The Utter Destruction of Babylon

51 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will raise up against aBabylon,

Against those who dwell in 1Leb Kamai,

bA destroying wind.

2 And I will send cwinnowers to Babylon,

Who shall winnow her and empty her land.

dFor in the day of doom

They shall be against her all around.

3 Against her elet the archer bend his bow,

And lift himself up against her in his armor.

Do not spare her young men;

fUtterly destroy all her army.

4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,

gAnd those thrust through in her streets.

5 For Israel is hnot forsaken, nor Judah,

By his God, the Lord of hosts,

Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

6 iFlee from the midst of Babylon,

And every one save his life!

Do not be cut off in her iniquity,

For jthis is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;

kHe shall recompense her.

7 lBabylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,

That made all the earth drunk.

mThe nations drank her wine;

Therefore the nations nare deranged.

8 Babylon has suddenly ofallen and been destroyed.

pWail for her!

qTake balm for her pain;

Perhaps she may be healed.

9 We would have healed Babylon,

But she is not healed.

Forsake her, and rlet us go everyone to his own country;

sFor her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.

10 The Lord has trevealed our righteousness.

Come and let us udeclare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

11 vMake 2the arrows bright!

Gather the shields!

wThe Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.

xFor His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,

Because it is ythe vengeance of the Lord,

The vengeance for His temple.

12 zSet up the standard on the walls of Babylon;

Make the guard strong,

Set up the watchmen,

Prepare the ambushes.

For the Lord has both devised and done

What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

13 aO you who dwell by many waters,

Abundant in treasures,

Your end has come,

The measure of your covetousness.

14 bThe Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:

“Surely I will fill you with men, cas with locusts,

And they shall lift dup a shout against you.”

15 eHe has made the earth by His power;

He has established the world by His wisdom,

And fstretched out the heaven by His understanding.

16 When He utters His voice—

There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:

g“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;

He makes lightnings for the rain;

He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

17 hEveryone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;

Every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image;

iFor his molded image is falsehood,

And there is no breath in them.

18 They are futile, a work of errors;

In the time of their punishment they shall perish.

19 The Portion of Jacob is not like them,

For He is the Maker of all things;

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance.

The Lord of hosts is His name.

20 “You jare My battle-ax and weapons of war:

For with you I will break the nation in pieces;

With you I will destroy kingdoms;

21 With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider;

With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;

22 With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;

With you I will break in pieces kold and young;

With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;

23 With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;

With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;

And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.

24 “And lI will repay Babylon

And all the inhabitants of Chaldea

For all the evil they have done

In Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.

25 “Behold, I am against you, mO destroying mountain,

Who destroys all the earth,” says the Lord.

“And I will stretch out My hand against you,

Roll you down from the rocks,

nAnd make you a burnt mountain.

26 They shall not take from you a stone for a corner

Nor a stone for a foundation,

oBut you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.

27 pSet up a banner in the land,

Blow the trumpet among the nations!

qPrepare the nations against her,

Call rthe kingdoms together against her:

Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.

Appoint a general against her;

Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.

28 Prepare against her the nations,

With the kings of the Medes,

Its governors and all its rulers,

All the land of his dominion.

29 And the land will tremble and sorrow;

For every spurpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,

tTo make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.

30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,

They have remained in their strongholds;

Their might has failed,

uThey became like women;

They have burned her dwelling places,

vThe bars of her gate are broken.

31 wOne runner will run to meet another,

And one messenger to meet another,

To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;

32 xThe passages are blocked,

The reeds they have burned with fire,

And the men of war are terrified.

33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“The daughter of Babylon is ylike a threshing floor

When zit is time to thresh her;

Yet a little while

aAnd the time of her harvest will come

The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed

52 Zedekiah was atwenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of bLibnah. 2 He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah crebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 Now it came to pass in the dninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the 1plain.

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. 9 eSo they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. 10 fThen the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11 He also gput out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in 2bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

The Temple and City Plundered and Burned

12 hNow in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (iwhich was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), jNebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. 15 kThen Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

17 lThe mbronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away nthe pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the 3bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. 19 The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. 20 The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord othe bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 21 Now concerning the ppillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen 4cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was 5four fingers; it was hollow. 22 A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; qall the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.

The People Taken Captive to Babylonia

24 rThe captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, sZephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 25 He also took out of the city an 6officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. 26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

28 tThese are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: uin the seventh year, vthree thousand and twenty-three Jews; 29 win the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. …