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54 The noise of a cry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
55 Because the Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many waters: their voice hath made a noise:
56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, that is, upon Babylon, and her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord, who is a strong revenger, will surely repay.
57 And I will make her princes drunk. and her wise men, and her captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the king whose name is Lord of hosts.
58 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labours of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish.
59 The word that Jeremias the prophet commanded Saraias the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sedecias to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign: now Saraias was chief over the prophecy.
60 And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come upon Babylon: all these words that are written against Babylon.
61 And Jeremias said to Saraias: When thou shalt come into Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,
62 Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to destroy it: so that there should be neither man nor beast to dwell therein, and that it should be desolate for ever.
63 And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the Euphrates:
64 And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.
52 Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.
3 For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Juda, till he cast them out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.
4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built forts against it round about.
5 And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedecias.
6 And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land.
7 And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, and leadeth to the king's garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the city round about,) sad they went by the way that leadeth to the wilderness.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his companions were scattered from him.
9 And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha.
11 And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in prison till the day of his death.
12 And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem.
13 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.
15 But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
16 But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for vinedressers, and for husbandmen.
17 The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
18 And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen vessels that had been used in the ministry: and
19 The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver, in silver:
20 And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels.
21 And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.
22 And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and the pomegranates.
23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.
24 And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.
25 He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
26 And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.
27 And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of his land.
28 This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.
29 In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and thirty-two souls from Jerusalem.
30 In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred.
31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison.
32 And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
33 And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him always all the days of his life.
34 And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
3 Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, to obey at a word, to be ready to every good work.
2 To speak evil of no man, not to be litigious, but gentle: shewing all mildness towards all men.
3 For we ourselves also were some time unwise, incredulous, erring, slaves to divers desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But when the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared:
5 Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost;
6 Whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour:
7 That, being justified by his grace, we may be heirs, according to hope of life everlasting.
8 It is a faithful saying: and these things I will have thee affirm constantly: that they, who believe in God, may be careful to excel in good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law. For they are unprofitable and vain.
10 A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid:
11 Knowing that he, that is such an one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment.
12 When I shall send to thee Artemas or Tychicus, make haste to come unto me to Nicopolis. For there I have determined to winter.
13 Send forward Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollo, with care, that nothing be wanting to them.
14 And let our men also learn to excel in good works for necessary uses: that they be not unfruitful.
15 All that are with me salute thee: salute them that love us in the faith. The grace of God be with you all. Amen.
100 A psalm for David himself. Mercy and judgment I will sing to thee, O Lord: I will sing,
2 And I will understand in the unspotted way, when thou shalt come to me. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.
3 I did not set before my eyes any unjust thing: I hated the workers of iniquities.
4 The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the malignant, that turned aside from me, I would not know.
5 The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, I would not eat.
6 My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the man that walked in the perfect way, he served me.
7 He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house: he that speaketh unjust things did not prosper before my eyes.
8 In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land: that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.
18 As he is guilty that shooteth arrows, and lances unto death:
19 So is the man that hurteth his friend deceitfully: and when he is taken, saith: I did it in jest.
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