The Destruction of Israel

¹I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said:“Strike the tops of the pillarsso that the thresholds shake.Topple them on the heads of all the people,and I will kill the rest with the sword.None of those who flee will get away;none of the fugitives will escape.

²Though they dig down to Sheol,from there My hand will take them;and though they climb up to heaven,from there I will pull them down.

³Though they hide themselves atop Carmel,there I will track them and seize them;and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea,there I will command the serpentto bite them.

⁴Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity,there I will command the sword to slay them.I will fix My eyes upon themfor harm and not for good.”

⁵The Lord GOD of Hosts,He who touches the earth and it melts,and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile,then sinks like the river of Egypt—

⁶He builds His upper rooms in the heavensand founds His vault upon the earth.He summons the waters of the seaand pours them over the face of the earth.The LORD is His name.

⁷“Are you not like the Cushitesto Me,O children of Israel?”declares the LORD.“Did I not bring Israelup from the land of Egypt,the Philistines from Caphtor,and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸Surely the eyes of the Lord GODare on the sinful kingdom,and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”declares the LORD.

⁹“For surely I will give the command,and I will shake the house of Israelamong all the nationsas grain is sifted in a sieve;but not a pebble will reach the ground.

¹⁰All the sinners among My peoplewill die by the sword—all those who say,‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’”

A Promise of Restoration

¹¹“In that day I will restorethe fallen tent of David.I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins,and rebuild it as in the days of old,

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edomand all the nations that bear My name,”declares the LORD, who will do this.

¹³“Behold, the days are coming,”declares the LORD,“when the plowman will overtake the reaperand the treader of grapes, the sower of seed.The mountains will drip with sweet wine,with which all the hills will flow.

¹⁴I will restore My people Israel from captivity;they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities.They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

¹⁵I will firmly plant them in their own land,never again to be uprootedfrom the land that I have given them,”says the LORD your God.

Judgment on the Philistines

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

²This is what the LORD says:“See how the waters are rising from the northand becoming an overflowing torrent.They will overflow the land and its fullness,the cities and their inhabitants.The people will cry out,and all who dwell in the land will wail

³at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions,the rumbling of chariots,and the clatter of their wheels.The fathers will not turn back for their sons;their hands will hang limp.

⁴For the day has cometo destroy all the Philistines,to cut off from Tyre and Sidonevery remaining ally.Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines,the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

⁵The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning;Ashkelon will be silenced.O remnant of their valley,how long will you gash yourself?

⁶‘Alas, O sword of the LORD,how long until you rest?Return to your sheath;cease and be still!’

⁷How can it restwhen the LORD has commanded it?He has appointed it against Ashkelonand the shore of its coastland.”

God’s Anger over Jerusalem

¹Howthe Lord has covered the Daughter of Zionwith the cloud of His anger!He has cast the glory of Israelfrom heaven to earth.He has abandoned His footstoolin the day of His anger.

²Without pity the Lord has swallowed upall the dwellings of Jacob.In His wrath He has demolishedthe fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah.He brought to the ground and defiledher kingdom and its princes.

³In fierce anger He has cut offevery hornof Israeland withdrawn His right handat the approach of the enemy.He has burned in Jacob like a flaming firethat consumes everything around it.

⁴He has bent His bow like an enemy;His right hand is positioned.Like a foe He has killedall who were pleasing to the eye;He has poured out His wrath like fireon the tent of the Daughter of Zion.

⁵The Lord is like an enemy;He has swallowed up Israel.He has swallowed up all her palacesand destroyed her strongholds.He has multiplied mourning and lamentationfor the Daughter of Judah.

⁶He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth;He has destroyed His place of meeting.The LORD has made Zion forgether appointed feasts and Sabbaths.In His fierce angerHe has despised both king and priest.

⁷The Lord has rejected His altar;He has abandoned His sanctuary;He has delivered the walls of her palacesinto the hand of the enemy.They have raised a shout in the house of the LORDas on the day of an appointed feast.

⁸The LORD determined to destroythe wall of the Daughter of Zion.He stretched out a measuring lineand did not withdraw His hand from destroying.He made the ramparts and walls lament;together they waste away.

⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground;He has destroyed and shattered their bars.Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations,the law is no more,and even her prophetsfind no vision from the LORD.

¹⁰The elders of the Daughter of Zionsit on the ground in silence.They have thrown dust on their headsand put on sackcloth.The young women of Jerusalemhave bowed their heads to the ground.

¹¹My eyes fail from weeping;I am churning within.My heart is poured out in griefover the destruction of the daughter of my people,because children and infants faintin the streets of the city.

¹²They cry out to their mothers:“Where is the grain and wine?”as they faint like the woundedin the streets of the city,as their lives fade awayin the arms of their mothers.

¹³What can I say for you?To what can I compare you,O Daughter of Jerusalem?To what can I liken you,that I may console you,O Virgin Daughter of Zion?For your wound is as deep as the sea.Who can ever heal you?

¹⁴The visions of your prophetswere empty and deceptive;they did not expose your guiltto ward off your captivity.The burdens they envisioned for youwere empty and misleading.

¹⁵All who pass byclap their hands at you in scorn.They hiss and shake their headsat the Daughter of Jerusalem:“Is this the city that was calledthe perfection of beauty,the joy of all the earth?”

¹⁶All your enemiesopen their mouths against you.They hiss and gnash their teeth,saying, “We have swallowed her up.This is the day for which we have waited.We have lived to see it!”

¹⁷The LORD has done what He planned;He has accomplished His decree,which He ordained in days of old;He has overthrown you without pity.He has let the enemy gloat over youand exalted the hornof your foes.

¹⁸The hearts of the peoplecry out to the Lord.O wall of the Daughter of Zion,let your tears run down like a riverday and night.Give yourself no relief,and your eyes no rest.

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the nightfrom the first watch of the night.Pour out your heart like waterin the presence of the Lord.Lift up your hands to Himfor the lives of your childrenwho are fainting from hungeron the corner of every street.

²⁰Look, O LORD, and consider:Whom have You ever treated like this?Should women eat their offspring,the infants they have nurtured?Should priests and prophets be killedin the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹Both young and old lie togetherin the dust of the streets.My young men and maidenshave fallen by the sword.You have slain them in the day of Your anger;You have slaughtered them without compassion.

²²You summoned my terrors on every side,as for the day of an appointed feast.In the day of the LORD’s angerno one escaped or survived;my enemy has destroyedthose I nurtured and reared.

Thirsting for God

¹O God, You are my God.Earnestly I seek You;my soul thirsts for You.My body yearns for Youin a dry and weary land without water.

²So I have seen You in the sanctuaryand beheld Your power and glory.

³Because Your loving devotion is better than life,my lips will glorify You.

⁴So I will bless You as long as I live;in Your name I will lift my hands.

⁵My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods;with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

⁶When I remember You on my bed,I think of You through the watches of the night.

⁷For You are my help;I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

⁸My soul clings to You;Your right hand upholds me.

⁹But those who seek my life to destroy itwill go into the depths of the earth.

¹⁰They will fall to the power of the sword;they will become a portion for foxes.

¹¹But the king will rejoice in God;all who swear by Him will exult,for the mouths of liars will be shut.