"Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

On Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; and I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger,' says the LORD; 'and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them;

and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and officials,' says the LORD.

'But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam,' says the LORD."

All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, "We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers."

For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.

Chaldea shall be a prey: all who prey on her shall be satisfied,' says the LORD.'

Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

"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.

Shout against her all around: she has submitted herself; her towers are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.

Therefore thus says 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.

I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

In those days, and in that time, says 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 leave as a remnant."'"

"Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: kill and utterly destroy after them," says the LORD, "and do according to all that I have commanded you.

How is the hammer of the whole earth cut apart and broken. How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations.

Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them. for their day has come, the time of their visitation."

"Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her all around; let none of it escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day," says the LORD.

"Behold, I am against you, you proud one," says the Lord, the LORD of hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.

The proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are around him."

Thus says the LORD of hosts: "The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all who 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 thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures, and they shall be robbed.

Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? And who will appoint me a time? And who is the shepherd who can stand before me?"

Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

I will send to Babylon foreigners who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.

Do not let him who bends the bow bend it; nor not let him rise up in his armor. And do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.

Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; do not be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.

Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, who made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, "Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you."

The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.

"You are my battle axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein; and with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight," says the LORD.

"Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain," says the LORD, "which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.

Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.

One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

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 harvest shall come for her.

Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake," says the LORD.

"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.

How is Sheshach taken. and the praise of the whole earth seized. How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations.

I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall."

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

Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north," says the LORD.

As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

"Therefore behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

for the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for the LORD is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.

"I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up," says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,

and you shall say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary.'" Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city all around;) and they went toward the Arabah.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he killed also all the officials of Judah in Riblah.

and he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.

All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

The Chaldeans broke the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered.

They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea, and the stands which king Solomon had made for the house of the LORD. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.

A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.

There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.

in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:

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

She weeps bitterly 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 treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and harsh servitude; she dwells among the nations, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan: her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion: her leaders have become like deer that find no pasture, they fled exhausted before the pursuer.

Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all her precious things that were from the days of old: when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her. The adversaries saw her, they mocked at her desolations.

Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become as an unclean thing; all who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yes, she groans, and turns away.

The adversary has spread out his hand on all her precious things: for she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.

All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to refresh the soul. "Look, LORD, and see, for I am despised."

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day.

The Lord has rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.

The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Please listen all you people, and see my suffering. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city, while they searched for food to refresh their souls.

They have heard that I groan; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. Bring the day that you have proclaimed, so that they shall end up like me.

Let all their wickedness come before you. Do to them, as you have done to me for all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.

The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground; he has humiliated the kingdom and its rulers.

He has cut off in fierce anger all the strength of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand before the enemy. He has blazed in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.

He has bent his bow like an enemy; his right hand he has positioned like an adversary. He killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.

The Lord has become as an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all her palaces and has destroyed its strongholds. He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

The LORD has determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

All that pass by clap their hands at you, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city that men called 'The perfection of beauty,' 'The joy of the whole earth'?"

All your enemies have opened wide 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 it."

Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no respite; do not let your tears cease.

Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day.

I have become a laughingstock to all my people, and their song all the day.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke while he is young.

For the Lord will not reject forever.

For though he may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness.