Hear, therefore: her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be taken away in that time, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

Flee, get you soon away, creep into caves, that ye may dwell there, O ye inhabiters of Hazor, sayeth the LORD. For Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath holden a counsel concerning you, and concluded his device against you.

Arise, and get you up against yonder rich and careless people, sayeth the LORD, which have neither gates nor door bars, and that dwell not together.

Their camels shall be stolen, and the droves of their cattle driven away. Moreover, these that be shaven will I scatter toward all the winds, and bring them to destruction: yea and that through their own familiars, sayeth the LORD.

Hazor also shall be a dwelling for Dragons, and an everlasting wilderness: so that nobody shall dwell there, and no man shall have there his habitation."

These are the words, that the LORD spake to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

For I will cause Elam to be afraid of their enemies, and of them that seek their lives: and will bring upon them the indignation of my wrath, sayeth the LORD. And I will persecute them with the sword so long till I have brought them to naught.

The words that the LORD spake unto the prophet Jeremiah, concerning Babylon, and the land of the Chaldeans:

For out of the north there shall come a people against her, which shall make her land so waste that nobody shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast; for they shall flee and depart from thence.

In those days, and at that time, sayeth the LORD, the children of Israel shall come; they and the children of Judah, weeping and making haste, and shall seek the LORD their God.

They shall ask the way to Zion; thither shall they turn their faces, and come and hang upon thee, in a covenant that never shall be broken.

All they that came upon them, have devoured them: and their enemies said, 'We have made no fault against them, for they have displeased the LORD, yea even the LORD which is the beauty of their righteousness, and that defended their fathers.'

Yet shall ye flee from Babylon, and depart out of the land of the Chaldeans, and ye shall be as the rams that go before the flock.

And the Chaldeans shall be spoiled; and all they that spoil them, shall be satisfied, sayeth the LORD.

Your mothers shall be sore confounded; and they that bare you, shall come to shame. She shall be the least set by among the nations, void, waste, and dried up.

No man shall be able to dwell there, for the fear of the LORD, but she shall be whole desolate. All they that go by Babylon, shall stand still, and be abashed, and shall wonder at all her plagues.

Go forth in your array against Babylon round about, all ye that can handle bows: shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the LORD.

They shall root out the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in Harvest. For fear of the sword of the enemy, every man shall get him to his own people, and every man shall flee to his own land.

And will bring Israel again to his pleasant pasture, that he may feed upon Carmel and Bashan, and be satisfied upon the mount of Ephraim and Gilead.

"Go down, O thou avenger, into the enemies' land, and visit them that dwell therein: down with them, and smite them upon the backs, sayeth the LORD. Do according to all, that I have commanded thee.

How happeneth it that the hammer of the whole world is thus broken and bruised in sunder? How chanceth it that Babylon is become a wilderness among the Heathen on this manner?

The LORD hath opened his house of ordinance, and brought forth the weapons of his wrath. For the thing that is done in the land of the Chaldeans, it is the LORD of Hosts' work.

These things shall come upon her at the last: they shall break into her privy chambers, they shall leave her as bare as stones that be laid together upon heaps. They shall so destroy her that nothing shall be left.

Methink I hear already a cry of them that be fled and escaped out of the land of Babylon, which show in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God; the vengeance of his temple. Yea, a voice of them that cry against Babylon:

'Call up all the archers against Babylon! Pitch your tents round about her, that none escape!' Recompense her, as she hath deserved: and according as she hath done, so deal with her again. For she hath set up herself against the LORD, against the holy one of Israel.

Therefore shall her young men fall down in the streets, and all her men of war shall be rooted out in that day, sayeth the LORD.

And the proud shall stumble and fall, and no man shall help him up. I will burn up his cities with fire, and it shall consume all that is round about him.

"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The children of Israel and Judah suffer violence together. All they that have them in captivity, keep them fast and will not let them go.

But their avenger and redeemer is mighty, whose name is the LORD of Hosts: he shall maintain their cause, he shall make the land shake, and judge them that dwell therein, one with another.

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

The sword upon their soothsayers: as for those, they shall become fools. The sword upon their worthies: so that they shall stand in fear.

The sword upon their horsemen and chariots, and upon all the common people that dwell under them: so that they all shall become like women. The sword upon their treasure: so that it shall be stolen away.

The sword upon their waters: so that they shall be dried up. For the land worshippeth images, and delighteth in strange wonderful things.

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.

Therefore hear the counsel that the LORD hath given upon Babylon, and the device that he hath taken upon the land of the Chaldeans. The least among the people shall tear them in pieces, and look: what pleasant thing they have, they shall lay it waste.

Thus hath the LORD said, "Behold, I will raise up a perilous wind against Babylon and her citizens, that bear evil will against me.

Moreover, the LORD hath said unto the bowmen, and to them that climb over the walls in breastplates: He shall not spare her young men; kill down all her host.

"Babylon hath been in the LORD's hand a golden cup, that maketh all lands drunken. Of her wine have all people drunken, therefore are they out of their wits.

Set up tokens upon the walls of Babylon, make your watch strong, set your watchmen in array, yea hold privy watches: and yet for all that shall the LORD go forth with the device, which he hath taken upon them that dwell in Babylon.

O thou that dwellest by the great waters, O thou that hast so great treasure and riches, thine end is come: and the reckoning of thy winnings.

The LORD of Hosts hath sworn by himself that he will overwhelm thee with men, like grasshoppers in number, which with courage shall cry 'Alarum, Alarum' against thee.

Yea even the LORD of Hosts, that with his power made the earth, with his wisdom prepared the round world, and with his discretion spied out the heavens.

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.

"Nevertheless, the portion of Jacob is none such: but he that made all things, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, he is the rod of his inheritance.

Therefore will I reward the city of Babylon and all her citizens the Chaldeans, with all the evil which they have done unto Zion. Yea, that ye yourselves shall see it, sayeth the LORD.

"Behold, I come upon thee, thou noisesome hill, sayeth the LORD; thou that destroyest all lands. I will stretch out my hand over thee, and cast thee down from the stony rocks; and will make thee a burnt hill,

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 pursuant shall meet another; yea, one post shall come by another; to bring the king of Babylon tidings that his city is taken in on every side:

He hath taken my substance away and the thing that was left me hath he carried unto Babylon,' sayeth the daughter that dwelleth in Zion. 'Yea, and my blood also, unto the Chaldeans,' sayeth Jerusalem.

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?

Moreover, I will visit Bel at Babylon: and the thing that he hath swallowed up, that same shall I pluck out of his mouth. The Gentiles also shall run no more unto him; yea, and the walls 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.

Be not faint hearted, and fear not at every rumor that shall be heard in the land: for every year bringeth new tidings; yea, strange wickedness and lordship.

And lo, the time cometh that I will visit the images of Babylon, and the whole land shall be confounded; yea, and her slain shall lie in the midst of her.

Heaven and earth, with all that is therein, shall rejoice over Babylon when the destroyers shall come upon her from the North, sayeth the LORD.

Ye that have escaped the sword: haste you, stand not still. Remember the LORD afar off, and think upon Jerusalem:

"Wherefore, behold, sayeth the LORD, the time cometh that I will visit the images of Babylon, and through the whole land they shall mourn and fall.

Yea, sayeth the LORD, I will make their princes, their wise men, their chief rulers and all their worthies, drunken: so that they shall sleep an everlasting sleep and never wake. Thus sayeth 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."

This is the charge that Jeremiah gave unto Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went toward Babylon with Zedekiah the king of Judah, in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was a peaceable prince.

Jeremiah wrote in a book all the misery that should come upon Babylon; yea, and all these sermons that be written against Babylon;

and gave Seraiah this charge, "When thou comest unto Babylon, see that thou read all these words,

and say, 'O LORD, thou art determined to root out this place, so that neither people nor cattle shall dwell there anymore, but to lie waste forever.'

and say, 'Even thus shall Babylon sink, and be thrust down with the burden of trouble that I will bring upon her: so that she shall never come up again.'" Thus far are the preachings of Jeremiah.

But in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth Month, the tenth day of the Month, it happened that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his Host, came before Jerusalem: and besieged it, and made them bulwarks round about it.

And in the fourth Month, the ninth day of the Month, there was so great hunger in the city that there were no more victuals for the people of the land.

And the whole Host of the Chaldeans that were with the chief Captain brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

The Chaldeans also brake the brazen pillars that were in the house of the LORD; yea, the seat and the brazen laver that was in the house of the LORD; and carried all the metal of them unto Babylon.

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

The chief Captain took also the two pillars, the laver, and the twelve brazen bullocks that stood under the seat, which king Solomon made in the house of the LORD: and all the vessel contained so much metal, that it might not 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.

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

He took out of the city a chamberlain which was a captain of the soldiers, and seven men that were the king's servants, which were found in the city; and Sepher, a captain that used to muster the men of war; with sixty men of the country that were taken in the city.

In the thirty seventh year after that Jehoiachin the king of Judah was carried away in the twenty fifth day of the twelfth Month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, the same year that he reigned, gave Jehoiachin the king of Judah his pardon, and let him out of prison,

and spake lovingly to him. And set his throne above the thrones of the other kings that were with him in Babylon.

{Aleph} Alas, how sitteth the city so desolate, that some time was full of people? How is she become like a widow, which was the lady of all nations? How is she brought under tribute, that ruled all lands?

{Beth} She weepeth sore in the night, so that the tears run down her cheeks: for among all her lovers, there is none that giveth her any comfort. Yea, her next friends transgress against her, and are become her enemies.

{Gimel} Judah is taken prisoner, because she was defiled: and for serving so many strange gods, she dwelleth now among the heathen. She findeth no rest: all they that persecuted her, took her in strait places where she could not escape.

{Vav} All the beauty of the daughter of Zion is away, her princes are become like harts that find no pasture. They are driven away before their enemy, so that they have no more power.

{Zayin} Now doth Jerusalem remember the time of her misery and disobedience, yea the joy and pleasure that she hath had in times past: seeing her people is brought down through the power of their enemy, and there is no man for to help her. Her enemies stand looking at her, and laughing her Sabbath days to scorn.

{Khet} Jerusalem sinned ever more and more, therefore is she come in decay. All they that had her in honour, despise her: for they have seen her filthiness. Yea she sigheth and is ashamed of herself.

{Yod} The enemy hath put his hand to all the precious things that she had, yea even before her eyes came the Heathen in and out of the Sanctuary: whom thou, nevertheless, hast forbidden to come within thy congregation.

{Khaf} All her people seek their bread with heaviness, and look: what precious things every man hath, that giveth he for meat to save his life. Consider, O LORD, and see, how vile I am become.

{Lamed} O ye all that go fore by, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto mine. wherewith the LORD hath troubled me in the day of his fearful wrath.

{Mem} From above hath he sent down a fire into my bones: and it burned them cruelly. He hath laid a net for my feet, and thrown me wide open: he hath made me desolate, so that I must ever be mourning.

{Samekh} The LORD hath destroyed all the mighty men, that were in me. He hath proclaimed a feast, to slaughter all my best men. The LORD hath trodden down the daughter of Judah, like as it were in a wine press.

{Ayin} Therefore do I weep, and mine eyes gush out of water: for the comforter that should quicken me is far from me. My children are driven away. For why? The enemy hath gotten the over hand.

{Shin} They hear my mourning, but there is none that will comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble, and are glad thereof, because thou hast done it. But thou shalt bring forth the time, when they also shall be like unto me.

{Aleph} Alas, how hath the LORD darkened the daughter of Zion so sore in his wrath? As for the honour of Israel, he hath casten it down from heaven: How happeneth it, that he remembered not his own foot stool when he was angry?

{Daleth} He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath fastened his righthand as an adversary: and everything that was pleasant to see, he hath smitten it down. He hath poured out his wrath like a fire, into the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion.

{Vav} Her tabernacle - which was like a garden of pleasure - hath he destroyed; her high solemn feasts hath he put down. The LORD hath brought it so to pass, that the high solemn feasts and Sabbaths in Zion are clean forgotten. In his heavy displeasure hath he made the king and priests to be despised.

{Samekh} All they that go by thee clap their hands at thee - hissing and wagging their heads upon the daughter Jerusalem - and say, "Is this the city that men call so fair, wherein the whole land rejoiceth?"

{Ayin} All thine enemies gape upon thee, whispering and biting their teeth, saying, "Let us devour, for the time that we looked for is come: we have found and seen it."

{Pe} The LORD hath fulfilled the thing that he was purposed to do; and performed that he had devised long ago. He hath destroyed; and not spared. He hath caused thine adversary to triumph over thee; and set up the horn of thine enemy.

{Kuf} Stand up and make thy prayer in the first watch of the night; pour out thine heart like water before the LORD. Lift up thine hands for the lives of thy young children that die of hunger in the streets.

{Tav} My neighbours that are round about me hast thou called, as it were to a feast day: so that in the day of the LORD's wrath none escaped, neither was any left behind. Those that I had brought up and nourished, hath mine enemy destroyed.

{Aleph} I am the man, that, through the rod of his wrath, have experience of misery.

He hath set me in darkness, as they that be dead forever.