but they are pointless;
empty boasts accomplish nothing.
31 This is why I will mourn for Moab; for all her people, I will cry aloud;
for the men of Kir-heres, I will moan.
32 You who tend the prolific vineyards in Sibmah,
I will cry for you more than I did for Jazer.
Your vines once spread as far as the sea, as far as the sea of Jazer.
But now the destroyer has spoiled your summer harvest and sweet grapes.
33 The joy of the harvest is gone from Moab’s orchards and vineyards.
For I have stopped the flow of wine; no one treads the grapes.
The land is full of shouting, but they are not shouts of joy.
34 The anguish of their cries rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will dry up.
Eternal One: 35 I will put an end to idol worship in Moab, to those who make offerings on shrines in high places and burn incense to so-called gods.
36 Like the somber sound of a flute, my heart mourns for Moab. My heart mourns for the men of Kir-heres, for everything they had is gone.
37 For every head is shaved, and every beard is cut short;
every hand is cut, and every waist is wrapped in sackcloth.
38 Eternal One: On every rooftop in Moab and on every street corner,
there is nothing but mourning
Because I have smashed Moab like a jar that no one wants.
39 How broken he is! How the people wail!
How the once-proud Moab turns away in shame!
See how Moab has become a laughingstock
and a horror to all his neighbors.
40 Eternal One: Look in the distance: an eagle will swoop down
and spread his wings over Moab, his prey.
41 The cities will be captured and the strongholds seized.
On that day the heart of Moab’s warriors
Will be like the heart of a woman in labor—helpless and vulnerable.
42 The nation of Moab will be no more
because he dares to defy the Eternal.
43 Terror and traps and snares lie ahead, O citizens of Moab.
44 Eternal One: If you run from the terror, you will fall into a pit.
If you climb out of the pit, you will be caught in a trap.
There is no escape, for I will bring these disasters against Moab;
the year of their judgment has come at last.
45 Run if you will, but in Heshbon’s shadow the refugees are helpless.
Look! A fire rages from Heshbon; destroying flames leap from Sihon;
They consume the northern regions of Moab
and destroy his clamoring rebels.
46 Woe to you, O Moab! Worshipers of Chemosh are destroyed;
your sons are sent away, your daughters taken captive.
47 But even so, in latter times the day will come
when I will restore the fortunes of Moab.
This is the end of Jeremiah’s oracle of judgment against Moab.
49 Now concerning the Ammonites. This is what the Eternal has to say:
Long is the history between Ammon and Israel, and many are the conflicts between them. In Jeremiah’s day, Ammonite raiders have taken land originally meant for Israel, specifically the tribe of Gad. Along with other nations, the Ammonites have conspired against Babylon. After the fall of Jerusalem, the king of Ammon hires the assassin, Ishmael, to kill Gedaliah at a pivotal moment in the relationship between Judah and Babylon. Time and again, this proud nation defies the God of Israel and His people. They put their trust in their god, Malcam, and they find security in the mountainous region where they live.
Eternal One: Does Israel have no sons?
Is there no one to inherit the land I gave her?
Is that why Ammon’s god, Malcam, has taken the land of Gad?
Why would his people be living in her cities?
2 I, the Eternal, tell you the days are coming
when you will hear the shout of war raised against Rabbah, Ammon’s capital.
On that day it will be reduced to a pile of ruins,
and the villages surrounding the city will be burned.
Then Israel will take back what was taken from her.
3 Weep, O Heshbon, for the town of Ai is destroyed!
Cry out, O citizens of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth and mourn your losses.
Run back and forth inside your city walls
Because your so-called god, Malcam, will be carried into exile
along with his priests and officials.
4 You boast of your abundant valleys, you faithless daughter,
but they are fading away.
You trusted in your own wealth and thought,
“Who could ever attack me?”
5 Watch! I will surround you with terror.
I, the Eternal Lord, Commander of heavenly armies, declare this.
You will be driven out of the land in single file,
with no one to keep your exiles together.
6 But after this, there will come a day
when I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites.
So says the Eternal.
Like the relationship between Esau and Isaac—the twin ancestors from whom Edom and Israel descend—relations are often stormy between these two peoples. It is no secret that the Edomites hate the Israelites and often rejoice in their troubles. But it is pride that ultimately is Edom’s undoing, for they cannot imagine any enemy penetrating their mountain fortresses. They, too, are part of the council of nations that consider standing against Babylon (Jeremiah 27). As always, Jeremiah instructs that such resistance is an affront to the God of Israel who is using Babylon to accomplish His purposes in history.
7 Here now is the oracle concerning Edom, the descendants of Esau, spoken by the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
Eternal One: What happened to the wise men of Teman?
Has their insight failed them?
Has their wisdom merely vanished into thin air?
8 You who live in Dedan,
run and hide deep in the caves,
For I will bring a disaster on Esau’s descendants
when I come to punish him.
9 When workers harvest the grapes,
do they not leave some on the vine for those who are poor?
Even when thieves enter your home in the middle of the night,
do they not destroy and steal only what they need?
10 But I will treat Esau’s descendants differently:
I will strip them bare, exposing their secret places—no place to hide.
Their children, their families, and even their neighbors will die,
and this nation will be no more.
11 Leave your orphans to Me, for I will protect them.
Leave your widows as well, for they can trust Me.
12 This is what I, the Eternal, have to say: “If the innocent must drink of this cup of wrath, why do you think you should escape punishment? You will not escape, for you will surely drink from this cup! 13 I swear by My own name, the Eternal, that Bozrah, Edom’s capital, will become a wasteland, an object of horror, of scorn and cursing; Edom’s towns will forever lie in ruins.”
14 I have heard a message from the Eternal.
An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Assemble your troops to attack Edom!
Rise up, and prepare for battle!”
15 Eternal One (to Edom): Look! I will humiliate you among the nations,
make you small and insignificant, despised by all.
16 The terror you inspire in others
and your ingrained arrogance have deceived you!
You think you are safe in your mountain hideaways;
you hold the high ground above your enemies.
You may build your fortress as high as an eagle’s nest,
but I can still bring you down from there.
17 Edom will become an object of horror; all who pass by and see what I have done will shudder and gasp at all of his wounds. 18 Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and all their neighbors were destroyed, never to rise again, I, the Eternal One, declare that no one will live there; no one will dare to make Edom their home. 19 Like a lion that suddenly emerges from the dense undergrowth beside the Jordan to attack a flock feeding in the lush pasture, so in an instant I will arrive and chase the people of Edom from their land. Then I will put in place a leader of My choosing. For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?
20 That is why you must hear the plan that the Eternal has for Edom, and what He intends to do to those who live in the city of Teman.
Eternal One: The little ones will be dragged away from the flock.
All will scatter when their pasture is left desolate.
21 The sound of Edom’s fall will cause the earth to shake.
Their anguished cry will echo to the Red Sea.[a]
22 Look, an eagle is rising, spreading its wings!
Soon it will swoop down and attack Bozrah.
On that day, the heart of Edom’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor—helpless and vulnerable.
Damascus has long been at odds with Israel and Judah, and she controls caravan routes in the region. But she must also submit to the sovereign power of the Eternal.
23 Here now is an oracle concerning Damascus.
Eternal One: The towns of Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,
for they have heard bad news: doom is coming!
They are distressed, troubled, and unsettled like the swirling sea.
24 Damascus is weak and helpless; she has turned and run away.
Panic grips her heart;
Torment and pain have grabbed her
like a woman giving birth.
Citizens of Damascus: 25 Why is this glorious city—this city that gives us so much joy—not already deserted?
26 Eternal One: Her young men will fall in the streets,
and her warriors will fall silent on that day.
So says the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
27 Eternal One: I will set fire to the walls of Damascus,
a fire that will spread and burn up the palaces of Ben-hadad.
28 Here is an oracle from the Eternal concerning Kedar and the nomadic tribes of Arabia known as the kingdoms of Hazor, all defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
Eternal One: Rise up and attack Kedar.
Destroy the tribes of the east.
29 They will take away their tents and their flocks,
their curtains, their camels, and all their possessions.
They will shout to one another,
“Terror is everywhere we turn!”
30 Run away quickly while there is time!
Hide deep in the earth, people of Hazor.
For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has schemed against you.
He has a plan for your defeat.
31 So I tell you to rise up and attack this complacent nation,
which assumes it is secure—
A nation without walls or gates
that lives alone in the desert.
32 Their camels and livestock will be the spoils of war.
I will scatter to the wind these people who cut the corners of their hair
And surround them with disaster on every side,
so I, the Eternal, declare.
33 Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,
a place of desolation for all time.
Certainly no one will live there ever again.
No one will make it his home.
34 Here is an oracle concerning Elam. The word of the Eternal came to the prophet Jeremiah early in the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. 35 This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies has to say:
Eternal One: I will break the bows of Elam’s archers—the very best of their military might. 36 I will bring the four winds from the four corners of heaven to blow against Elam. I will scatter them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where her exiles will not go. 37 I will shatter Elam right in front of her enemies, before those who want her dead. I will bring disaster upon these people, for My violent anger burns against them. I will pursue them in war until they are no more. 38 I will destroy her wicked king and officials and set the king I want on the throne over Elam. 39 But even so, in the latter times, the day will come when I will restore the fortunes of Elam.
So says the Eternal.
50 This now is the word the Eternal spoke through His prophet Jeremiah concerning the mighty empire of Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans.
Babylon is a dominant world power in Jeremiah’s time that God uses to accomplish His purposes. The prophet says that even Babylon will answer to God. East of Chaldea, the Persian Empire will take over the region and conquer Babylon. This time the Persian King Cyrus will be used by God to alter the course of events.
Jeremiah now conveys his firm belief that it is the God of Israel—not kings and their armies—who shapes history. He delivers a strong message from God concerning Babylon (who oversteps her bounds in the treatment of Judah and the other nations). Intermixed is Jeremiah’s message of hope for those in exile. One day, the people of Judah will return home from Babylon. Those who make the journey will find that God never stops loving them, even as He disciplines them.
2 Eternal One: Tell the nations of the world; announce it to them all.
Raise a flag—get their attention—tell them! Hold nothing back; tell them,
“Babylon has fallen; Bel has been put to shame:
Marduk has been shattered. Her images are disgraced;
There’s nothing left of Babylon’s idols but broken pieces.”
3 Now it is Babylon’s turn to be attacked from the north; another nation will destroy her land. No one will live there; both man and beast will run away.
4 But in those days of judgment and when the time is right, I, the Eternal One, declare this: The people of Israel and those of Judah will come to Me together. With tears in their eyes, they will come and seek the Eternal their God. 5 They will ask about the way back to Zion and turn toward home. They will come together and bind themselves to the Eternal in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6 My people have become like lost sheep, and their shepherds have led them astray. They wandered so far from My protection—on mountaintops and hills they lost their way, worshiping false gods, forgetting where I was and where they could find rest. 7 And whoever found My lost sheep devoured them. Their enemies said to themselves, “Why worry? We are not the guilty ones here. They are the ones who sinned against their God, the Eternal One, their place of safety, the Eternal One, the hope of their ancestors.”
8 Get out of Babylon while you can! Leave behind this land of the Chaldeans. Be like the goats at the head of the flock; lead the way home. 9 For I am stirring up trouble against Babylon; I am bringing together the armies of great nations to attack Babylon from the north. They will draw up their battle plans and march against her. The arrows of this army will be like those of a skilled marksman; they will not miss the target or come home empty-handed. 10 Chaldea will be plundered; all her conquerors shall have their fill of the land’s wealth.
This is what the Eternal declares.
11 Eternal One (to Babylon): Because of your treatment of My people,
because you rejoice and celebrate as you plunder My heritage,
Because you dance about like a heifer roaming the grassland
and neigh like a stallion as you plunder them,
12 Your homeland will be put to shame.
She who gave you life will be disgraced.
She will become the least of all nations,
nothing but a patch of wilderness, a dry and dusty patch of land, a barren desert.
13 Because of My anger, no one will live there.
She will be a desolate wasteland.
All who pass by Babylon and see what I, the Eternal, have done
will shudder and gasp at her many deep wounds.
14 (to Babylon’s enemies) Prepare for battle! Take your positions!
Surround Babylon on every side, all you archers.
Shoot at her! Show no mercy! Spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the Eternal.
15 Shout your battle cries on every side!
She has already given up.
Her towers have fallen, and her walls have crumbled.
Since this is My vengeance, the justice of the Eternal,
Do not hold back—take vengeance on her.
Do to her what she has done to others.
16 Uproot from Babylon those who plant crops
and those who harvest with the sickle.
When they see the flash from the enemy’s sword,
everyone will run away; everyone will go back to his own land.
17 Israel is like a frightened flock scattered by the lions who hunt them. The first to attack and devour them was the king of Assyria, and the last to chew on their remains was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 18 For this reason, I, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, promise this: Just as I punished the king of Assyria for the way he treated you, so will I punish the king of Babylon and his land. 19 But you, Israel, I will bring back to your own pasture. Once again you will graze in the lush fields of Carmel and Bashan; your hunger will be no more; you will fill yourself on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 And in those days when the time is right, I, the Eternal One, promise this: If anyone searches for even a trace of Israel’s wrongdoings, they will find nothing. If they look for the sins of Judah, none will be found because I will have forgiven this remnant of My people.
21 (to Babylon’s enemies) Go up and attack the land of Merathaim
and those who live in Pekod.
Slay them all; completely destroy them.
Do everything I, the Eternal One, have commanded you.
22 The sounds of war can be heard in the land,
anguished cries of great destruction.
23 That hammer who pounded the nations of the earth
now lies broken and pounded into pieces herself!
Mighty Babylon—how you have become a horror
to the watching world!
24 I set a trap for you, O Babylon, and you fell for it.
Before you realized what had happened,
You were discovered and captured
because you dared to fight against the Eternal.
25 Yes, the Eternal has opened His armory—
unleashed the weapons of His wrath—
For the Eternal Lord, Commander of heavenly armies, is at work
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from far away and on every side.
Break open her storehouses;
Crush her cities, and leave her dead in piles like so much grain.
Destroy her completely; let nothing survive.
27 Let her young bulls die by the sword.
Let them all be slaughtered!
Woe to each of them, for their day of punishment has come.
28 Hear the clamor of refugees and fugitives, fresh from the land of Babylon. They arrive in Zion to announce how the Eternal our God has paid Babylon back for what she did to His people and His temple.
29 Call up the archers to attack Babylon; surround her on all sides so no one can escape. Repay her for her horrible deeds; do to her what she has done to others, because she has proudly defied the Eternal, the Holy One of Israel. 30 The Eternal declares that her young men will fall in the streets, and all her soldiers will fall silent on that day.
31 Eternal One: See I am against you, O prideful one.
I, the Eternal Lord, Commander of heavenly armies, declare
That your time has come:
I will now punish you for all you’ve done.
32 In your pride, you will stumble and fall,
and no one will help you up.
I will set fire to your cities and towns,
and it will devour everything around you.
33 This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says about Israel:
Eternal One: The people of Israel are oppressed—
so, too, the people of Judah.
All those who took them captive continue to hold them
and refuse to let them go.
34 But their Redeemer is strong;
the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, is His name.
He will take their side and defend their cause;
He will give them rest in their own land.
But He will shake the earth beneath the citizens of Babylon.
35 Eternal One: I will send a sword against the Chaldeans—
against the citizens of Babylon herself—
against her leaders and wise men.
36 I will send a sword against her diviners;
they will be exposed as fools.
I will send a sword against her mighty warriors;
they will be paralyzed with terror.
37 I will send a sword against her war horses and chariots
and all the foreign troops fighting alongside her;
They will all become weak like women.
I will send a sword against her treasures;
They will all be plundered.
38 I will send a drought against her water supplies;
they will all dry up
Because this is a land filled with images,
and the people are madly devoted to their idols.
39 So the beasts of the desert will roam this land—jackals and ostriches will make it their homes. But never again will it be home to people; from generation to generation, no one will live there. 40 As God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and all of their neighbors,[b] so does the Eternal declare that no one will live in the land of Babylon. No one will make his home there.
41 Eternal One: Look in the distance and you will see an army
marching toward you out of the north.
A nation of many kings whose size and might you can’t imagine
is now awakening and coming from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They are armed with bows and spears;
their hearts are cruel and will show you no mercy.
The sound of their massive army, riding in on their horses,
is like the sound of an angry sea;
They are ready for battle, marching in formation,
coming to destroy you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has received the news about them,
and his hands fall to his side, weak and helpless—
Distress has gripped him so,
like a woman in the agony of giving birth.
44 Like a lion that suddenly emerges from the dense undergrowth beside the Jordan to attack a flock feeding in the lush pasture, so in an instant I will arrive and chase Babylon from her land. Then I will put in place a leader of My choosing. For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?
45 That is why you must hear the plan that the Eternal has for Babylon, and what He intends to do to those who live in the land of the Chaldeans: The little ones will be dragged away from the flock. He will leave their pasture desolate. 46 The sound of Babylon falling will cause the earth to shake; her cry will echo among the nations.
51 The Eternal has this to say regarding Babylon:
Eternal One: Watch as I stir up a destroying wind
against Babylon and the people of Chaldea.[c]
2 I will send outsiders to sift through this nation,
separating the wheat from the chaff, laying waste this land.
They will fight her from every side
on that fateful day of Babylon’s reckoning.
3 Do not let the archers draw back their bows.
Do not let them put on their armor!
Do not spare the life of one young soldier.
Destroy her army completely.
4 They will all fall dead in the land of the Chaldeans;
her streets will be full of the dead and dying.
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies,
Even though their land is awash with the guilt of their sins
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Get out of Babylon! Escape with your lives!
Do not be caught up in Babylon’s punishment,
For this is the time for the Eternal to avenge His people.
He will pay Babylon what she deserves.
7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the Eternal’s hand,
intoxicating the whole earth.
Yes, the nations drank her wine,
which is why they went mad.
8 But now Babylon—cup of God’s wrath—has fallen and shattered.
Weep for her, if you can!
Give her something for her pain;
perhaps she may still be healed.
9 Exiles: We would like to have healed Babylon,
but she was beyond our help.
It is time to leave her and go home before it is too late,
before we get caught in her coming judgment.
Look, even now it fills the skies, rising up to the clouds.
10 The Eternal has vindicated us;
come, we must tell those in Jerusalem
What the Eternal our God has done!
11 Enemies of Babylon, sharpen your arrows
and fill your quivers. Get ready to attack!
For the Eternal has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes
to accomplish His purpose against Babylon.
He will exact His vengeance for what the Chaldeans did to His temple.
12 Raise up the battle flags around the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard. Station watchmen along the way.
Prepare to make a surprise attack, for the Eternal will see His plan carried through
against the people of Babylon.
13 You who live by the great river
with the comforts of your abundant treasure,
The end has come, and you will lose it all.
Your time has run out.
14 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has sworn by Himself.
Eternal One: I will cover your land with enemy troops
the way a swarm of locusts covers a field.
And they will shout victory over you.
15 God alone is powerful enough to create the earth.
He alone is wise enough to put the world together.
He alone understands enough to stretch out the heavens.
16 His voice thunders through the heavens, and the waters gush from the sky.
He summons the clouds to build up over the earth.
As the rain falls, the lightning flashes at His command;
the wind rushes in from where He alone can store it.
17 All of humanity is stupid and bankrupt of knowledge.
Those who make idols are shamed by their creations.
What they fashion out of gold are imposters—breathless, lifeless frauds.
18 Their idols are worthless, the work of their hands an embarrassing mockery.
They are doomed to perish under God’s judgment.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like any of these.
He was not fashioned by human hands.
Instead, it was He who made all things and appointed Israel to inherit it all.
His name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
20 Eternal One: You are My war club—My weapon for battle;
with you I shatter nations;
with you I destroy kingdoms;
21 With you I shatter the horse and its rider;
with you I shatter the chariot and its driver;
22 With you I shatter men and women;
with you I shatter both young and old;
with you I shatter the young man and the maiden;
23 With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock;
with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen;
with you I shatter governors and leaders.
24 But now, before your very eyes, I will repay Babylon and the people of Chaldea for all the harm they have done in Zion.
25 I have turned against you, O mountain of destruction, you destroyer of the earth.
So now I will raise My hand against you;
I will roll you down from the lofty rocks where you offered sacrifices
and turn you into a mountain of ashes.
26 When I am finished with you,
there will be no stones to salvage—
No cornerstones, no foundation stones;
you will be desolate forever.
27 Lift up a battle flag; let it wave in the land!
Sound the trumpet—call the nations together!
Prepare the forces for battle against her;
summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Assign a commander to lead the troops against her.
Send in the war horses, seething like bristly locusts.
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes,
their governors and leaders, and the lands they rule.
29 As the battle rages, the land trembles and writhes,
for the Eternal is accomplishing His purposes against Babylon.
He will lay waste her land
and leave it completely empty.
30 Babylon’s mighty warriors have stopped fighting;
they stay inside their fortresses, afraid.
Their strength is gone; they have become as weak as women.
The houses of Babylon are burning, the bars of her city gates broken.
31 The news travels fast—a runner races to meet another;
the word goes from messenger to messenger
Until it reaches the king of Babylon:
His entire city has been captured.
32 The river crossings have been taken,
the marshlands have been set ablaze,
and the soldiers are terrified.
33 This, then, is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, says:
Eternal One: The people of Babylon are like wheat ready to be threshed,
spread out on the floor waiting to be trampled.
A little while longer and the time for her harvest will come.
34 Citizens of Jerusalem (crying out to God): Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has devoured us.
He has squeezed the life out of us and left us an empty jar.
Like a monster from the sea, he swallowed us
and gorged himself on the richness of Israel
Only to cough us up and throw us out.
35 “May the violence done to our people be repaid to Babylon,”
we the people of Zion pray.
“May our blood be upon those who live in Chaldea,”
so Jerusalem prays.
36 Eternal One: Watch now as I defend your case
and avenge what was done to you.
I will expose this monster and dry up her sea.
I will deplete her wellsprings.
37 Babylon will be reduced to a heap of rubble,
the haunt of jackals,
An object of horror and hissing scorn,
a place where no one lives.
38 O how this nation roars! Like a pack of young lions,
like lion cubs, they growl.
39 And once they are stirred up,
I will lay out a feast and make them all drunk
until they laugh and feel happy.
But when they fall asleep, they will sleep forever.
This is what I, the Eternal One, promise you.
40 I will bring these proud lions down like lambs going to their own slaughter.
Like rams and goats they will be humbled.
Prophets see things not as they are but as they will be. Babylon is still powerful, but her end is coming. Jeremiah sees her fall as an accomplished fact.
41 How Babylon[d] has been captured!
Babylon, the pride of all the earth, has fallen!
How mighty Babylon has become an object of horror
among all the nations that once feared and admired her.
42 The rising tide of the sea has flooded Babylon.
She disappears beneath its raging waves.
43 Her cities have become an object of horror.
Her fruitful land has been left parched, like a desert,
a wilderness where no one lives, where no wants to go.
44 I will punish Bel, the false god of Babylon;
I will make him cough up all he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer make their way to worship him
because even the great walls of Babylon have fallen.
45 Get out of Babylon, My people, before it is too late!
Run! Save yourselves!
Run! Do not get caught up in the destruction
caused by My fierce anger.
46 Do not lose heart or give in to fear and panic
when the rumors start to fly in the land.
Year after year, the rumors will come—rumors of violence
and reports of one ruler warring against another.
47 So, look! the days are coming
when I will punish Babylon’s idols.
Her whole land will suffer humiliation,
and her dead will lie unburied within her borders.
48 Then the heavens and the earth and all that is within them
will shout for joy over the disaster that comes upon Babylon,
For the destroying armies will march against Babylon from out of the north.
49 As the slain of Israel fell, so must Babylon fall.
As the slain of all the earth fell, so must Babylon fall.
50 You who escape the blade of the sword
must get out now. Don’t delay!
Remember Me in that distant land;
remember the Eternal, and think fondly of Jerusalem.
51 In that bittersweet moment,
the remnant of My people will say,
“We are ashamed—we have been insulted by invaders,
and disgrace covers our faces
When we think of foreigners entering the holy places of the Eternal’s temple
and defiling it by their presence.”
52 But I, the Eternal One, declare that the day will come
when I will punish Babylon’s images and idols;
and the groans of her dying will echo through the land.
53 No matter how high she reaches or how strong her defenses,
I will send enemies to destroy her.
So says the Eternal.
54 Listen! Hear the cry that comes from Babylon.
It is the sound of great destruction in the land of Chaldea.
55 For the Eternal is destroying Babylon;
He will drown out the piercing sound of her cries
As wave after wave of her enemies roars in,
crashing against her, with the deafening sound of battle in the air.
56 A destroyer is coming to attack Babylon; her mighty warriors will be captured.
Their weapons will be broken.
For the Eternal is a just God who pays accordingly,
and He will repay Babylon in full.
57 Eternal One: I will make her leaders and wise men drunk
as well as her governors, leaders, and mighty warriors.
And when they fall asleep, they will sleep forever,
So says the King, whose name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
58 Eternal One: The wide and sturdy walls of Babylon will be toppled,
and her massive city gates will be set on fire.
The people toiled to build those walls,
but it was all in vain.
Prisoners from other lands exhausted themselves to build this city,
but their work went up in flames.
This strongly worded message about Babylon is the last of the oracles against the nations. Such is the message that the prophet Jeremiah is called to give—even while Babylon’s power is at its height. And so in 594 b.c., before the final fall of Jerusalem, the prophet to the nations delivers this prophecy to the exiles already in Babylon and—if they choose to listen—to the Babylonians themselves. Jeremiah instructs an assistant to the king of Judah to take this oracle to Babylon and read it aloud. As if that is not enough, he then instructs the man to perform a symbolic act—the sort of thing Jeremiah himself would do if he were there. His willing accomplice will dramatize the ultimate sinking of the Babylonian Empire by fulfilling the prophet’s strange request.
59 Jeremiah the prophet gave the following order to Seraiah (son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah), when Seraiah was accompanying Zedekiah (king of Judah) to Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. Seraiah worked in the king’s administration. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll all of the terrible things that would one day happen to Babylon (those things which you have just read). Once this important message had been recorded, 61 he said to Seraiah,
Jeremiah: When you get to Babylon, find a public place and read aloud every single word written on this scroll. 62 Then say loud enough for others to hear, “O Eternal One, You have promised that You will destroy this place so that neither man nor beast will live here. Babylon will then be a wasteland forever.” 63 When you have finished reading the scroll and saying these things, tie it to a heavy stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Then say loud enough for others to hear, “Just as this stone and scroll sink, so will Babylon and her people sink, never to rise again, for they shall be tired after the disaster I, the Lord, am bringing to her.”
The messages of Jeremiah end here.
Jeremiah’s words are often not “his” words. Early in life, his mouth is touched by God, and from then on the prophet is God’s mouthpiece to the world. Jeremiah thinks with God’s mind and speaks with God’s voice when the world around him is crumbling (1:9–10). In many ways, he sees the world as God sees it and then shares those visions, no matter the cost. His ministry spans five kings of Judah, few of whom bother to listen to him. He survives public ridicule, loneliness, and attempts on his life. He witnesses his beloved Jerusalem fall just as he predicts. But he knows the faithfulness of God. The Eternal has promised to sustain him through a difficult life, and so He does.
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. His reign in Jerusalem lasted for a total of 11 years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (not the prophet of Anathoth). 2 Zedekiah committed evil in the eyes of the Eternal, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 All that then happened to Jerusalem and Judah took place because of the Eternal’s anger. He finally forced them out of the land and away from His presence. It was then that Zedekiah foolishly rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon brought his entire army to surround Jerusalem. On the 10th day of the 10th month, during the 9th year of Zedekiah’s reign, the mighty army of Babylon was camped outside the city and built siege mounds around it. 5 This siege lasted 18 months, well into the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign. 6 By the 9th day of the 4th month of that year, the famine had become so severe inside the city that no one had anything to eat. Panic was setting in as people feared starvation. 7 When a section of the city wall was breached, all the warriors of Jerusalem escaped through a gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. Even though the Chaldeans had the city surrounded, these warriors escaped the city under the cover of night and fled east toward the Jordan Valley. 8 But the Chaldean army discovered this and chased after Zedekiah, catching him on the plains of Jericho. All of his soldiers had scattered, and he was alone 9 when they captured him. They took him to the king of Babylon, who had set up his command post at Riblah in the land of Hamath. It was here that the king pronounced judgment on Zedekiah. 10 Zedekiah was forced to watch as his own sons and the nobles of Judah were butchered in front of him in Riblah. 11 This was the very last thing he saw, because after this Nebuchadnezzar blinded Zedekiah’s eyes. He was then placed in bronze shackles and carried off to Babylon, where he remained in prison until his death.
12 About a month later, on the 10th day of the 5th month, Nebuzaradan (the captain of the imperial guard and trusted advisor of the king) arrived in Jerusalem. This was during the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign in Babylon. 13 He systematically destroyed the important structures of the city. He set fire to the Eternal’s temple, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. 14 All of the Chaldean troops that had accompanied the captain then tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem. The capital was now in ruins. 15-16 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the imperial guard, gathered together those still living in the city, including some of the poor and those artisans who had not been deported earlier. He put them with the deserters who had fled to Nebuchadnezzar and forced them all into exile, far away from their homeland. But he left the remaining poor people behind to care for Judah’s vineyards and fields.
17 Before the Babylonian army burned the temple, they proceeded to take everything of value. They took the bronze pillars at the entrance of the temple and the stands and bronze sea that were inside the Eternal’s temple. After breaking them in pieces, the Chaldeans took the bronze back to Babylon. 18 They also took the pans, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the dishes, and every bronze utensil that was used during the temple rituals. 19 The captain of the guard also took the various sacrificial bowls, firepans, pots, lampstands, dishes, and anything else made of gold or silver. 20 The weight of bronze from the two pillars, the sea, the 12 bronze bulls under the sea, and the stands was so great that it could not be accurately measured. These items were very old, for they had been crafted for the temple of the Eternal in the days of King Solomon. 21 The bronze pillars were 27 feet high and had a circumference of 18 feet; they were hollow, but the bronze walls of the pillars were about 3 inches thick. 22-23 The bronze capital atop each pillar was 7½ feet high and covered with latticework and pomegranates—all made of bronze—circling the entire capital. There were 96 pomegranates on all sides of the capital, 100 total in the latticework around the top.
24 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the imperial guard, took Seraiah (the high priest) and Zephaniah (next in line to be high priest), along with 3 officers in charge of the gates. 25 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the army and 7 of the king’s advisors. He also took the army commander’s secretary, who was in charge of enlisting people into the army, and 60 other men. 26-27 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the imperial guard, took this entire group to the king of Babylon, whose command post was in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Nebuchadnezzar had them all beaten and killed. This is how Judah was taken from her land and sent into exile.
28 This, then, is the number of people Nebuchadnezzar took captive during 3 deportations: In the 7th year of his reign: 3,023 Judeans; 29 in the 18th year of his reign: 832 citizens of Jerusalem; 30 and in the 23rd year of his reign: 745 people were taken into exile by Nebuzaradan, captain of the imperial guard. In all 4,600 people were taken captive.
Years later, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Evil-merodach (562–560 b.c.), hope emerges. The exiled king Jehoiachin is shown kindness; it seems God has not forgotten them.
31 On the 25th day of the 12th month during the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, ascended to the throne and showed mercy to Jehoiachin and released him from prison. 32 Babylon’s new king was good to Jehoiachin and gave him a place of honor higher than the other nations’ exiled kings in Babylon. 33 And so it was that Jehoiachin exchanged his prison clothes for new clothes, and for the rest of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table. 34 The king of Babylon even gave him a daily allowance on which he lived until the day of his death.
1 [e] Aaghh! Lonely is this city that once bustled with life;
Cheer is empty; like a widow, she is abandoned
and oh, so lonely.
She who was a princess, great among the nations,
has lost everything and been forced to serve as a slave.
2 Bawling, she weeps without constraint every night,
cries herself to sleep, bitter tears streaming down her cheeks.
Her former friends ignore her;
there is no one there to share her sorrow;
Companions contend and have betrayed her;
friends have been unfaithful and turned against her as enemies.
3 Carried off to a foreign place, Judah is exiled in misery
and debased by affliction and hard labor;
She cannot find rest living among the pagan nations.
She tried to run and hide, but in her distress pursuers have overcome her.
4 Despair permeates the very dust of Zion’s roads.
Nobody walks them in anticipation of celebration and worship.
No one enters the city’s desolate gates bringing offerings or sacrifices to God.
The religious leaders are heavyhearted,
And the virgin women despair.
It’s so bitter for dear Zion!
5 Enemies of Jerusalem have gained the upper hand.
Her foes prosper against her.
The Eternal One has caused her sorrow because of her rebellions,
for she acted against Him, willfully, again and again.
Even her little ones are taken away at the whim of her foes.
6 Faded beauty, this daughter Zion.
Her princely young men, like stags,
They have no place to graze, no strength to fight;
they fled to the woods,
Pursued mercilessly by hunters.
7 Gone are the days that she remembers, happy and precious;
Jerusalem wanders aimlessly and remembers what precious things she has lost—
Things from the old days of David, Solomon, and Josiah.
But now her people have fallen to her enemies,
And in this defeat by her enemies, no one ran to her aid,
and her enemies now snicker and gloat at her downfall.
8 Hideous must be Jerusalem’s crimes
that the city itself is now morally and ritually impure.
Those who once admired her now hate her.
They strip her naked and laugh.
All she can do is groan
and shrink back, ashamed.
9 Impurity clung to her inside the cover of her clothes.
She refused to consider anything but the present,
Never expecting her impurity would be revealed.
Nobody came forward with comfort—no one.
Lady Jerusalem: See, Eternal One, how badly I suffer
and how my enemies swell with pride.
The people of Judah and Jerusalem have had many opportunities to recognize their failings. Now they learn that their choices have grave consequences. For generations they have ignored the warnings and continued in idolatry, dependence upon foreign powers, and oppression of the less fortunate. Yes, the sacrifices in the temple have continued, but they have continually turned away from God. One prophet after another has called them back to a life of trust in the Lord, but they still look to others for assurance. Time has run out.
10 Jabbing and fondling,
mauling all her treasures, the enemy takes stock.
Foreign nations enter even her holy place,
claiming what You decided was off-limits
And forbidden to them—Your temple.[f]
11 Kept in hunger,
her people are desperate for food.
Once prosperous, they trade her treasures
for nourishment of any kind.
Lady Jerusalem: Look, Eternal One—
really see how hated I’ve become.
12 Look around, you who pass by and go about your business.
Is there any sorrow as great as mine?
Any pain as great as that which has been forced on me?
No. Because my pain comes from the Eternal.
It is His judgment, rendered on the day of His intense anger.
13 My bones burn with the wrath of God,
the fire sent from on high.
He laid a trap, then left me,
turned me back to the destruction,
With the shakes, constantly sick and faint.
14 Now the burden of all my wrongs is a yoke.
God has laid them upon my shoulders,
Bound them around my neck.
He has made sure I’m too weak to support them.
The Lord gave me into the hand of an enemy.
I could not resist.
15 Overwhelmed by none other than God,
the Lord has determined that all my warriors are worthless.
He has summoned a meeting of those who are against me
to crush the young men who would protect me,
And He has stomped lovely Judah, virgin daughter,
like grapes in a winepress.
16 Pity, my eyes won’t stop their crying; I can’t stop.
There is no one nearby to comfort me or revive my spirit,
No one to pull me up.
My children know it—they’re left empty,
The enemy has won.
17 Quietly, Zion spreads out her hands, pleading for comfort.
But no one comes. The Lord forbids it.
God has commanded Jacob’s enemies
to surround her.
Jerusalem has become their foe;
she is an impurity among them.
The poetic imagery is violently and sexually disturbing. Zion’s captors enter her sacred area and cart off her children. She has been unfaithful to her husband, the Eternal One.
18 Lady Jerusalem: Right and true is the Eternal One.
I am the one in the wrong: I have rebelled against His law.
Listen all of you peoples.
See how much I have suffered;
My handsome men and my gentle women, unmarried and unprotected,
have marched away into captivity.
19 Summoning my lovers brings nothing—
nothing but pain in their betrayal.
The old guard, religious and political leaders,
have died starving here in the city;
Their search for sustenance failed.
20 Take account, Eternal One, of me; how miserable I am.
My belly growls and turns;
My heart is wrung out like a rag; my faults and failings are to blame
because I have been rebellious.
Death is everywhere in the homes;
the sword makes women childless in the streets.
21 Uncaring, with no compassion from others,
they know how badly I suffer.
O how alone I am.
My enemies gloat, and You have brought about my misery,
So happy to know I’m in pain.
But You, O God, will make them as bad off as I.
22 Vindicate me and judge their evil actions
and make them suffer,
As You’ve made me suffer
for all my wrongdoings.
I’m a wreck, and I groan with a faint heart.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.