Isaiah 21:9; Isaiah 47; Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 50; Jeremiah 51; Isaiah 13

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Isaiah 21:9

And behold, here come riders,

horsemen in pairs!

fAnd he answered,

gFallen, fallen is Babylon;

hand all the carved images of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.


Isaiah 47

The Humiliation of Babylon

eCome down and sit in the dust,

O virgin fdaughter of Babylon;

gsit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of hthe Chaldeans!

iFor you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

Take the millstones and jgrind flour,

kput off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

lOur Redeemerthe Lord of hosts is his name

is the Holy One of Israel.

mSit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of hthe Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

nthe mistress of kingdoms.

oI was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

pyou showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

You said, I shall be qmistress forever,

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

Now therefore hear this, qyou lover of pleasures,

rwho sit securely,

who say in your heart,

sI am, and there is no one besides me;

tI shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children:

uThese two things shall come to you

in a moment, vin one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

win spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

10  You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, No one sees me;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

xI am, and there is no one besides me.

11  But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

12  zStand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

13  You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

athose who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.

14  Behold, bthey are like stubble;

cthe fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

15  Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.


Jeremiah 25:12

12 Then after useventy years are completed, vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, vmaking the land an everlasting waste.


Jeremiah 50

Judgment on Babylon

The word that the Lord spoke concerning cBabylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, dby Jeremiah the prophet:

Declare among the nations and proclaim,

set up a banner and proclaim,

conceal it not, and say:

eBabylon is taken,

fBel is put to shame,

Merodach is dismayed.

eHer images are put to shame,

her idols are dismayed.

For gout of the north a nation has come up against her, hwhich shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; iboth man and beast shall flee away.

jIn those days and in that time, declares the Lord, jthe people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, kweeping as they come, and they lshall seek the Lord their God. mThey shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, nsaying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an oeverlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.

pMy people have been lost sheep. qTheir shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. All who found them have devoured them, rand their enemies have said, We are not guilty, for sthey have sinned against the Lord, ttheir habitation of righteousness, the Lord, uthe hope of their fathers.

vFlee from the midst of Babylon, vand go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock. For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon wa gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. 10 xChaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the Lord.

11  yThough you rejoice, though you exult,

O plunderers of my heritage,

though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,

and neigh like stallions,

12  your mother shall be utterly shamed,

and she who bore you shall be disgraced.

Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,

za wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13  aBecause of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited

but shall be an utter desolation;

beveryone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,

band hiss because of all her wounds.

14  cSet yourselves in array against Babylon all around,

dall you who bend the bow;

shoot at her, spare no arrows,

efor she has sinned against the Lord.

15  fRaise a shout against her all around;

she has surrendered;

her bulwarks have fallen;

gher walls are thrown down.

For hthis is the vengeance of the Lord:

take vengeance on her;

ido to her as she has done.

16  Cut off from Babylon the sower,

and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;

jbecause of the sword of the oppressor,

kevery one shall turn to his own people,

and every one shall flee to his own land.

17 lIsrael is a hunted sheep mdriven away by lions. nFirst the king of Assyria odevoured him, and now at last pNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon qhas gnawed his bones. 18 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, rI am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, sas I punished the king of Assyria. 19 tI will restore Israel to his pasture, and the shall feed on uCarmel and in uBashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in uGilead. 20 In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, viniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for wI will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

21  Go up against the land of Merathaim,1

and against the inhabitants of Pekod.2

Kill, xand devote them to destruction,3

declares the Lord,

and do all that I have commanded you.

22  yThe noise of battle is in the land,

and great destruction!

23  zHow the hammer of the whole earth

is cut down and broken!

aHow Babylon bhas become

a horror among the nations!

24  cI set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,

and dyou did not know it;

you were found and caught,

because you opposed the Lord.

25  The Lord has opened his armory

and brought out ethe weapons of his wrath,

for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do

in the land of the Chaldeans.

26  Come against her from every quarter;

open her granaries;

fpile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;

let nothing be left of her.

27  Kill all gher bulls;

let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them, for their day has come,

hthe time of their punishment.

28 A voice! They iflee and escape from the land of Babylon, jto declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for khis temple.

29 lSummon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. lEncamp around her; let no one escape. mRepay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has nproudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 30 oTherefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord.

31  Behold, I am against you, O nproud one,

declares the Lord God of hosts,

pfor your day has come,

the time when I will punish you.

32  nThe proud one shall stumble and fall,

with none to raise him up,

qand I will kindle a fire in his cities,

and it will devour all that is around him.

33 Thus says the Lord of hosts: rThe people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; sthey refuse to let them go. 34 tTheir Redeemer is strong; uthe Lord of hosts is his name. vHe will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35  A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,

and against the inhabitants of Babylon,

and against wher officials and her xwise men!

36  A sword against the diviners,

that they may become fools!

A sword against her ywarriors,

that they may be destroyed!

37  A sword against her horses and against her chariots,

and against all zthe foreign troops in her midst,

that athey may become women!

bA sword against all her treasures,

that they may be plundered!

38  cA drought against her waters,

that they may be dried up!

dFor it is a land of images,

and they are mad over idols.

39 eTherefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon,4 and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40 fAs when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, gso no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

41  hBehold, a people comes from the north;

a mighty nation and many kings

are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

42  They lay hold of bow and spear;

they are cruel and have no mercy.

The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;

they ride on horses,

arrayed as a man for battle

against you, O daughter of Babylon!

43  The king of Babylon heard the report of them,

and his hands fell helpless;

anguish seized him,

pain as of a woman in labor.

44 iBehold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd jcan stand before me? 45 Therefore hear kthe plan that the Lord has made against Babylon, kand the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: lSurely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 mAt the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.


Jeremiah 51

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

Thus says the Lord:

Behold, I will stir up nthe spirit of a destroyer

against Babylon,

against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,1

and I will send to Babylon winnowers,

and othey shall winnow her,

and they shall empty her land,

when they come against her from every side

pon the day of trouble.

qLet not the archer bend his bow,

and let him not stand up in his armor.

Spare not her young men;

rdevote to destruction2 all her army.

They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

sand wounded in her streets.

tFor Israel and Judah have not been forsaken

by their God, the Lord of hosts,

but the land of the Chaldeans3 is full of guilt

against the Holy One of Israel.

uFlee from the midst of Babylon;

let every one save his life!

vBe not cut off in her punishment,

wfor this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance,

the repayment he is rendering her.

Babylon was xa golden cup in the Lord’s hand,

ymaking all the earth drunken;

zthe nations drank of her wine;

therefore the nations went mad.

aSuddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;

bwail for her!

cTake balm for her pain;

perhaps she may be healed.

We would have healed Babylon,

but she was not healed.

dForsake her, and elet us go

each to his own country,

for fher judgment has reached up to heaven

and has been lifted up even to the skies.

10  gThe Lord has brought about our vindication;

hcome, let us declare in Zion

the work of the Lord our God.

11  iSharpen the arrows!

Take up the shields!

jThe Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of kthe Medes, because lhis purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, mfor that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for mhis temple.

12  nSet up a standard against the walls of Babylon;

omake the watch strong;

set up watchmen;

prepare the ambushes;

lfor the Lord has both planned and done

what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13  pO you who dwell by many waters,

rich in treasures,

your end has come;

the thread of your life is cut.

14  qThe Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:

Surely I will fill you with men, ras many as locusts,

sand they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

15  tIt is he who made the earth by his power,

who established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

16  When 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.

17  Every 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.

18  They are worthless, a work of delusion;

at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

19  Not 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 ubreak nations in pieces;

with you I destroy kingdoms;

21  with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;

22  with you I break in pieces man and woman;

with you I break in pieces vthe old man and the youth;

with you I break in pieces vthe young man and the young woman;

23  with 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 wgovernors and commanders.

24 xI 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,

yand make you a burnt mountain.

26  No zstone shall be taken from you for a corner

and no stone for a foundation,

but you shall be aa perpetual waste,

declares the Lord.

27  bSet up a standard on the earth;

cblow the trumpet among the nations;

dprepare ethe nations for war against her;

summon against her fthe kingdoms,

gArarat, Minni, and hAshkenaz;

appoint a imarshal against her;

jbring up horses like bristling locusts.

28  dPrepare ethe nations for war against her,

the kings of kthe Medes, lwith their governors land deputies,

and every mland under their dominion.

29  nThe land trembles and writhes in pain,

ofor the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,

to make the land of Babylon a desolation,

without inhabitant.

30  The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;

they remain in their strongholds;

their strength has failed;

pthey have become women;

qher dwellings are on fire;

rher bars are broken.

31  One srunner runs to meet another,

and one messenger to meet another,

to tell the king of Babylon

that his city is taken on every side;

32  the fords have been tseized,

the marshes are burned with fire,

and the soldiers are in panic.

33  For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

uThe daughter of Babylon is like ua threshing floor

at the time when it is trodden;

yet a little while

and vthe time of her harvest will come.

34  Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon whas devoured me;

he has crushed me;

he has made me an empty vessel;

xhe has swallowed me like ya monster;

he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;

he has rinsed me out.4

35  The 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.

36  Therefore thus says the Lord:

Behold, zI will plead your cause

and take vengeance for you.

aI will dry up her sea

and bmake her fountain dry,

37  and Babylon shall become ca heap of ruins,

dthe haunt of jackals,

ea horror eand a hissing,

without inhabitant.

38  fThey shall roar together glike lions;

they shall growl like lions’ cubs.

39  hWhile they are inflamed hI will prepare them a feast

and imake them drunk, that they may become merry,

ithen sleep a perpetual sleep

and not wake, declares the Lord.

40  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

like rams and male goats.

41  How jBabylon5 is taken,

kthe praise of the whole earth lseized!

How Babylon has become

a horror among the nations!

42  mThe sea has come up on Babylon;

she is covered with its tumultuous waves.

43  Her cities have become a horror,

na land of drought and a desert,

oa land in which no one dwells,

and through which no son of man passes.

44  And I will punish pBel in Babylon,

and qtake out of his mouth rwhat he has swallowed.

sThe nations shall no longer flow to him;

tthe wall of Babylon has fallen.

45  Go out of the midst of her, umy people!

Let every one save his life

from vthe fierce anger of the Lord!

46  Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful

wat the report heard in the land,

xwhen a report comes in one year

and afterward a report in another year,

and violence is in the land,

xand ruler is against ruler.

47  Therefore, behold, the days are coming

when yI will punish the images of Babylon;

zher whole land shall be put to shame,

and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

48  aThen the heavens and the earth,

and all that is in them,

shall sing for joy over Babylon,

bfor the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,

declares the Lord.

49  Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,

cjust as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

50  dYou 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  eWe are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;

edishonor has covered our face,

ffor foreigners have come

into the holy places of the Lord’s house.

52  Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when yI will execute judgment upon her images,

gand through all her land

the wounded shall groan.

53  Though Babylon should hmount up to heaven,

and though she should ifortify her strong height,

yet destroyers would come from me against her,

declares the Lord.

54  jA voice! A cry from Babylon!

The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55  For the Lord is laying Babylon waste

and stilling her mighty voice.

kTheir waves roar like many waters;

the noise of their voice is raised,

56  for a destroyer has come upon her,

upon Babylon;

her warriors are taken;

their bows are broken in pieces,

lfor the Lord is a God of recompense;

he will surely repay.

57  mI will make drunk her officials and her wise men,

nher governors, her commanders, and her warriors;

they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,

declares othe King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58  Thus says the Lord of hosts:

The broad pwall of Babylon

shall be leveled to the ground,

qand her high gates

shall be burned with fire.

rThe peoples labor for nothing,

and sthe nations weary themselves only for fire.

59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah tthe son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, uin the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 vJeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, wall these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so xthat nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be ydesolate forever. 63 When you finish reading this book, zatie a stone to it zand cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, zThus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, band they shall become exhausted.

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.


Isaiah 13

The Judgment of Babylon

The oracle concerning fBabylon which gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

On a bare hill hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ithem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.1

The sound jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.2

mWail, for nthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty3 it will come!

Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart owill melt.

They will be dismayed:

ppangs and agony will seize them;

qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

Behold, nthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and rto destroy its sinners from it.

10  sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will punish uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ygold of Ophir.

13  Therefore zI will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

14  And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

15  Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16  bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  dTheir bows will slaughter4 the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20  gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ishepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there kostriches5 will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas6 will cry in its towers,

and ljackals in mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.