and the eyes of Zedekiah, did he put out, and bound him with fetters of bronze to bring him into Babylon.

And the house of the king, and the houses of the people, did the Chaldeans burn with fire, and the walls of Jerusalem, brake they down;

and the remnant of the people who were left in the city, and the disheartened who fell away unto him, and the remnant of the people who were left, did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners, take captive to Babylon.

But of the poor people, who had, nothing, did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners, leave remaining in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and ploughed fields on the same day.

and [now] he has brought [it about], and Yahweh has done {just as} he threatened. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to his voice, so this thing [has] happened to you.

But now, listen carefully, [because of your innocence] I am freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you [carefully]; but if you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, then do not do so. Look, all the land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right (convenient) for you to go.”

When he still did not respond, Nebuzaradan said, "Return to Ahikam's son Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and remain with him among the people or go wherever it seems right for you to go." Then the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a gift and sent him off.

and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.

But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Do not kill us, for we have hidden stores in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbore, and did not kill them among their brethren.

Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.

Then did Ishmael take captive all the remnant of the people that was in Mizpah, - the daughters of the king, and all the people that were left remaining in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had committed unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam, - yea Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive, and departed to pass over unto the sons of Ammon.

And Johanan son of Kareah will hear, and all the chiefs of the armies which were with him, all the evil which Ishmael son of Nethaniah did.

Then did Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him take all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah out of Mizpah, after he had smitten Gedaliah son of Ahikam, - mighty men, men of war, and women and children and eunuchs, whom he had recovered out of Gibeon;

If dwelling, ye will dwell in this land, and I built you, and I will not pull down, and I planted you, and I will not pluck up: for I grieved for the evil which I did to you.

Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, 'You must not go [to] Egypt.' You must certainly know that I have warned you {today}

So I have told you {today}, and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of {anything} that he sent me for you.

Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the insolent men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, "You [are] telling a lie! Yahweh our God did not send you, {saying}, 'You must not go [to] Egypt to dwell as aliens there.'

So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people disobeyed the voice of the Lord [which told them] to stay in the land of Judah.

and they came [into] the land of Egypt, for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. And they came up to Tahpanhes.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster I brought against Jerusalem and all Judah’s cities; look, they are a ruin today without an inhabitant in them

because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and incense to serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

But they did not listen or turn [obediently] from their wickedness, and stop burning sacrifices and incense to other gods.

So My fierce wrath poured out and burned in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets so that they became the desolate ruin they are today.

Have you forgotten the evil deeds of your ancestors, the evil deeds of the kings of Judah, the evil deeds of their wives, your evil deeds, and the evil deeds of your wives, that they did in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?

and I will take the remnant of Judah who did set their faces to enter the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, in the land of Egypt, shall they fall by the sword, by famine, shall they be consumed, from the least even unto the greatest, by sword and by famine, shall they die, - so shall they become a curse, and an astonishment, and a contempt and a reproach;

But certainly we will do {everything} that went out from our mouths, to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors, our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, [for] then {we had enough to eat}, and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster.

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

The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?

The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today.

{Because of} [the fact] that you made smoke offerings, and that you sinned against Yahweh, and you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you have not walked in his law, and in his statute, and in his legal provisions, {therefore} this disaster has happened to you, as [it is] this day."

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Ye and your wives have spoken with your own mouth, the thing that ye have fulfilled in deed. Yea, thus have ye said, 'We will not fail, but do the thing that pleaseth us: we will do sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of heaven.' Purposely have ye set up your own good meanings, and hastily have ye fulfilled your own intent.

You did say, Woe is me now! for the LORD has added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

Wherefore did I see them terrified, drawing back behind? and their strong ones shall be broken, and they fled a flight, and they turned not: fear being round about, says Jehovah.

Nations have heard of thy shame, And thy cry hath filled the land, For the mighty on the mighty did stumble, Together they have fallen -- both of them!'

Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar and his troops, who want to kill them. But later on, people will live in Egypt again as they did in former times. I, the Lord, affirm it!"

"From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed. It has never been taken into exile. Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs, never poured out from one jar to another. They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged.

For did you not make sport of Israel? was he taken among thieves? for whenever you were talking about him, you were shaking your head over him.

For her furiousness may neither uphold her with strength nor deed.

I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah just like the town of Jazer weeps over them. Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea. They reached as far as the town of Jazer. The destroyer will ravage her fig, date, and grape crops.

Therefore my heart for Moab as pipes doth sound, And my heart for men of Kir-Heres As pipes doth sound, Therefore the abundance he made did perish.

How was it broken they wailed; how did Moab turn back the neck with shame and Moab was for derision and for terror to all round about him.

To the sons of Ammon, thus said Jehovah: Is there no sons to Israel? none inheriting to him? Wherefore did their king inherit Gad, and his people dwelt in his cities?

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess them that did possess him, saith Jehovah.

To Edom, thus said Jehovah of armies, Is wisdom no more in Teman? did counsel perish from the discerning? was their wisdom poured out?

For the Lord says, "If even those who did not deserve to drink from the cup of my wrath must drink from it, do you think you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must certainly drink from the cup of my wrath.

For I have sworn [an oath] by Myself,” says the Lord, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins.”

All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said, 'We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture. They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors trusted.'

Shout against her round about, She hath given forth her hand, Fallen have her foundations, Thrown down have been her walls, For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, Be avenged of her, as she did -- do ye to her.

A scattered sheep is Israel, lions have driven away, At first, devour him did the king of Asshur, And now, at last, broken his bone Hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

“I set a trap for you and you also were caught, O Babylon,
And you did not know it;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have struggled against the Lord.”

Summon unto Babylon archers, all treading the bow, Encamp against her round about, Let her have no escape; Recompense to her according to her work, According to all that she did -- do to her, For unto Jehovah she hath been proud, Unto the Holy One of Israel.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are crushed down together: all those who took them prisoner keep them in a tight grip; they will not let them go.

A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it," says the Lord.

And the dead will be stretched out in the land of the Chaldaeans, and the wounded in her streets.

Lift ye up a signal against the walls of Babel, strengthen the watch, set up the watchers, prepare the ambushes: for Jehovah also purposed and also did what he spake to the inhabitants of Babel.

"Before your eyes I'll repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil that they did in Zion," declares the LORD.

Then did the land tremble and was in pain, - For the plans of Yahweh, had been established against Babylon, To make the land of Babylon an astonishment, without inhabitant.

For this cause, truly, the days are coming when I will send punishment on the images of Babylon, and all her land will be shamed, and her dead will be falling down in her.

As Babylon had the dead of Israel put to the sword, so in Babylon the dead of all the land will be stretched out.

And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

and all the walls of Jerusalem round about, did all the force of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the royal executioners, break down.

And seine of the poor of the people and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and the disheartened who had fallen away unto the king of Babylon and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners carry away captive.

But, others of the poor of the land, did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners leave, for vinedressers and for husbandmen.

And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

and the caldrons and the shovels and the snuffers and the dashing bowls, and the spoons even all the utensils of bronze wherewith ministration used to he made did they take away;

and the basins and the censers and the dashing bowls and the caldrons and the lamps and the spoons and the cups, which were of gold in gold, and which were of silver in silver, did the chief of the royal executioners, take away.

And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

then did the king of Babylon smite them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath, - thus carried he Judah captive away from off their own soil.

And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.

And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.

Her (ceremonial) uncleanness was on her skirts;
She did not [seriously] consider her future.
Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] in an astonishing manner;
She has no comforter.
“O Lord” [cries Jerusalem], “look at my affliction,
For the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!”

The adversary has spread out his hand over all her precious things: for she has seen that the nations entered into her sanctuary, whom you did command that they should not enter into your congregation.

(Samek) He rounded up all my mighty ones; The Lord did this in my midst. He summoned an assembly against me to shatter my young men. The Lord has stomped like grapes the virgin daughter, Judah.

How the Lord in his wrath shamed cherished Zion! He cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, He did not remember his footstool in the time of his anger.

ח KhetThe Lord determined to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not restrain Himself from destroying.
He made the ramparts and walls grieve;
together they waste away.

(Tet) Her city gates have fallen to the ground; he smashed to bits the bars that lock her gates. Her king and princes were taken into exile; there is no more guidance available. As for her prophets, they no longer receive a vision from the Lord.

{Khaf} Mine eyes begin to fail me through weeping, my body is disquieted, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the great hurt of my people, seeing the children and babes did swoon in the streets of the city.

נ NunYour prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;
they did not reveal your guilt
and so restore your fortunes.
They saw oracles for you
that were empty and misleading.

The LORD did what he planned. He carried out his threat. Just as he commanded long ago, he has torn down without pity; He let the enemy boast about you and has exalted the power of your enemies.

(Sin/Shin) The young boys and old men lie dead on the ground in the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them when you were angry; you slaughtered them without mercy.

You have invited those who terrorize me to come around, as if today were a festival. No one has escaped or survived the time of the LORD's anger. My enemy has finished off those whom I cuddled and raised.

He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

(Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.

Water closed over my head, and I said, "I'm a dead man."

Thou returnest to them the deed, O Jehovah, According to the work of their hands.

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

(Tet) Those who died by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food.

Believe not did the kings of earth, And any of the inhabitants of the world, That come would an adversary and enemy Into the gates of Jerusalem.

The presence of the Lord scattered them [among the nations];
He will not continue to look after them.
They did not honor the priests;
They did not favor the elders.

Our eyes still failed for our vain help; in our watching, we have watched for a nation that did not save.

Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.

in very deed came the word of Yahweh unto Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar, - yea the hand of Yahweh I came on him there I-

Their wings were touching. The creatures did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.