So shall this day be unto the LORD God of Hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his enemies. The sword shall devour, it shall be satisfied and bathed in their blood: For the LORD God of Hosts shall have a slain offering toward the North, by the water of Euphrates.

Go up, O Gilead, and bring treacle unto the daughter of Egypt: But in vain shalt thou go to surgery, for thy wound shalt not be stopped.

These are the words that the LORD spake to the prophet Jeremiah, concerning the host of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, which was sent to destroy the land of Egypt.

The slaughter was great, for one fell ever still upon another. One cried upon another, 'Up, let us go again to our own people, and to our own natural country, from the sword of our enemy.'

O thou daughter of Egypt make ready thy gear to flit. For Memphis shall be void desolate, so that no man shall dwell therein.

The land of Egypt is like a goodly fair calf, but one shall come out of the north to prick her forward.

Her waged soldiers that be with her, are like fat calves. They also shall flee away together, and not abide: for the day of their slaughter and the time of their visitation shall come upon them.

And they shall cut down her wood, sayeth the LORD, without any discretion. For they shall be more in number than the grasshoppers, so that no man shall be able to tell them.

But be not thou afraid, O my servant Jacob; fear not thou, O Israel. For lo, I will help thee from far, and thy seed from the land of thy captivity. Jacob also shall come again, and be in rest: he shall be rich, and no man shall do him harm.

"Thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, there shall waters arise out of the North: And shall grow to a great flood, running over and covering the land, the cities, and them that dwell therein. And the men shall cry, and all they that dwell in the land

shall mourn at the noise and stamping of their strong barbed horses, at the shaking of their chariots and at the rumbling of the wheels. The fathers shall not look to their children, so feeble and weary shall their hands be:

at the same time when he shall be there to destroy the whole land of the Philistines. He shall make waste both Tyre and Sidon and all others that are sworn unto them. For the LORD will destroy all Philistia, and the other Isles that be divided from the country.

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel against Moab, "Woe be to the city of Nebo, for it shall be laid waste, brought to confusion and taken. Yea the strong city of Kiriathaim shall be brought to shame, and afraid.

But lo, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that I shall send her trussers to truss her up, to prepare and season her vessels: yea her tankards rattle and shake to and fro.

"Wherefore do ye think thus, 'We are mighty, and strong men of war'?

And thou, daughter Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in poverty. For he that destroyeth Moab, shall come up to thee also, and break down thy strongholds.

And thou that dwellest in Aroer, get thee to the street, and look about thee: ask them that are fled and escaped, and say, 'What thing is happened?'

O Israel, shalt thou not laugh him to scorn, when he is taken among thieves? Yea, because of thy words that thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be driven away.

Therefore shall their mourning be made for Moab, and every man shall cry for Moab's sake: a lamentation shall be made to the men that stand upon the wall.

Mirth and cheer shall be taken away from the timber field, and from the whole land of Moab. There shall be no sweet wine in the press, the treader shall have no stomach to cry, yea there shall be none to cry unto him:

which aforetime were heard from Heshbon to Elealeh, and Jahaz, which lifted up their voice from Zoar unto Horonaim, that bullock of three years old. The waters also of Nimrim shall be dried up.

They that are able to flee, shall stand under the shadow of Heshbon. For there shall go a fire out of Heshbon, and a flame from Zion, and shall burn up that proud people of Moab, both before and behind.

Wherefore trustest thou in the water streams, that flow to and fro, O thou fierce daughter? And thinkest thou art so safe, by reason of thy treasure, that no man shall come to thee?

"Upon the Edomites hath the LORD of Hosts spoken on this manner: Is there no wisdom in Tema? Is there no more good counsel among his people? Is their wisdom then turned clean to naught?

Get you hence, turn your backs, creep down into the deep, O ye citizens of Dedan. For I will bring destruction upon Esau; yea, and the day of his visitation.

But I will make Esau bare, and discover his secrets, so that he shall not be able to hide them. His seed shall be wasted away; yea his brethren and his neighbours, and he himself shall not be left behind.

For thus hath the LORD spoken: Behold, they that men thought were unmete to drink of the cup, have drunken with the first: and thinkest thou then to be free? No, no: thou shalt neither be quit nor free, but thou must drink also.

For I am perfectly informed of the LORD, that he hath sent a message already unto the Heathen. Gather you together, and go forth against them: make you ready to the battle,

At the noise of their fall, the earth shall quake, the cry of their voice shall be heard to the reed sea.

"Upon Damascus, Hamath and Arpad shall come confusion, for they shall hear evil tidings: they shall be tossed to and fro like the sea that cannot stand still.

"As for Kedar and the kingdom of Hazor, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon smote down, the LORD hath spoken thus upon them: Arise, and get you up unto to Kedar, and destroy the people toward the east.

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.

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.

"Preach among the Gentiles, let your voice be heard, make a token: cry out, keep no silence, but say, 'Babylon shall be won, Bel shall be confounded, and Merodach shall be overcome. Yea their gods shall be brought to shame and their images shall stand in fear.'

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.

My people hath been a lost flock. My shepherds have deceived them, and have made them go astray upon the hills. They have gone from the mountains to the little hill, and forgotten their fold.

"For lo, I will make up a host of people from the northern land, and bring them upon Babylon: these shall lay siege to it, and win it. Their arrows shall not miss, like as a cunning archer shooteth not wrong.

Because ye were so cheerful and glad, to tread down mine heritage, and fulfill your pleasures, as the calves in the grass: And triumphed over them like the bulls, when ye had gotten the victory.

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.

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.

In those days and at the same time, sayeth the LORD, if the offense of Israel be sought for, there shall none be found. If men inquire for the sin of Judah, there shall be none: for I will be merciful unto them, whom I suffer to remain over.

"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.

They shall slay all her mighty soldiers, and put them to death. Woe be unto them, for the day and the time of their visitation is at hand.

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.

Behold, I speak unto thee, O thou proud, sayeth the LORD God of Hosts: for thy day shall come, even the time of thy visitation.

They bear bows and bucklers, cruel are they and unmerciful. Their voice roareth like the raging sea, they ride upon horses, and come weaponed to fight against thee, O Babylon.

Behold, like as the Lion cometh up from the pleasant meadows of Jordan unto the green pastures of Ethan, so will I drive them forth, and make them run against her. But whom shall I choose out, and ordain to such a thing? For who is like me, or who will strive with me? Or what shepherd may stand against me?

I will send also into Babylon fanners, to fan her out, and to destroy her land: for in the day of her trouble they shall be about her on every side.

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.

Fly away from Babylon; every man save his life. Let no man hold his tongue to her wickedness, for the time of the LORD's vengeance is come; yea, he shall reward her again.

'We would have made Babylon whole,' say they, 'but she is not recovered. Therefore will we let her alone, and go every man into his own country. For her judgment is come in to heaven, and is gone up to the clouds.'

Make sharp the arrows, and fill the quivers: for the LORD shall raise up the spirit of the king of the Medes, which hath already a desire to destroy Babylon. This shall be the vengeance of the LORD's, and the vengeance of his temple.

As soon as he letteth his voice be heard, the waters in the air wax fierce: He draweth up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He turneth the lightnings to rain, he bringeth the winds out of their secret places.

Vain is it; and worthy to be laughed at. And in the time of visitation it shall perish.

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:

I shall carry them down to be slain like sheep, like whethers and goats.

for we were ashamed to hear the blasphemies; our faces were covered with shame, because the strange aliens came into the Sanctuary of the LORD.

For the destroyers shall come upon her, even upon Babylon, which shall take her worthies and brake their bows: for God is disposed to avenge himself upon them, and sufficiently to recompense them.

"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."

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 when thou hast read out the book, bind a stone to it, and cast it in the midst of Euphrates,

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.

So all the soldiers brake away, and fled out of the city by night through the way of the port between the two walls by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans had compassed the city round about; yet went these men their way toward the wilderness.

So they carried the king away prisoner to Riblah, unto the king of Babylon in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.

The king of Babylon also caused Zedekiah's sons to be slain before his face; yea and put all the princes of Judah to death at Riblah.

Moreover, he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, caused him to be bound with chains, to be carried unto Babylon, and let him live in prison till he died.

Now the tenth day of the fifth Month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief captain and the king of Babylon's servants came unto Jerusalem,

As for the poor people and such folk as yet was left in the city, which also were fallen to the king of Babylon, yea, and what people as yet remained: Nebuzaradan the chief Captain carried them away prisoners.

But the poor people of the country did Nebuzaradan the chief Captain leave in the land, to occupy the vineyards and fields.

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.

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.

These Nebuzaradan the chief Captain took, and carried them to the king of Babylon unto Riblah:

and the king of Babylon caused them to be put to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And thus Judah was led away captive, out of his own land.

In the eighteenth year Nebuchadnezzar carried away from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty two persons.

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.

And he had a continual living given him of the king of Babylon; every day a certain thing allowed him all the days of his life, until he died.

{Daleth} The streets of Zion mourn, because no man cometh to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate; her priests make lamentation; her maidens are careful; and she herself is in great heaviness.

{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.

{Tet} Her skirts are defiled, she remembered not what would follow: therefore is her fall so great, and there is no man to comfort her. O LORD, consider my trouble, for my enemy hath the upper hand.

{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.

{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.

{Pe} Zion casteth out her hands, and there is no man to comfort her. The LORD hath laid the enemies round about Jacob, and Jerusalem is as it were a menstruous woman in the midst of them.

{Tsadi} The LORD is righteous, for I provoked his countenance unto anger. O take heed all ye people, and consider my heaviness: My maidens and my young men are led away in to captivity.

{Kuf} I called for my lovers, but they beguiled me; for my Priests and counselors, but they perished: even while they sought for meat, to save their lives.

{Beth} The LORD hath cast down all the glory of Jacob without any favour: all the strong places of the daughter Judah hath he broken in his wrath, and thrown them down to the ground: her kingdom and her princes hath he suspended.

{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.

{Zayin} The LORD hath forsaken his own altar, and is wroth with his own sanctuary, and hath given the walls of their towers into the hands of the enemy. Their enemies made a noise in the house of the LORD, as it had been in a solemn feast day.

{Khet} The LORD thought to break down the walls of the daughter Zion; he spread out his line, and drew not in his hand, till he had destroyed them. Therefore mourn the turrets and the broken walls together.

{Tet} Her ports are cast down to the ground, her bars are broken and smitten in sunder: her king and princes are carried away to the gentiles. They have neither law nor Prophets, nor yet any vision from the LORD.

{Yod} The Senators of the daughter Zion sit upon the ground in silence: they have strawed ashes upon their heads, and girded themselves with sackcloth. The maidens of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.