Jeremiah 28

Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am rousing against Babylon and against the Chaldean inhabitants a destroying scorching wind.

And I will send insolent men into Babylon, and they shall outrage her and ruin her land. Woe upon Babylon round about in the day of her affliction.

Let him who bends his bow bend it against her, and let him who has armour put it on. Do not spare her young men, and destroy all her host.

And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and those pierced through outside her.

For Israel and Judah have not been widowed of their God, of the Lord Almighty; yet their land was filled with wrongdoing from the holy things of Israel.

Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each one save his own life, and do not be cast away in her wrongdoing; for it is the time of her punishment from the Lord; he himself is repaying her a recompense.

Babylon is a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunk; the nations drank of her wine, therefore they staggered.

And suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered. Wail for her; take resin for her ruin, if perhaps she may be healed.

We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed. Let us forsake her and let each go to his own land, for her judgment has reached to heaven, it has risen as far as the stars.

The Lord has brought forth his judgment. Come, let us announce in Zion the works of the Lord our God.

Prepare the arrows, fill the quivers. The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes, for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy her utterly; for it is the Lord's vengeance, it is the vengeance of his people.

Upon the walls of Babylon raise a signal, set up quivers, post watches, prepare weapons; for the Lord has undertaken and will do what he spoke concerning those who dwell in Babylon.

O you who dwell upon many waters and upon the abundance of her treasures, your end has come, truly into your inward parts.

For the Lord has sworn by his arm: Surely I will fill you with people like locusts, and those who come down shall raise a shout against you.

He makes the earth by his strength, establishes the world by his wisdom; by his understanding he stretched out the sky.

At a voice he set a sound of water in the sky, and he brought up clouds from the end of the earth; he made lightnings for rain and brought out light from his treasuries.

Every man has become foolish, without knowledge; every goldsmith has been put to shame by his carved images, for what they cast is false, and there is no breath in them.

They are worthless, works to be mocked; at the time of their visitation they shall perish.

Not such is Jacob's portion, for the one who formed all things, he himself is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.

You scatter for me the weapons of war; and by you I will scatter nations, and I will remove kings from you.

And by you I will scatter horse and its rider, and by you I will scatter chariots and their riders.

And by you I will scatter young man and virgin, and by you I will scatter man and woman.

And by you I will scatter shepherd and his flock, and by you I will scatter farmer and his farmland, and by you I will scatter your governors and your commanders.

And I will repay Babylon and all the Chaldean inhabitants for all their evils which they did in Zion, before your eyes, says the Lord.

Behold, I am against you, O ruined mountain, that ruins all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand against you and roll you down from the rocks, and make you like a burnt-out mountain.

And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner or a stone for a foundation, for you shall be a desolation forever, says the Lord.

Raise a signal in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, consecrate nations against her, summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat from me, and the Aschanazeans; set up siege engines against her, bring up horses against her like a swarm of locusts.

Consecrate nations against her: the king of the Medes and of all the earth, his rulers and all his commanders.

The earth quaked and was in pain, because the Lord's purpose has risen up against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation and for her not to be inhabited.

The warrior of Babylon has ceased from fighting; they shall sit there in the stronghold. Their dominion has been broken; they have become like women; her tents have been burned, her bars have been shattered.

Runner shall run to meet runner, and messenger to meet messenger, to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured.

From the far end of his crossings they were taken, and their assemblies they burned with fire, and his men of war are going out.

For thus says the Lord: The houses of the king of Babylon are like a threshing floor in season; they shall be threshed. Yet a little while, and her harvest shall come.

He devoured me, he divided me, he seized me — a thin vessel — Nabouchodonosor king of Babylon. He swallowed me like a serpent, he filled his belly from my delicacies, he drove me out.

'My hardships and my miseries be upon Babylon,' she who dwells in Zion shall say; 'and my blood be upon the Chaldean inhabitants,' Jerusalem shall say.

Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will judge your adversary and avenge your vengeance; and I will lay waste her sea and dry up her spring.

And Babylon shall become a desolation, and she shall not be inhabited.

Together they were roused like lions, and like lions' cubs.

In their heat I will set out drink for them and make them drunk, so that they may be stupefied and sleep an everlasting sleep and never wake, says the Lord.

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with he-goats.

How the boast of all the earth has been captured and hunted down! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

The sea has come up over Babylon with the roar of its waves, and she has been covered.

Her cities have become a waterless and trackless land; not one shall dwell in her, nor shall any son of man lodge in her.

And I will punish Babylon and bring out from her mouth what she swallowed; and the nations shall no longer be gathered to her.

And in Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.

You who escape from the land, go and do not stand still! You who are far off, remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem come up into your heart.

We were ashamed because we heard our reproach; disgrace covered our face, for foreigners entered our holy places, into the house of the Lord.

Therefore, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish her carved images, and in all her land the slain shall fall.

For though Babylon should go up as high as the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, from me shall come those who destroy her, says the Lord.

A sound of a cry in Babylon, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans.

For the Lord has utterly destroyed Babylon and put an end in her to the great voice that roared like many waters; he gave her voice over to ruin.

For misery has come upon Babylon; her warriors have been captured, their bow is dismayed; for God is repaying them, the Lord is repaying her the recompense.

And he will make her rulers and her wise men and her commanders drunk with drunkenness, says the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

Thus says the Lord: The wall of Babylon has been made broad; it shall be utterly razed, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and peoples shall not labour in vain, and nations shall fail at the outset.

The word which the Lord commanded Jeremiah the prophet to speak to Saraias son of Nerias, son of Maasaias, when he was going from Sedekias king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign; and Saraias was the chief officer of gifts.

And Jeremiah wrote all the evils that would come upon Babylon in a single book, all these words that were written concerning Babylon.

And Jeremiah said to Saraias: When you come to Babylon and see it, then read aloud all these words,

and you shall say: O Lord, Lord, you have spoken against this place, to destroy it utterly and that there be no inhabitants in it, from human to beast, for it shall be a desolation forever.

And it shall be, when you cease reading this book, that you shall bind a stone upon it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,

and you shall say: Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise up again, because of the evils which I am bringing upon her.