Jer 50:1-51:64 : 1 The word that the Lord spake, concerning Babel, and cocerning the land of the Caldeans by the ministerie of Ieremiah the Prophet.
2 Declare among the nations, and publish it, and set vp a standart, proclaime it and conceale it not: say, Babel is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken downe: her idols are confounded, and their images are burst in pieces.
3 For out of the North there commeth vp a nation against her, which shall make her lande waste, and none shall dwel therein: they shall flee, and depart, both man and beast.
4 In those daies, and at that time, sayeth the Lorde, the children of Israel shal come, they, and the children of Iudah together, going, and weeping shal they goe, and seeke the Lord their God.
5 They shal aske the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let vs cleaue to the Lorde in a perpetuall couenant that shall not be forgotten.
6 My people hath beene as lost sheepe: their shepheards haue caused them to goe astray, and haue turned them away to the mountaines: they haue gone from mountaine to hil, and forgotten their resting place.
7 Al that found them, haue deuoured them, & their enemies saide, We offende not, because they haue sinned against the Lord, the habitation of iustice, euen the Lord the hope of their fathers.
8 Flee from the middes of Babel, and depart out of the lande of the Caldeans, and be ye as the hee goates before the flocke.
9 For loe, I will raise, and cause to come vp against Babel a multitude of mightie natios from the North countrey, and they shall set themselues in aray against her, whereby shee shall be taken: their arrowes shall be as of a strong man, which is expert, for none shall returne in vaine.
10 And Caldea shalbe a spoyle: all that spoyle her, shalbe satisfied, sayth the Lord.
11 Because yee were glad and reioyced in destroying mine heritage, & because ye are growen fatte, as the calues in the grasse, and neied like strong horses,
12 Therefore your mother shall bee sore confounded, and she that bare you, shall be ashamed: beholde, the vttermost of the nations shalbe a desert, a drie land, and a wildernes.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lorde it shall not be inhabited, but shal be wholy desolate: euery one that goeth by Babel, shall be astonished, and hisse at all her plagues.
14 Put your selues in aray against Babel rounde about: all ye that bende the bowe, shoote at her, spare no arrowes: for shee hath sinned against the Lord.
15 Crie against her round about: she hath giuen her hand: her foundations are fallen, and her walles are destroyed: for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance vpon her: as she hath done, doe vnto her.
16 Destroy the sower from Babel, and him that handleth the sieth in the time of haruest: because of the sworde of the oppressor they shall turne euery one to his people, and they shall flee euery one to his owne land.
17 Israel is like scattered sheepe: the lions haue dispersed them: first the King of Asshur hath deuoured him, and last this Nebuchad-nezzar King, of Babel hath broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hostes the God of Israel, Behold, I wil visit ye King of Babel, and his land, as I haue visited the King of Asshur.
19 And I will bring Israel againe to his habitation: hee shall feede on Carmel and Bashan, and his soule shall be satisfied vpon the mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those daies, and at that time, sayeth the Lorde, the iniquitie of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sinnes of Iudah, and they shall not be founde: for I will be mercifull vnto them, whome I reserue.
21 Goe vp against the lande of the rebelles, euen against it, and against the inhabitantes of Pekod: destroy, and lay it waste after them, saieth the Lorde, and doe according to all that I haue commaunded thee.
22 A crie of battell is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 Howe is the hammer of the whole world destroied, and broken! Howe is Babel become desolate among the nations!
24 I haue snared thee, and thou art taken, O Babel, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striuen against the Lorde.
25 The Lord hath opened his treasure, & hath brought foorth the weapons of his wrath: for this is the woorke of the Lorde God of hostes in the lande of the Caldeans.
26 Come against her from the vtmost border: open her store houses: treade on her as on sheaues, and destroy her vtterly: let nothing of her be left.
27 Destroy all her bullockes: let them goe downe to the slaughter. Wo vnto them, for their day is come, and the time of their visitation.
28 The voyce of them that flee, and escape out of the lande of Babel to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lorde our God, and the vengeance of his Temple.
29 Call vp the archers against Babel: al ye that bend the bow, besiege it rounde about: let none thereof escape: recompence her according to her worke, & according to all that she hath done, doe vnto her: for she hath bene proud against the Lord, euen against the holy one of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her yong men fall in the streetes, and al her men of warre shalbe destroied in that day, sayeth the Lord.
31 Beholde, I come vnto thee, O proude man, saith the Lord God of hostes: for thy day is come, euen the time that I will visite thee.
32 And the proude shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him vp: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, & it shall deuoure all round about him.
33 Thus saieth the Lord of hosts, The children of Israel, and the children of Iudah were oppressed together: and all that tooke them captiues, held them, and would not let them goe.
34 But their strong redeemer, whose Name is the Lord of hostes, he shall maintaine their cause, that he may giue rest to the lande, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babel.
35 A sworde is vpon the Caldeans, sayeth the Lord, and vpon the inhabitants of Babel, and vpon her princes, and vpon her wise men.
36 A sworde is vpon the soothsaiers, and they shall dote: a sword is vpon her strong men, & they shalbe afraide.
37 A sworde is vpon their horses & vpon their charets, and vpon all the multitude that are in the middes of her, and they shall be like women: a sworde is vpon her treasures, and they shall be spoyled.
38 A drought is vpon her waters, and they shall be dried vp: for it is the lande of grauen images, and they dote vpon their idoles.
39 Therefore the Ziims with the Iims shall dwel there, & the ostriches shal dwel therein: for it shall be no more inhabited, neither shall it be inhabited from generation vnto generation.
40 As God destroied Sodom and Gomorah with the places thereof neere about, sayeth the Lord: so shal no man dwell theere, neither shal the sonne of man remaine therein.
41 Beholde, a people shall come from the North, and a great nation, and many Kings shall be raised vp from the coastes of the earth.
42 They shall holde the bowe and the buckeler: they are cruell and vnmercifull: their voyce shall roare like the sea, and they shall ride vpon horses, and be put in aray like men to the battell against thee, O daughter of Babel.
43 The King of Babel hath heard the report of them, & his hands waxed feeble: sorow came vpon him, euen sorowe as of a woman in trauaile.
44 Beholde, hee shall come vp like a lyon from the swelling of Iorden vnto the strong habitation: for I will make Israel to rest, and I will make them to haste away from her: and who is a chosen man that I may appoynt against her? for who is like me, and who will appoynt me the time? and who is the shepheard that will stande before me?
45 Therefore heare the counsell of the Lorde that hee hath deuised against Babel, and his purpose that hee hath conceiued against the lande of the Caldeans: surely the least of the flocke shall drawe them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
46 At the noyse of the winning of Babel the earth is moued, and the crye is heard among the nations.
1 Thus sayth the Lord, Beholde, I wil raise vp against Babel, & against the inhabitants that lift vp their heart against me, a destroying wind,
2 And wil send vnto Babel fanners that shal fanne her, & shal empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shalbe against her on euery side.
3 Also to the bender that bendeth his bowe, and to him that lifteth himselfe vp in his brigandine, will I say, Spare not her yong men, but destroy all her hoste.
4 Thus the slaine shal fall in the lande of the Caldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streetes.
5 For Israel hath bene no widowe, nor Iudah from his God, from the Lorde of hostes, though their lande was filled with sinne against the holy one of Israel.
6 Flee out of the middes of Babel, and deliuer euery man his soule: be not destroyed in her iniquitie: for this is the time of the Lordes vengeance he will render vnto her a recompence.
7 Babel hath bene as a golden cuppe in the Lordes hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations haue drunken of her wine, therefore do the nations rage.
8 Babel is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howle for her, bring balme for her sore, if she may be healed.
9 We would haue cured Babel, but she could not be healed: forsake her, and let vs go euery one into his owne countrey: for her iudgement is come vp vnto heauen, & is lifted vp to ye cloudes.
10 The Lorde hath brought forth our righteousnesse: come and let vs declare in Zion the worke of the Lord our God.
11 Make bright the arrowes: gather the shieldes: the Lorde hath raised vp the spirit of the King of the Medes: for his purpose is against Babel to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, and the vengeance of his Temple.
12 Set vp the standart vpon the walles of Babel, make the watch strong: set vp the watchmen: prepare the skoutes: for the Lord hath both deuised, and done that which he spake against the inhabitantes of Babel.
13 O thou that dwellest vpon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine ende is come, euen the ende of thy couetousnes.
14 The Lord of hostes hath sworne by him selfe, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers, and they shall cry and shoute against thee.
15 He hath made the earth by his power, & established the world by his wisedome, and hath stretched out the heauen by his discretion.
16 Hee giueth by his voyce the multitude of waters in the heauen, and he causeth the cloudes to ascend from the endes of the earth: he turneth lightnings to raine, and bringeth forth the winde out of his treasures.
17 Euery man is a beast by his owne knowledge: euery founder is confounded by the grauen image: for his melting is but falsehood, and there is no breath therein.
18 They are vanitie, and the worke of errors: in the time of their visitation they shal perish.
19 The portion of Iaakob is not like them: for he is the maker of all things, and Israel is the rodde of his inheritance: the Lorde of hostes is his Name.
20 Thou art mine hammer, and weapons of warre: for with thee will I breake the nations, & with thee wil I destroy kingdomes,
21 And by thee wil I breake horse and horseman, and by thee will I breake the charet & him that rideth therein.
22 By thee also will I breake man & woman, and by thee wil I breake olde & yong, & by thee wil I breake the yong man and the mayde.
23 I wil also breake by thee the shepheard & his flocke, and by thee will I breake the husband man & his yoke of oxen, & by thee will I breake the dukes and princes.
24 And I will render vnto Babel, and to all the inhabitants of the Caldeans all their euil, that they haue done in Zion, euen in your sight, sayth the Lorde.
25 Beholde, I come vnto thee, O destroying mountaine, sayth the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand vpon thee, and rolle thee downe from the rockes, and wil make thee a burnt mountaine.
26 They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for euer, sayth the Lord.
27 Set vp a standard in the lande: blowe the trumpets among the nations: prepare the nations against her: call vp the kingdomes of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz against her: appoynt the prince against her: cause horses to come vp as the rough caterpillers.
28 Prepare against her the nations with the Kings of the Medes, the dukes thereof, and the princes thereof, & all the land of his dominion.
29 And the land shall tremble and sorow: for the deuise of the Lorde shalbe performed against Babel, to make the lande of Babel waste without an inhabitant.
30 The strong men of Babel haue ceased to fight: they haue remayned in their holdes: their strength hath fayled, and they were like women: they haue burnt her dwelling places, and her barres are broken.
31 A post shall runne to meete the post, and a messenger to meete the messenger, to shew the King of Babel, that his citie is taken on a side thereof,
32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reedes burnt with fire, & the me of war troubled.
33 For thus sayth the Lorde of hosts the God of Israel, the daughter of Babel is like a threshing floore: the time of her threshing is come: yet a litle while, and the time of her haruest shal come.
34 Nebuchad-nezzar the King of Babel hath deuoured me, and destroyed me: he hath made me an emptie vessel: he swallowed mee vp like a dragon, and filled his belly with my delicates, and hath cast me out.
35 The spoyle of me, and that which was left of me, is brought vnto Babel, shall the inhabitant of Zion say: and my blood vnto the inhabitantes of Caldea, shal Ierusalem say.
36 Therefore thus sayth the Lorde, Beholde, I will maintayne thy cause, and take vengeance for thee, and I will drie vp the sea, and drie vp her springes.
37 And Babel shall be as heapes, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, & an hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They shal rore together like lions, and yell as the lyons whelpes.
39 In their heate I will make them feastes, and I wil make them drunken, that they may reioyce, and sleepe a perpetual sleepe, & not wake, sayth the Lord.
40 I wil bring them downe like lambes to the slaughter, and like rams and goates.
41 How is Sheshach taken! and howe is the glory of the whole earth taken! how is Babel become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea is come vp vpon Babel: he is couered with the multitude of the waues thereof.
43 Her cities are desolate: the land is dry and a wildernes, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth the sonne of man passe thereby.
44 I wil also visite Bel in Babel, & I wil bring out of his mouth, that which he hath swallowed vp, and the nations shal runne no more vnto him, and the wall of Babel shal fall.
45 My people, go out of the middes of her, & deliuer yee euery man his soule from the fierce wrath of the Lord,
46 Least your heart euen faynt, & ye feare the rumour, that shalbe heard in the land: the rumour shall come this yeere, and after that in the other yeere shal come a rumour, & crueltie in the land, and ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore beholde, the dayes come, that I will visite the images of Babel, & the whole land shalbe confounded, and all her slayne shal fall in the middes of her.
48 Then the heauen and the earth, and all that is therein, shall reioyce for Babel: for the destroyers shal come vnto her from the North, saith the Lord.
49 As Babel caused the slaine of Israel to fal, so by Babel the slaine of all the earth did fall.
50 Ye that haue escaped the sworde, goe away, stand not still: remember the Lord a farre of, and let Ierusalem come into your minde.
51 Wee are confounded because wee haue heard reproch: shame hath couered our faces, for straungers are come into the Sanctuaries of the Lordes House.
52 Wherefore behold, the dayes come, sayth the Lord, that I will visite her grauen images, and through all her land the wounded shal grone.
53 Though Babel should mount vp to heauen, and though shee should defend her strength on hye, yet from mee shall her destroyers come, sayth the Lord.
54 A sound of a cry commeth from Babel, and great destruction from the land of the Caldeans,
55 Because the Lorde hath layde Babel waste and destroyed from her the great voyce, and her waues shall roare like great waters, and a sounde was made by their noyse:
56 Because the destroyer is come vpon her, euen vpon Babel, and her strong men are taken, their bowes are broken: for the Lorde God that recompenceth, shal surely recompence.
57 And I will make drunke her princes, and her wise men, her dukes, and her nobles, and her strong men: and they shall sleepe a perpetuall sleepe, and not wake, sayth the King, whose Name is the Lord of hostes.
58 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, The thicke wall of Babel shalbe broken, & her hie gates shal be burnt with fire, and the people shall labour in vaine, & the folke in ye fire, for they shalbe weary.
59 The worde which Ieremiah the Prophet commanded Sheraiah the sonne of Neriiah, the sonne of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the King of Iudah into Babel, in the fourth yeere of his reigne: and this Sheraiah was a peaceable prince.
60 So Ieremiah wrote in a booke all the euill that should come vpo Babel: euen al these things, that are written against Babel.
61 And Ieremiah sayd to Sheraiah, Whe thou commest vnto Babel, and shalt see, & shalt reade all these wordes,
62 Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to destroy it, that none should remaine in it, neither man nor beast, but that it should be desolate for euer.
63 And when thou hast made an ende of reading this booke, thou shalt binde a stone to it, & cast it in the middes of Euphrates,
64 And shalt say, Thus shal Babel be drowned, and shall not rise from the euil, that I will bring vpon her: and they shal be weary. Thus farre are the wordes of Ieremiah.