Judgment on Moab, Judah, and Israel

¹This is what the LORD says:“For three transgressions of Moab, even four,I will not revoke My judgment,because he burned to limethe bones of Edom’s king.

²So I will send fire against Moabto consume the citadels of Kerioth.Moab will die in tumult,amid war cries and the sound of the ram’s horn.

³I will cut off the ruler of Moaband kill all the officials with him,”says the LORD.

⁴This is what the LORD says:“For three transgressions of Judah, even four,I will not revoke My judgment,because they reject the Law of the LORDand fail to keep His statutes;they are led astray by the liesin which their fathers walked.

⁵So I will send fire upon Judahto consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”

⁶This is what the LORD says:“For three transgressions of Israel, even four,I will not revoke My judgment,because they sell the righteous for silverand the needy for a pair of sandals.

⁷They trample on the heads of the pooras on the dust of the earth;they push the needy out of their way.A man and his fatherhave relations with the same girland so profane My holy name.

⁸They lie down beside every altaron garments taken in pledge.And in the house of their God,they drink wine obtained through fines.

⁹Yet it was I who destroyedthe Amorite before them,though his height was like that of the cedars,and he was as strong as the oaks.Yet I destroyed his fruit aboveand his roots below.

¹⁰And I brought you up from the land of Egyptand led you forty years in the wilderness,that you might take possessionof the land of the Amorite.

¹¹I raised up prophets from your sonsand Nazirites from your young men.Is this not true,O children of Israel?”declares the LORD.

¹²“But you made the Nazirites drink wineand commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

¹³Behold, I am about to crush you in your placeas with a cart full of grain.

¹⁴Escape will fail the swift,the strong will not prevail by his strength,and the mighty will not save his life.

¹⁵The archer will not stand his ground,the fleet of foot will not escape,and the horseman will not save his life.

¹⁶Even the bravest of mighty menwill flee naked on that day,”declares the LORD.

Judgment on Babylon

¹This is what the LORD says:“Behold, I will stir up against Babylonand against the people of Leb-kamaithe spirit of a destroyer.

²I will send strangers to Babylonto winnow her and empty her land;for they will come against her from every sidein her day of disaster.

³Do not let the archer bend his bowor put on his armor.Do not spare her young men;devote all her army to destruction!

⁴And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,and pierced through in her streets.

⁵For Israel and Judah have not been abandonedby their God, the LORD of Hosts,though their land is full of guiltbefore the Holy One of Israel.”

⁶Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives!Do not be destroyed in her punishment.For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance;He will pay her what she deserves.

⁷Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD,making the whole earth drunk.The nations drank her wine;therefore the nations have gone mad.

⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered.Wail for her; get her balm for her pain;perhaps she can be healed.

⁹“We tried to heal Babylon,but she could not be healed.Abandon her!Let each of us go to his own land,for her judgment extends to the skyand reaches to the clouds.”

¹⁰“The LORD has brought forth our vindication;come, let us tell in Zionwhat the LORD our God has accomplished.”

¹¹Sharpen the arrows!Fill the quivers!The LORD has aroused the spiritof the kings of the Medes,because His plan is aimed at Babylonto destroy her,for it is the vengeance of the LORD—vengeance for His temple.

¹²Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon;post the guard;station the watchmen;prepare the ambush.For the LORD has both devised and accomplishedwhat He spoke against the people of Babylon.

¹³You who dwell by many waters,rich in treasures,your end has come;the thread of your life is cut.

¹⁴The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself:“Surely I will fill you up with men as with locusts,and they will shout in triumph over you.”

Praise to the God of Jacob

¹⁵The LORD made the earth by His power;He established the world by His wisdomand stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹⁶When He thunders,the waters in the heavens roar;He causes the clouds to risefrom the ends of the earth.He generates the lightning with the rainand brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

¹⁷Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.For his molten images are a fraud,and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸They are worthless, a work to be mocked.In the time of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁹The Portion of Jacob is not like these,for He is the Maker of all things,and of the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.

Babylon’s Punishment

²⁰“You are My war club,My weapon for battle.With you I shatter nations;with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.

²¹With you I shatter the horse and rider;with you I shatter the chariot and driver.

²²With you I shatter man and woman;with you I shatter the old man and the youth;with you I shatter the young man and the maiden.

²³With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock;with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen;with you I shatter the governors and officials.

²⁴Before your very eyes I will repayBabylon and all the dwellers of Chaldeafor all the evil they have done in Zion,”declares the LORD.

²⁵“Behold, I am against you,O destroying mountain,you who devastate the whole earth,declares the LORD.I will stretch out My hand against you;I will roll you over the cliffsand turn you into a charred mountain.

²⁶No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstoneor a foundation stone,because you will become desolate forever,”declares the LORD.

²⁷“Raise a banner in the land!Blow the ram’s horn among the nations!Prepare the nations against her.Summon the kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.Appoint a captain against her;bring up horses like swarming locusts.

²⁸Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes,their governors and all their officials,and all the lands they rule.

²⁹The earth quakes and writhesbecause the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand:to make the land of Babylon a desolation,without inhabitant.

³⁰The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting;they sit in their strongholds.Their strength is exhausted;they have become like women.Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,the bars of her gates are broken.

³¹One courier races to meet another,and messenger follows messenger,to announce to the king of Babylonthat his city has been captured from end to end.

³²The fords have been seized,the marshes set on fire,and the soldiers are terrified.”

³³For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:“The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floorat the time it is trampled.In just a little whileher harvest time will come.”

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me;he has crushed me.He has set me aside like an empty vessel;he has swallowed me like a monster;he filled his belly with my delicaciesand vomited me out.

³⁵May the violence done to meand to my fleshbe upon Babylon,”says the dweller of Zion.“May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,”says Jerusalem.

³⁶Therefore this is what the LORD says:“Behold, I will plead your caseand take vengeance on your behalf;I will dry up her seaand make her springs run dry.

³⁷Babylon will become a heap of rubble,a haunt for jackals,an object of horror and scorn,without inhabitant.

³⁸They will roar together like young lions;they will growl like lion cubs.

³⁹While they are flushed with heat,I will serve them a feast,and I will make them drunkso that they may revel;then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up,declares the LORD.

⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,like rams with male goats.

⁴¹How Sheshachhas been captured!The praise of all the earth has been seized.What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

⁴²The sea has come up over Babylon;she is covered in turbulent waves.

⁴³Her cities have become a desolation,a dry and arid land,a land where no one lives,where no son of man passes through.

⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon.I will make him spew out what he swallowed.The nations will no longer stream to him;even the wall of Babylon will fall.

⁴⁵Come out of her, My people!Save your lives, each of you,from the fierce anger of the LORD.

⁴⁶Do not let your heart grow faint,and do not be afraidwhen the rumor is heard in the land;for a rumor will come one year—and then another the next year—of violence in the landand of ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷Therefore, behold, the days are comingwhen I will punish the idols of Babylon.Her entire land will suffer shame,and all her slain will lie fallen within her.

⁴⁸Then heaven and earth and all that is in themwill shout for joy over Babylonbecause the destroyers from the northwill come against her,”declares the LORD.

⁴⁹“Babylon must fallon account of the slain of Israel,just as the slain of all the earthhave fallen because of Babylon.

⁵⁰You who have escaped the sword,depart and do not linger!Remember the LORD from far away,and let Jerusalem come to mind.”

⁵¹“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach;disgrace has covered our faces,because foreigners have enteredthe holy places of the LORD’s house.”

⁵²“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,”declares the LORD,“when I will punish her idols,and throughout her land the wounded will groan.

⁵³Even if Babylon ascends to the heavensand fortifies her lofty stronghold,the destroyers I send will come against her,”declares the LORD.

⁵⁴“The sound of a crycomes from Babylon,the sound of great destructionfrom the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵For the LORD will destroy Babylon;He will silence her mighty voice.The waves will roar like great waters;the tumult of their voices will resound.

⁵⁶For a destroyer is coming against her—against Babylon.Her warriors will be captured,and their bows will be broken,for the LORD is a God of retribution;He will repay in full.

⁵⁷I will make her princes and wise men drunk,along with her governors, officials, and warriors.Then they will fall asleep foreverand not wake up,”declares the King,whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

⁵⁸This is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled,and her high gates consumed by fire.So the labor of the people will be for nothing;the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

Jeremiah’s Message to Seraiah

⁵⁹This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the quartermaster Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign.

⁶⁰Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.

⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,

⁶²and say, ‘O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain—neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.’

⁶³When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates.

⁶⁴Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’”Here end the words of Jeremiah.

The Sovereignty of God

¹Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²This is what the LORD says:“Do not learn the ways of the nationsor be terrified by the signs in the heavens,though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

³For the customs of the peoples are worthless;they cut down a tree from the forest;it is shaped with a chiselby the hands of a craftsman.

⁴They adorn it with silver and goldand fasten it with hammer and nails,so that it will not totter.

⁵Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,their idols cannot speak.They must be carriedbecause they cannot walk.Do not fear them, for they can do no harm,and neither can they do any good.”

⁶There is none like You, O LORD.You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

⁷Who would not fear You, O King of nations?This is Your due.For among all the wise men of the nations,and in all their kingdoms,there is none like You.

⁸But they are altogether senseless and foolish,instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish,and gold from Uphaz—the work of a craftsmanfrom the hands of a goldsmith.Their clothes are blue and purple,all fashioned by skilled workers.

¹⁰But the LORD is the true God;He is the living God and eternal King.The earth quakes at His wrath,and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

¹¹Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²The LORD made the earth by His power;He established the world by His wisdomand stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹³When He thunders,the waters in the heavens roar;He causes the clouds to risefrom the ends of the earth.He generates the lightning with the rainand brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

¹⁴Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.For his molten images are a fraud,and there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are worthless, a work to be mocked.In the time of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁶The Portion of Jacob is not like these,for He is the Maker of all things,and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.

The Coming Captivity of Judah

¹⁷Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege.

¹⁸For this is what the LORD says:“Behold, at this time I will sling outthe inhabitants of the landand bring distress upon themso that they may be captured.”

¹⁹Woe to me because of my brokenness;my wound is grievous!But I said, “This is truly my sickness,and I must bear it.”

²⁰My tent is destroyed,and all its ropes are snapped.My sons have departed from meand are no more.I have no one left to pitch my tentor set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become senseless;they do not seek the LORD.Therefore they have not prospered,and all their flock is scattered.

²²Listen! The sound of a report is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north.It will make the cities of Judah a desolation,a haunt for jackals.

²³I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own;no one who walks directs his own steps.

²⁴Correct me, O LORD,but only with justice—not in Your anger,or You will bring me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out Your wrath on the nationsthat do not acknowledge You,and on the familiesthat do not call on Your name.For they have devoured Jacob;they have consumed him and finished him off;they have devastated his homeland.

Wine Is a Mocker

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler,and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion;whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.

³It is honorable for a man to resolve a dispute,but any fool will quarrel.

⁴The slacker does not plow in season;at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

⁵The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters,but a man of understanding draws them out.

⁶Many a man proclaims his loving devotion,but who can find a trustworthy man?

⁷The righteous man walks with integrity;blessed are his children after him.

⁸A king who sits on a throne to judgesifts out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure;I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the LORD.

¹¹Even a young man is known by his actions—whether his conduct is pure and upright.

¹²Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.

¹³Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor;open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.

¹⁴“Worthless, worthless!” says the buyer,but on the way out, he gloats.

¹⁵There is an abundance of gold and rubies,but lips of knowledge are a rare treasure.

¹⁶Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger;get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man,but later his mouth is full of gravel.

¹⁸Set plans by consultation,and wage war under sound guidance.

¹⁹He who reveals secrets is a constant gossip;avoid the one who babbleswith his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother,his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained quicklywill not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!”Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.

²³Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD,and dishonest scales are no good.

²⁴A man’s steps are from the LORD,so how can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly,only later to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wickedand drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spiritof a man is the lamp of the LORD,searching out his inmost being.

²⁸Loving devotion and faithfulness preserve a king;by these he maintains his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength,and gray hair is the splendor of the old.

³⁰Lashes and wounds scour evil,and beatings cleanse the inmost parts.