You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you."

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all that took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.

“Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name.
He will most certainly plead their case and defend their cause
So that He may bring rest to their land,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

The sword shall come upon the Chaldeans, sayeth the LORD; upon them that dwell in Babylon; upon their princes; and upon their wise men.

“A sword against the oracle priests (the babbling liars), and they will become fools!
A sword against her mighty warriors, and they will be shattered and destroyed!

“A sword against their horses and against their chariots
And against all the foreign troops that are in her midst,
And they will become [as weak and defenseless as] women!
A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

“A drought on her waters, and they will dry up!
For it is a land of [worthless] idols,
And they are mad over fearsome idols [those objects of terror in which they foolishly trust].

Like as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, with the cities that lay there about, sayeth the LORD: So shall no man dwell there also, neither shall any man have there his habitation.

The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming. Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.

"A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me.

Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.

At the shout that Babylon has been seized, the earth will be shaken, and the cry will be heard among the nations.

Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.

And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

Go in flight out of Babylon, so that every man may keep his life; do not be cut off in her evil-doing: for it is the time of the Lord's punishment; he will give her her reward.

Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

"Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media. For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the Lord will get his revenge -- how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians' destruction of his temple.

Set up a signal on the walls of Babylon [to spread the news];
Post a strong blockade,
Station the guards,
Prepare the men for ambush!
For the Lord has both purposed and done
That which He spoke against the people of Babylon.

O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.

Sworn hath Jehovah of Hosts by Himself, That, Surely I have filled thee with men as the cankerworm, And they have cried against thee -- shouting.

He that Made the earth in his might, Established the world in his wisdom, - And in his understanding, stretched out the heavens

By the voice that he uttered, there was a tumult of waters in the heavens, And he caused vapours to ascend from the end of the earth, - Lightnings for the rain, made he, And brought forth wind out of his treasures.

By the reason of wisdom, all men are become fools. Confounded be all the casters of images: for the thing that they make is but deceit, and hath no breath.

The portion of Jacob is not like them; for it is he that hath formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.

and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

“And I will [completely] repay Babylon and all the people of Chaldea for all the evil that they have done in Zion—before your very eyes [I will do it],” says the Lord.

The Lord says, "Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth. I will unleash my power against you; I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.

so that neither cornerstones, nor pinnacles, nor foundation stones shall be taken any more out of thee, but waste and desolate shalt thou lie for evermore, sayeth the LORD.

Prepare against them the people of the Medes with their kings, princes and all their chief rulers; yea, and the whole land that is under them.

The land also shall shake and be afraid, when the device of the LORD shall come forth against Babylon: to make the land of Babylon so waste that no man shall dwell any more therein.

One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured.

They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified.

My wrong, and that of my flesh is on Babylon, Say doth the inhabitant of Zion, And my blood is on the inhabitants of Chaldea, Say doth Jerusalem.

When their appetites are all stirred up, I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out, they will fall asleep forever, they will never wake up," says the Lord.

O how was Sheshach won? O, how was the glory of the whole land taken? How happeneth it that Babylon is so wondered at among the Heathen?

And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

O my people, come out of Babylon: that every man may save his life from the fearful wrath of the LORD.

Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler."

Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon. For destroyers from the north will attack it," says the Lord.

Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

“I will make her princes and her wise men drunk,
Her governors, her prefects and her mighty men,
That they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,”
Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

"Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The thick wall of Babylon shall be broken, and her proud gates shall be burnt up. And the thing that the Gentiles and the people have wrought with great travail and labour shall come to naught and be consumed in the fire."

The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was chief chamberlain or quartermaster [and brother of Baruch].

Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon -- all these prophecies written about Babylon.

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words aloud,

Then say, 'O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!'

And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.

Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink down and not rise because of the disaster that I will bring on her; and the Babylonians will become [hopelessly] exhausted.’” Thus the words of Jeremiah are completed.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord like all that Jehoiakim had done.

For it was, because the anger of Yahweh, had come against Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.

In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king's garden. (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.

The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the pillars of bronze which belonged to the house of the Lord, and the bronze pedestals [which supported the ten basins] and the [enormous] bronze Sea, which were in the house of the Lord, and carried all the bronze to Babylon.

They took away also the Caldrons, shovels, flesh hooks, sprinklers, spoons, and all the brazen vessel that was occupied in the service;

And the cups, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the bowls-that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver,- the captain of the guard took away.

The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord's temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called "The Sea," the twelve bronze bulls under "The Sea," and the movable stands) was too heavy to be weighed.

For every pillar was eighteen cubits high, and the rope that went about it, was twelve cubits, and four fingers thick and round.

There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.

The chief Captain also took Seraiah the high priest, and Zephaniah that was chief next him, and the three keepers of the treasury.

and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and seven men of them that saw the king's face, that were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.

He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than the other kings who were with him in Babylon.