Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hid me in the shadow of his hand, and he has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.

Make sharp the arrows. Hold firm the shields. LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of LORD, the vengeance of his temple.


PERES, thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Besiege, O Media, all the sighing of it I have made to cease. Therefore my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail. I am pained so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see. read more.
My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me. They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink. Rise up, ye rulers, anoint the shield. For thus has LORD said to me, Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed. And he cried out as a lion, O LORD, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and am set in my ward whole nights, and, behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground. O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And now I will show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all. And when he has grown strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm o And a mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. read more.
And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even f

Thou, O king, saw, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the appearance of it was fearful. As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay. read more.
Thou looked until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, was broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. And the sto This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. Thou, O king, are a king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory. And wherever the sons of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, he has given into thy hand, and has made thee to rule over them all. Thou are the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things. And as iron that crushes all these, it shall break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom. But there shall be of the strength of the iron in it, inasmuch as thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cling one to another, even as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty of it be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it s Inasmuch as thou saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass here

Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet,

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

The word of LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Thus says LORD of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds. And there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come. read more.
And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life. And I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says LORD. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and rulers, says LORD. But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam, says LORD.

Make sharp the arrows. Hold firm the shields. LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of LORD, the vengeance of his temple. Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon. Make the watch strong. Set the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For LORD has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. O thou who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end has come, the measure of thy covetousness. read more.
LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill thee with men as with the canker-worm, and they shall lift up a shout against thee. He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. Every man has become brutish, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the former of all things, and [Israel] is the tribe of his inheritance. LORD of hosts is his name. Thou are my battle-axe and weapons of war. And with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms, and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider, and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides in it, and with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the youth, and with thee I will break in pieces the and with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke [of oxen], and with thee I will break in pieces governors and deputies. And 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 LORD. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, says LORD, which destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shall be desolate forever, says LORD. Set ye up a standard in the land. Blow the trumpet among the nations. Prepare the nations against her. Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Cause the horses to come u Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors of it, and all the deputies of it, and all the land of their dominion. And the land trembles and is in pain, for the purposes of LORD against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling-places are set on fire. Her bars are broken. One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter. And the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened. For thus says 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. Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has cast me out. The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, the inhabitant of Zion shall say. And, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, Jerusalem shall say. Therefore thus says LORD: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee. And I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. They shall roar together like young lions. They shall growl as lions' whelps. When they are heated, I will make their feast. And I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says LORD. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. How Sheshach is taken, and the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! The sea has come up upon Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass thereby. And I will execute judgment upon 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. Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves each man from the fierce anger of LORD. And let not your heart faint. Neither fear ye for the news that shall be heard in the land. For news shall come one year, and after that in another year, news, and violence in the land, ruler 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 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 LORD. As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land. Ye who have escaped the sword, go ye; do not stand still. Remember LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. We are confounded, because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces. For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of LORD's house. Therefore, behold, the days come, says LORD, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me destroyers shall come to her, says LORD. The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! For LORD lays Babylon waste, and destroys the great voice out of her, and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered. For the destroyer has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces. For LORD is a God of recompenses; he will surely requite. And I will make drunk her rulers and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is LORD of hosts. Thus says LORD of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. And the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire, and they shall be weary. The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain. And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou come to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words. And say, O LORD, thou have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever. And it shall be, when thou have made an end of reading this book, that thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates. And thou shall say, Thus Babylon shall sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have bor They have set a bed for her in the midst of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are round about her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. For their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne


Make sharp the arrows. Hold firm the shields. LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of LORD, the vengeance of his temple.