051:043 Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert,
a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of
man pass thereby.
051:044 I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring
forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up;
and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall
of Babylon shall fall.
051:045 My people, go you out of the midst of her, and save yourselves
every man from the fierce anger of Yahweh.
051:046 Don't let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that
shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year,
and after that in another year [shall come] news, and violence
in the land, ruler against ruler.
051:047 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment
on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall
be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
051:048 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein,
shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall
come to her from the north, says Yahweh.
051:049 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon
shall fall the slain of all the land.
051:050 You who have escaped the sword, go you, don't stand still;
remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
051:051 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has
covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries
of Yahweh's house.
051:052 Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will
execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her
land the wounded shall groan.
051:053 Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she
should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall
destroyers come to her, says Yahweh.
051:054 The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans!
051:055 For Yahweh lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her
the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters;
the noise of their voice is uttered:
051:056 for the destroyer is come on her, even on Babylon, and her
mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces;
for Yahweh is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.
051:057 I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors
and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep
a perpetual sleep, and not wake up, says the King, whose name
is Yahweh of Armies.
051:058 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: The broad walls of Babylon
shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be
burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity,
and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
051:059 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son
of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah
the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign.
Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.
051:060 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon,
even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
051:061 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, then see
that you read all these words,
051:062 and say, Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut
it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor animal,
but that it shall be desolate forever.
051:063 It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book,
that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst
of the Euphrates:
051:064 and you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not
rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her;
and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
052:001 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's
name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
052:002 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that Jehoiakim had done.
052:003 For through the anger of Yahweh did it happen in Jerusalem
and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
052:004 It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem,
and encamped against it; and they built forts against
it round about.
052:005 So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
052:006 In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine
was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people
of the land.
052:007 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled,
and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate
between the two walls, which was by the king's garden;
(now the Chaldeans were against the city round about;)
and they went toward the Arabah.
052:008 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king,
and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his
army was scattered from him.
052:009 Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king
of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave
judgment on him.
052:010 The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes:
he killed also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
052:011 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon
bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put
him in prison until the day of his death.
052:012 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month,
which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard,
who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:
052:013 and he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house;
and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house,
burned he with fire.
052:014 All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of
the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
052:015 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive
of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people
who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell
to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.
052:016 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest
of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.
052:017 The pillars of brass that were in the house of Yahweh,
and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh,
did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass
of them to Babylon.
052:018 The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins,
and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which
they ministered, took they away.
052:019 The cups, and the fire pans, and the basins, and the pots,
and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls--
that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver,
in silver,--the captain of the guard took away.
052:020 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls
that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made
for the house of Yahweh. The brass of all these vessels
was without weight.
052:021 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was
eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it;
and the thickness of it was four fingers: it was hollow.
052:022 A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital
was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital
round about, all of brass: and the second pillar also had
like these, and pomegranates.
052:023 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the
pomegranates were one hundred on the network round about.
052:024 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest,
and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers
of the threshold:
052:025 and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men
of war; and seven men of those who saw the king's face,
who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain
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.
052:026 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought
them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
052:027 The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah
in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive
out of his land.
052:028 This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive:
in the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews;
052:029 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away
captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons;
052:030 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews
seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four
thousand and six hundred.
052:031 It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity
of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month,
in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach
king of Babylon, in the [first] year of his reign, lifted up
the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth
out of prison;
052:032 and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne
of the kings who were with him in Babylon,
052:033 and changed his prison garments. [Jehoiachin] ate bread
before him continually all the days of his life:
052:034 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given
him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day
of his death, all the days of his life.