A Prophecy against Babylon

¹This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:

²“Announce and declare to the nations;lift up a banner and proclaim it;hold nothing back when you say,‘Babylon is captured;Bel is put to shame;Marduk is shattered,her images are disgraced,her idols are broken in pieces.’

³For a nation from the north will come against her;it will make her land a desolation.No one will live in it;both man and beast will flee.”

Hope for Israel and Judah

⁴“In those days and at that time,declares the LORD,the children of Israel and the children of Judahwill come together, weeping as they come,and will seek the LORD their God.

⁵They will ask the way to Zionand turn their faces toward it.They will come and join themselves to the LORDin an everlasting covenantthat will never be forgotten.

⁶My people are lost sheep;their shepherds have led them astray,causing them to roam the mountains.They have wandered from mountain to hill;they have forgotten their resting place.

⁷All who found them devoured them,and their enemies said,‘We are not guilty,for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

⁸Flee from the midst of Babylon;depart from the land of the Chaldeans;be like the he-goats that lead the flock.

⁹For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylonan assembly of great nations from the land of the north.They will line up against her;from the north she will be captured.Their arrows will be like skilled warriorswho do not return empty-handed.

¹⁰Chaldeawill be plundered;all who plunder her will have their fill,”declares the LORD.

Babylon’s Fall Is Certain

¹¹“Because you rejoice,because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grainand neigh like stallions,

¹²your mother will be greatly ashamed;she who bore you will be disgraced.Behold, she will be the least of the nations,a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the LORD,she will not be inhabited;she will become completely desolate.All who pass through Babylon will be horrifiedand will hiss at all her wounds.

¹⁴Line up in formation around Babylon,all you who draw the bow!Shoot at her! Spare no arrows!For she has sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵Raise a war cry against her on every side!She has thrown up her hands in surrender;her towers have fallen;her walls are torn down.Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,take out your vengeance upon her;as she has done,do the same to her.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon,and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time.In the face of the oppressor’s sword,each will turn to his own people,each will flee to his own land.

Redemption for God’s People

¹⁷Israel is a scattered flock,chased away by lions.The first to devour himwas the king of Assyria;the last to crush his boneswas Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:“I will punish the king of Babylon and his landas I punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹I will return Israel to his pasture,and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan;his soul will be satisfiedon the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰In those days and at that time,declares the LORD,a search will be made for Israel’s guilt,but there will be none,and for Judah’s sins,but they will not be found;for I will forgivethe remnant I preserve.

The Destruction of Babylon

²¹Go up against the land of Merathaim,and against the residents of Pekod.Kill themand devote them to destruction.Do all that I have commanded you,”declares the LORD.

²²“The noise of battle is in the land—the noise of great destruction.

²³How the hammer of the whole earthlies broken and shattered!What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

²⁴I laid a snare for you, O Babylon,and you were caught before you knew it.You were found and capturedbecause you challenged the LORD.

²⁵The LORD has opened His armoryand brought out His weapons of wrath,for this is the work of the Lord GOD of Hostsin the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come against herfrom the farthest border.Break open her granaries;pile her up like mounds of grain.Devote her to destruction;leave her no survivors.

²⁷Kill all her young bulls;let them go down to the slaughter.Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.

²⁸Listen to the fugitives and refugeesfrom the land of Babylon,declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,the vengeance for His temple.

²⁹Summon the archers against Babylon,all who string the bow.Encamp all around her;let no one escape.Repay her according to her deeds;do to her as she has done.For she has defied the LORD,the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets,and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”declares the LORD.

³¹“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,”declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,“for your day has come,the time when I will punish you.

³²The arrogant one will stumble and fallwith no one to pick him up.And I will kindle a fire in his citiesto consume all those around him.”

³³This is what the LORD of Hosts says:“The sons of Israel are oppressed,and the sons of Judah as well.All their captors hold them fast,refusing to release them.

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong;the LORD of Hosts is His name.He will fervently plead their caseso that He may bring rest to the earth,but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.

³⁵A sword is against the Chaldeans,declares the LORD,against those who live in Babylon,and against her officials and wise men.

³⁶A sword is against her false prophets,and they will become fools.A sword is against her warriors,and they will be filled with terror.

³⁷A sword is against her horses and chariotsand against all the foreigners in her midst,and they will become like women.A sword is against her treasuries,and they will be plundered.

³⁸A drought is upon her waters,and they will be dried up.For it is a land of graven images,and the people go mad over idols.

³⁹So the desert creatures and hyenas will live thereand ostricheswill dwell there.It will never again be inhabitedor lived in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrahalong with their neighbors,”declares the LORD,“no one will dwell there;no man will abide there.

⁴¹Behold, an army is coming from the north;a great nation and many kings are stirred upfrom the ends of the earth.

⁴²They grasp the bow and spear;they are cruel and merciless.Their voice roars like the sea,and they ride upon horses,lined up like men in formationagainst you, O Daughter of Babylon.

⁴³The king of Babylon has heard the report,and his hands hang limp.Anguish has gripped him,pain like that of a woman in labor.

⁴⁴Behold, one will come up like a lionfrom the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land.Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?What shepherd can stand against Me?”

⁴⁵Therefore hear the plansthat the LORD has drawn up against Babylonand the strategies He has devisedagainst the land of the Chaldeans:Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.

⁴⁶At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will quake;a cry will be heard among the nations.

Judgment on the Ammonites

¹Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says:“Has Israel no sons?Is he without heir?Why then has Milcomtaken possession of Gad?Why have his people settled in their cities?

²Therefore, behold, the days are coming,declares the LORD,when I will sound the battle cryagainst Rabbah of the Ammonites.It will become a heap of ruins,and its villages will be burned.Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors,says the LORD.

³Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed;cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!Put on sackcloth and mourn;run back and forth within your walls,for Milcom will go into exiletogether with his priests and officials.

⁴Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful,O faithless daughter?You trust in your riches and say,‘Who can come against me?’

⁵Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you,declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,from all those around you.You will each be driven headlong,with no one to regather the fugitives.

⁶Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,”declares the LORD.

Judgment on Edom

⁷Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?Has counsel perished from the prudent?Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸Turn and run!Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,for I will bring disaster on Esauat the time I punish him.

⁹If grape gatherers came to you,would they not leave some gleanings?Were thieves to come in the night,would they not steal only what they wanted?

¹⁰But I will strip Esau bare;I will uncover his hiding places,and he will be unable to conceal himself.His descendants will be destroyedalong with his relatives and neighbors,and he will be no more.

¹¹Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.Let your widows trust in Me.”

¹²For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too.

¹³For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

¹⁴I have heard a message from the LORD;an envoy has been sent to the nations:“Assemble yourselves to march against her!Rise up for battle!”

¹⁵“For behold, I will make you small among nations,despised among men.

¹⁶The terror you causeand the pride of your hearthave deceived you,O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks,O occupiers of the mountain summit.Though you elevate your nest like the eagle,even from there I will bring you down,”declares the LORD.

¹⁷“Edom will become an object of horror.All who pass by will be appalledand will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁸As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrownalong with their neighbors,”says the LORD,“no one will dwell there;no man will abide there.

¹⁹Behold, one will come up like a lionfrom the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land.Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?What shepherd can stand against Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the plansthat the LORD has drawn up against Edomand the strategies He has devisedagainst the people of Teman:Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.

²¹At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;their cry will resound to the Red Sea.

²²Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,spreading its wings over Bozrah.In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty menwill be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Judgment on Damascus

²³Concerning Damascus:“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,for they have heard a bad report;they are agitated like the sea;their anxiety cannot be calmed.

²⁴Damascus has become feeble;she has turned to flee.Panic has gripped her;anguish and pain have seized herlike a woman in labor.

²⁵How is the city of praise not forsaken,the town that brings Me joy?

²⁶For her young men will fall in the streets,and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”declares the LORD of Hosts.

²⁷“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says:“Rise up, advance against Kedar,and destroy the people of the east!

²⁹They will take their tents and flocks,their tent curtains and all their goods.They will take their camels for themselves.They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’

³⁰Run! Escape quickly!Lie low, O residents of Hazor,”declares the LORD,“for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylonhas drawn up a plan against you;he has devised a strategy against you.

³¹Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,one that dwells securely,”declares the LORD.“They have no gates or bars;they live alone.

³²Their camels will become plunder,and their large herds will be spoil.I will scatter to the wind in every directionthose who shave their temples;I will bring calamity on themfrom all sides,”declares the LORD.

³³“Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,a desolation forever.No one will dwell there;no man will abide there.”

Judgment on Elam

³⁴This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

³⁵This is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow,the mainstay of their might.

³⁶I will bring the four winds against Elamfrom the four corners of the heavens,and I will scatter themto all these winds.There will not be a nationto which Elam’s exiles will not go.

³⁷So I will shatter Elam before their foes,before those who seek their lives.I will bring disaster upon them,even My fierce anger,”declares the LORD.“I will send out the sword after themuntil I finish them off.

³⁸I will set My throne in Elam,and destroy its king and officials,”declares the LORD.

³⁹“Yet in the last days,I will restore Elam from captivity,”declares the LORD.

The Destruction of Edom

¹This is the vision of Obadiah:This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom—We have heard a message from the LORD;an envoy has been sent among the nationsto say, “Rise up,and let us go to battle against her!”—

²“Behold, I will make you small among the nations;you will be deeply despised.

³The pride of your heart has deceived you,O dwellers in the clefts of the rockswhose habitation is the heights,who say in your heart,‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

⁴Though you soar like the eagleand make your nest among the stars,even from there I will bring you down,”declares the LORD.

⁵“If thieves came to you,if robbers by night—oh, how you will be ruined—would they not steal only what they wanted?If grape gatherers came to you,would they not leave some gleanings?

⁶But how Esau will be pillaged,his hidden treasures sought out!

⁷All the men allied with youwill drive you to the border;the men at peace with youwill deceive and overpower you.Those who eat your breadwill set a trap for youwithout your awareness of it.

⁸In that day, declares the LORD,will I not destroy the wise men of Edomand the men of understandingin the mountains of Esau?

⁹Then your mighty men, O Teman,will be terrified,so that everyone in the mountains of Esauwill be cut down in the slaughter.

¹⁰Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,you will be covered with shameand cut off forever.

¹¹On the day you stood aloofwhile strangers carried off his wealthand foreigners entered his gateand cast lots for Jerusalem,you were just like one of them.

¹²But you should not gloat in that day,your brother’s day of misfortune,nor rejoice over the people of Judahin the day of their destruction,nor boast proudlyin the day of their distress.

¹³You should not enter the gate of My peoplein the day of their disaster,nor gloat over their afflictionin the day of their disaster,nor loot their wealthin the day of their disaster.

¹⁴Nor should you stand at the crossroadsto cut off their fugitives,nor deliver up their survivorsin the day of their distress.

The Deliverance of Israel

¹⁵For the Day of the LORD is nearfor all the nations.As you have done, it will be done to you;your recompense will return upon your own head.

¹⁶For as you drank on My holy mountain,so all the nations will drink continually.They will drink and gulp it down;they will be as if they had never existed.

¹⁷But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance,and it will be holy,and the house of Jacobwill reclaim their possession.

¹⁸Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire,and the house of Joseph a burning flame;but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it.Therefore no survivor will remainfrom the house of Esau.”For the LORD has spoken.

¹⁹Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau;those from the foothillswill possess the land of the Philistines.They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,and Benjamin will possess Gilead.

²⁰And the exiles of this host of the Israeliteswill possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath;and the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharadwill possess the cities of the Negev.

²¹The deliverers will ascendMount Zionto rule over the mountains of Esau.And the kingdom will belong to the LORD.

True Riches

Saying 7

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler,consider carefully what is set before you,

²and put a knife to your throatif you possess a great appetite.

³Do not crave his delicacies,for that food is deceptive.

Saying 8

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich;be wise enough to restrain yourself.

⁵When you glance at wealth, it disappears,for it makes wings for itselfand flies like an eagle to the sky.

Saying 9

⁶Do not eat the bread of a stingy man,and do not crave his delicacies;

⁷for he is keeping track,inwardly counting the cost.“Eat and drink,” he says to you,but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up what little you have eatenand waste your pleasant words.

Saying 10

⁹Do not speak to a fool,for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Saying 11

¹⁰Do not move an ancient boundary stoneor encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong;He will take up their case against you.

Saying 12

¹²Apply your heart to instructionand your ears to words of knowledge.

Saying 13

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child;although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Strike him with a rod,and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

Saying 14

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,my own heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My inmost beingwill rejoicewhen your lips speak what is right.

Saying 15

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners,but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

¹⁸For surely there is a future,and your hope will not be cut off.

Saying 16

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise,and guide your heart on the right course.

²⁰Do not join those who drink too much wineor gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

Saying 17

²²Listen to your father who gave you life,and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice,and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵May your father and mother be glad,and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

Saying 18

²⁶My son, give me your heart,and let your eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit,and an adulteressis a narrow well.

²⁸Like a robber she lies in waitand multiplies the faithless among men.

Saying 19

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow?Who has contentions? Who has complaints?Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine,who go to taste mixed drinks.

³¹Do not gaze at wine while it is red,when it sparkles in the cupand goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snakeand stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,and your mind will utter perversities.

³⁴You will be like one sleeping on the high seasor lying on the top of a mast:

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain!They beat me, but I did not know it!When can I wake upto search for another drink?”