Judgment on Babylon
1 The word that the Lord spoke lconcerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
mset up a banner and proclaim,
conceal it not, and say:
‘Babylon is taken,
nBel is put to shame,
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed.’
3 “For out of the onorth a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.
4 “In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come ptogether, qweeping as they come, and they shall rseek the Lord their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, s‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an teverlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’
6 “My people have been ulost sheep. Their shepherds have led them vastray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. 7 All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their habitation of righteousness, the Lord, the whope of their fathers.’
8 x“Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock. 9 For behold, yI am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a 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 Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the Lord.
11 “Though 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,
a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited
but shall be an utter desolation;
zeveryone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
and hiss because of all her wounds.
14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise a shout against her all around;
she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
aher walls are thrown down.
For this is the bvengeance of the Lord:
take vengeance on her;
cdo to her as she has done.
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
dbecause of the sword of the oppressor,
eevery one shall turn to his own people,
and every one shall flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by flions. gFirst the king of Assyria devoured him, and hnow at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. 18 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I ipunished the king of Assyria. 19 I will restore Israel to his pasture, and jhe shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20 In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, kiniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will lpardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim,1
and against the inhabitants of Pekod.2
Kill, and devote them to destruction,3
declares the Lord,
and do all that I have commanded you.
22 The noise of battle is in the land,
and mgreat destruction!
23 nHow the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
24 I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
and you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you opposed the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out the 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;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
let nothing be left of her.
27 Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.
28 “A voice! They flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, ovengeance for his temple.
29 “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. pRepay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 30 qTherefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord.
31 r“Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is around him.
33 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34 Their sRedeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely tplead 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 her officials and her wise men!
36 A sword against the diviners,
that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
that they may be destroyed!
37 A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
that they may ubecome women!
A sword against all her treasures,
that they may be plundered!
38 A drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of vimages,
and they are mad over idols.
39 “Therefore wwild 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 xAs when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so yno man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.
41 “Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
42 zThey 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 aheard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in labor.
44 b“Behold, 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? cWho will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 45 dTherefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 eAt the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”
The Utter Destruction of Babylon
1 Thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon,
against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,5
2 and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
and they shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
when they come against her from every side
on the day of trouble.
3 Let not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not stand up in his armor.
Spare not her young men;
devote to destruction6 all her army.
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and wounded in her streets.
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeans7 is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 f“Flee from the midst of Babylon;
let every one save his life!
Be not cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance,
the grepayment he is rendering her.
7 Babylon was a hgolden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her iwine;
therefore the nations went mad.
8 Suddenly Babylon has jfallen and been broken;
wail for her!
kTake balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go
leach to his own country,
for mher judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10 The Lord has brought about our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
11 “Sharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the nMedes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the ovengeance for his temple.
12 p“Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
prepare the ambushes;
for the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you qwho dwell by many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, ras many as locusts,
and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
15 s“It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world tby 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 uhe 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 vput to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and wthere 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 xtribe of his inheritance;
ythe Lord of hosts is his name.
20 “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I break 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 the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces the 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 governors and commanders.
24 “I will zrepay 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 a“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,
and make you a burnt mountain.
26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
declares the Lord.
27 “Set up a standard on the earth;
blow the trumpet among the nations;
bprepare the nations for war against her;
summon against her the kingdoms,
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
and every land under their dominion.
29 The land trembles and writhes in pain,
for 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;
they have cbecome women;
her dwellings are on fire;
her bars are broken.
31 One runner 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 seized,
the marshes are burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her dharvest will come.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has edevoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me out.8
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, I will fplead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,
37 and Babylon shall become a gheap of ruins,
the haunt of hjackals,
a horror and a hissing,
without inhabitant.
38 “They shall roar together like lions;
they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
39 While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
then 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 Babylon9 is taken,
the praise of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
42 The sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43 Her cities have become a horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
44 And I will punish iBel in Babylon,
and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer flow to him;
jthe wall of Babylon has fallen.
45 “Go out of the midst of her, my people!
Let every one save his life
from the fierce anger of the Lord!
46 Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
at the report heard in the land,
when a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
and ruler is against ruler.
47 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when I will punish the kimages of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
shall lsing for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against them out of the mnorth,
declares the Lord.
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
just as for Babylon have fallen the nslain of all the earth.
50 “You who have oescaped from the sword,
go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51 ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
dishonor has covered our face,
for pforeigners have come
into the holy places of the Lord’s house.’
52 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will execute judgment upon her images,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
declares the Lord.
54 “A voice! A cry from Babylon!
The noise of qgreat destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her mighty voice.
Their 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,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will surely repay.
57 I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
rthey shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
declares the sKing, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
tThe peoples labor for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of uNeriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, vin the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a wbook all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all 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 that xnothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and ycast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
The Day of the Lord Will Come
1 This is now the ssecond letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am tstirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 uthat you should remember the vpredictions wof the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, xthat scoffers will come yin the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, z“Where is the promise of his acoming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, bthat the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water cby the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was ddeluged with water and eperished. 7 But by the same word fthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, gand a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is hpatient toward you,1 inot wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come jlike a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies2 will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.3
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for knew heavens and a new earth lin which righteousness dwells.
Final Words
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, mbe diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as nour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, otake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
