Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; always before Me are grief and wounds.

Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her seasons; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah.

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a far country. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign vanities?

Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O women, and let your ear receive the Word of His mouth, and teach your daughters to weep, and each one teach her neighbor to mourn.

What is to My beloved in My house, since she has committed her many evils? And has the holy flesh caused your evil to pass from you? How then do you exult?

I have forsaken My house; I have left My inheritance. I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.

My inheritance is like a speckled bird to Me; the birds all around are against her. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.

Their widows are more numerous about Me than the sand of the seas; I have brought on them, against a mother of a young man, a ravager at noonday; I have caused anguish and terror to fall on her suddenly.

She who bore seven languishes; she has breathed out her life; her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah.

because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

For I will give health back to you, and will heal you of your wounds, says Jehovah; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her.

So says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place.

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the sons of the flock and the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not pine away any more at all.

So says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take in your hand thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet up out of the pit before he dies.

But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured by the sword and by the famine.

And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make our cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our men?

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely fulfil our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. You will surely fulfil your vows and surely carry out your vows.

Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation.

Its sound is like a serpent's going, for they shall go in force and come against her with axes like woodcutters.

They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts and cannot be counted.

Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

Moab is plundered and has come up out of her cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

O dweller of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, What is happening?

O you who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and live in the rock, and be like the dove making her nest in the sides of the mouth of the pit.

Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized; and the mighty men's hearts in Moab shall be at that day like the heart of a woman in her pangs.

So, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cause a shout of war to be heard in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. And it shall be a heap of ruins, and her daughter-villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall inherit his inheritance, says Jehovah.

Why do you glory in your valley, your flowing valleys, O backsliding daughter? she trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?

I have heard a message from Jehovah, and a herald is sent to the nations, saying, Gather together and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the home of the strong. But I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen one I may appoint over it? For who is like Me? And who will summon Me? And who is that shepherd who will stand before Me?

Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah. And at that day the heart of the mighty men of Edom shall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.

So her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silenced in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Declare among the nations, and cause them to hear, and lift up a banner. Cause them to hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; her images are shamed, her idols are broken in pieces.

For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land a desert, and none shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall depart, both man and beast.

For, lo, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon a company of great nations from a northern land. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there. Their arrows shall be as those of a skillful, mighty man; none shall return in vain.

And Chaldea shall be a prize; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, says Jehovah.

Because of the wrath of Jehovah it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly a waste. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be amazed and hiss at all her plagues.

Put yourselves in order against Babylon all around; all you who bend the bow, shoot at her. Hold back no arrows, for she has sinned against Jehovah.

Shout against her all around. She has given her hand; her foundations have fallen, her walls have been thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her.

Come against her from the border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her completely. Let nothing of her be left.

Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.

Make the archers hear against Babylon. All you who tread a bow, camp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.

So her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be silenced in that day, says Jehovah.

A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and on the people of Babylon, and on her rulers, and on her wise men.

A sword is on the liars, and they shall become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be afraid.

A sword is on their horses and their chariots, and on all the mixed people in her midst; and they shall become as women. A sword is to her treasuries, and they shall be robbed.

A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act madly with idols.

So the beasts of the desert shall dwell there with jackals. And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell in her again. And it shall not again have anyone in it forever; it shall not be lived in until generation and generation.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the home of the strong. But I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen one whom I will appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will set Me the time? And who is that shepherd who will stand before Me?

And I will send aliens to Babylon who will sift her and will empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her all around.

Do not let the treader fully tread his bow; nor lift himself up in his armor. And do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

So the dead shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, those thrust through in her streets.

Flee out of the middle of Babylon, and each man deliver his soul. Be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; He will give to her a just reward.

Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, which made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations rage.

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us go, each one into his own country; for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the skies.

Set up a banner in the land; blow a trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations against her. Call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz together against her; set a commander against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough locusts.

Consecrate nations against her, with the kings of the Medes, her governors and all her rulers, and all the land of his kingdom.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they have remained in strongholds; their might has failed. They became like women; they have burned her houses; her bars are broken.

For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; it is time to thresh her. Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

So Jehovah says this: Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

Her cities are a desert, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass by it.

My people, go out of her midst; and let each man deliver his soul from the fierce anger of Jehovah.

So, behold, the days come that I will punish the idols of Babylon. And all her land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.

And the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall shout for Babylon; for the plunderers shall come to her from the north, says Jehovah.

So, behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will punish her idols, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet plunderers shall come to her from Me, says Jehovah.

because Jehovah is stripping Babylon, and the great voice will perish out of her. And her waves will roar like great waters; the noise of their voice is given,

because the ravager has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are captured. Every one of their bows is broken, for Jehovah, the God of vengeance, shall surely repay.

And I will make her rulers drunk, also her wise ones, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a never-ending sleep and not awaken, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be completely broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the people shall be in the fire, and they shall be weary.

And you shall say, In this way shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her. And they shall be weary. So far are the words of Jeremiah.

She bitterly weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt deceitfully with her; they became her enemies.

Judah went into captivity because of affliction, and from great slavery. She dwells among the nations; she finds no rest; all her pursuers have overtaken her between the narrows.

The roads of Zion mourn without any going to the appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

Her enemies have become as chief; her haters are at ease; for Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her sins. Her children have gone, captive before the enemy.

And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty has departed. Her rulers have become like bucks: they find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and her wandering Jerusalem remembered all her desirable things from previous days; when her people fell into the hand of the foe; and there is no ally for her. The foes saw her; they laughed at her annihilation.

Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has been removed. All knowing her despise her because they saw her nakedness; yea, she sighs and turns backward.

Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not remember her end, and has gone down astoundingly. There is no comforter for her. O Jehovah, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself.

The enemy has spread out his hand upon all her desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her holy place, whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation.

All her people sigh; they seek bread. They have given their desirable things for food to relieve the soul. See, O Jehovah, and look on me, for I have become vile.

Zion spreads forth her hands; none is comforting to me; Jehovah has commanded concerning Jacob that his enemies should be all around him; Jerusalem has become as an impure thing among them.

Jehovah was like an enemy; He swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, and destroyed His strongholds. And He has increased mourning and weeping in the daughter of Judah.

Jehovah has cast off His altar; He rejected His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hater's hand. They gave a noise in the house of Jehovah, as a day of meeting.

Her gates have sunk in the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her kings and her rulers are among the nations. The Law is no more; also her prophets also find no vision from Jehovah.

All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen.

And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is heaped more than the sin of Sodom, overthrown as in a moment, and no hands spun on her.

Her Nazarites were purer than snow, whiter than milk; they were redder of bone than corals; their cuttings as lapis lazuli, azure blue.

For the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, shedding the blood of the just in her midst,

So says the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the middle of the nations, and all around her are the lands.

And she has changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and defiled My Laws more than the countries that are all around her; for they have rejected My judgments and My Laws; they have not walked in them.

The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all her multitude.

For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision to all her multitude shall not return, and a man shall not hold his life strong in iniquity.

They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle, for My wrath is on all her multitude.