WeBible

1 - The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 - Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

3 - For out of the north there cometh a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell in it, they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

4 - In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

5 - They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces towards it, [saying], Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant [that] shall not be forgotten.

6 - My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.

7 - All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

8 - Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.

9 - For lo, I will raise and cause to come against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows [shall be] as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

10 - And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

11 - Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of my heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

12 - Your mother shall be greatly confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations [shall be] a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13 - Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

14 - Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.

15 - Shout against her on every side; she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it [is] the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do to her.

16 - Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

17 - Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven [him] away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

18 - Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

19 - And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

20 - In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and [there shall] be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

21 - Go up against the land of Merathaim, [even] against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

22 - A sound of battle [is] in the land, and of great destruction.

23 - How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

24 - I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.

25 - The LORD hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this [is] the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 - Come against her from the utmost border, open her store-houses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

27 - Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

28 - The voice of them that flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

29 - Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, encamp against it on every side; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do to her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

30 - Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.

31 - Behold, I [am] against thee, [O thou] most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time [that] I will visit thee.

32 - And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all around him.

33 - Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah [were] oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

34 - Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 - A sword [is] upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise [men].

36 - A sword [is] upon the liars; and they shall be sottish: a sword [is] upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

37 - A sword [is] upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that [are] in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword [is] upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

38 - A drouth [is] upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it [is] the land of graven images, and they are mad upon [their] idols.

39 - Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the isles, shall dwell [there], and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

40 - As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring [cities], saith the LORD; [so] shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

41 - Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the borders of the earth.

42 - They shall hold the bow and the lance: they [are] cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, [every one] put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

43 - The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands became feeble: anguish took hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail.

44 - Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who [is] a chosen [man], [that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that shepherd that will stand before me?

45 - Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make [their] habitation desolate with them.

46 - At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.