Holman Christian Standard Bible (240 page)

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The Humiliation of Babylon
28
 “There is a voice of fugitives and those who escape
from the land of Babylon
announcing in Zion the vengeance of the 
Lord
our God,
the vengeance for His temple. 
29
 Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds; 
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the 
Lord
,
against the Holy One of Israel. 
30
 Therefore, her young men will fall
in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the 
Lord
's declaration. 
31
 Look, I am against you, you arrogant one —
this is the declaration of
 
the Lord 
God
of Hosts —
because your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32
 The arrogant will stumble and fall
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.” 
The Desolation of Babylon
33
 This is what the
Lord
of Hosts says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast; 
they refuse to release them.
34
 Their Redeemer is strong;
•Yahweh
of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case 
so that He might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon. 
35
 A sword is over the Chaldeans —
this is the 
Lord
's declaration —
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her sages.
36
 A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
37
 A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them, 
and they will be like women. 
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
38
 A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things.
39
 Therefore, desert creatures will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations. 
40
 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns  —
this is the 
Lord
's declaration —
so no one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it
as a temporary resident. 
The Conquest of Babylon
41
 Look! A people comes from the north.
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth. 
42
 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea, 
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43
 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands fall helpless.
Distress has seized him —
pain, like a woman in labor. 
44
 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me? ”
45
 Therefore, hear the plans that the
Lord
has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock's little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.
46
 At the sound of Babylon's conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations. 
Jeremiah
God's Judgment on Babylon
51
This is what the
Lord
says:
I am about to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon 
and against the population of Leb-qamai.
2
 I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare, 
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
3
 Don't let the archer string his bow;
don't let him put on his armor. 
Don't spare her young men;
•completely
destroy her entire army!
4
 Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets. 
5
 For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the 
Lord
of 
•Hosts
,
though their land is full of 
•guilt
against the Holy One of Israel. 
6
 Leave Babylon; 
save your lives, each of you! 
Don't perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of the 
Lord
's vengeance —
He will pay her what she deserves. 
7
 Babylon was a gold cup in the 
Lord
's hand, 
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine; 
therefore, the nations go mad. 
8
 Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.
Wail for her;
get balm for her wound —
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 sky
and reaches as far as the clouds. 
10
 The
Lord
has brought about our vindication; 
come, let's tell in 
•Zion
what the
Lord
our God has accomplished. 
11
 Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
The
Lord
has put it into the mind
of the kings of the Medes
because His plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the 
Lord
's vengeance,
vengeance for His temple. 
12
 Raise up a signal flag 
against the walls of Babylon;
fortify the watch post;
set the watchmen in place;
prepare the ambush.
For the
Lord
has both planned and accomplished
what He has threatened
against those who live in Babylon.
13
 You who reside by many waters, 
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.
14
 The
Lord
of Hosts has sworn by Himself:
I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will sing the victory song over you.
15
 He made the earth by His power,
established the world by His wisdom, 
and spread out the heavens by His understanding. 
16
 When He thunders, 
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, 
and He causes the clouds
to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from His storehouses. 
17
 Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, 
for his cast images are a lie; 
there is no breath in them. 
18
 They are worthless, a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed. 
19
 Jacob's Portion is not like these
because He is the One who formed all things. 
Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; 
•Yahweh
of Hosts is His name. 
20
 You are My battle club,
My weapons of war.
With you I will smash nations;
with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
21
 With you I will smash the horse and its rider;
with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
22
 With you I will smash man and woman; 
with you I will smash the old man and the youth;
with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
23
 With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock;
with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team. 
With you I will smash governors and officials.
24
 “I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes.” 
This is the 
Lord
's declaration.
25
 Look, I am against you, devastating mountain —
this is the 
Lord
's declaration —
you devastate the whole earth.
I will stretch out My hand against you, 
roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain.
26
 No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will become desolate forever.
This is the 
Lord
's declaration.
27
 Raise a signal flag in the land;
blow a ram's horn among the nations;
set apart the nations against her. 
Summon kingdoms against her —
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28
 Set apart the nations for battle against her —
the kings of Media,
her governors and all her officials,
and all the lands they rule.
29
 The earth quakes and trembles
because the
Lord
's intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.
30
 Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; 
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.
Babylon's homes have been set ablaze,
her gate bars are shattered. 
31
 Messenger races to meet messenger, 
and herald to meet herald,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured
from end to end.
32
 The fords have been seized, 
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers are terrified.
33
 For this is what the
Lord
of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled. 
In just a little while her harvest time will come. 
34
 “Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty dish;
he has swallowed me like a sea monster; 
he filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has vomited me out,” 
35
 says the inhabitant of Zion;
“Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon.
Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36
 Therefore, this is what the
Lord
says:
I am about to plead your case 
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea 
and make her fountain run dry.
37
 Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals' den,
a desolation and an object of scorn, 
without inhabitant.
38
 They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
39
 While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk so that they revel.
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.
This is the 
Lord
's declaration.
40
 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams together with male goats. 

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