The word that Jehovah spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is {Or, broken down}dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are {Or, broken down}dismayed.
For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast.
In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God.
They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces {Hebrew: hitherward.}thitherward, saying, Come ye, and {Or, they shall join themselves}join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.
My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place.
All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.
For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of {Or, according to another reading, a mighty man that maketh childless.}an expert mighty man; {Or, that returneth not}none shall return in vain.
And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah.
Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer {Or, at grass}that treadeth out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;
your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against Jehovah.
Shout against her round about: she hath {Hebrew: given her hand.}submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
Israel is a {Hebrew: scattered.}hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
And I will bring Israel again to his {Or, fold}pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
Go up against the land of {That is, Double rebellion.}Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of {That is, Visitation.}Pekod: slay and {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy after them, saith Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against Jehovah.
Jehovah hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
Come against her {Or, from every quarter}from the utmost border; open her {Or, granaries}store-houses; cast her up as heaps, and {Hebrew: devote.}destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.
Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple.
Call together {Or, many}the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; encamp against her round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her; for she hath been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, saith Jehovah.
Behold, I am against thee, {Hebrew: O Pride.}O thou proud one, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.
And {Hebrew: Pride.}the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round about him.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all that took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
A sword is upon the {Hebrew: boatings.}boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.
A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed.
A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over {Hebrew: terrors.}idols.
Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the {Hebrew: howling creatures.}wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.
Behold, a people cometh from the north; and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon hath heard the tidings of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that can stand before me?
Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembleth, and the cry is heard among the nations.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 50,11 Jer 50,11
Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker;And he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
Israel is a {Hebrew: scattered.}hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
They are waxed fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
they were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.
They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me;All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it:Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they shall be like unto me.
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured {Another reading is, us.}me, he hath crushed {Another reading is, us.}me, he hath made {Another reading is, us.}me an empty vessel, he hath, like a monster, swallowed {Another reading is, us.}me up, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath cast {Another reading is, us.}me out.
Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation.
All that pass by clap their hands at thee;They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying,Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
{Hebrew: My wrong and my flesh.}The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek;Then he forsook God who made him,And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee;They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up;Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old,Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance;And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, {Or, The enemy hath wrought all evil}All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.
Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly;They have set up their ensigns for signs.
They {Or, made themselves known}seemed as men that lifted upAxes upon a thicket of trees.
And now all the carved work thereofThey break down with hatchet and hammers.
They have set thy sanctuary on fire;They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name by casting it to the ground.
They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether:They have burned up all the {Or, places of assembly}synagogues of God in the land.
Many bulls have compassed me;Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz:The cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
A Psalm of Asaph.O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance;Thy holy temple have they defiled;They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be food unto the birds of the heavens,The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem;And there was none to bury them.
We are become a reproach to our neighbors,A scoffing and derision to them that are round about us.
And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught, that loveth to tread out the grain; but I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will set a rider on Ephraim; Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break his clods.
{Or, Thine iniquity hath an end}The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity:He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins.
A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.O God, keep not thou silence:Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult;And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
They take crafty counsel against thy people,And consult together against thy hidden ones.
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
For they have consulted together with one consent;Against thee do they make a covenant:
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink.
and say unto the children of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity:
therefore, behold, I will deliver thee to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in thee, and make their dwellings in thee; they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching-place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast clapped thy hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of thy soul against the land of Israel;
therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut thee off from the peoples, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the nations;
I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and {Hebrew: to make them a treading down.}to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity;
therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
And I will execute great vengeance upon them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gate of the peoples; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste:
I was wroth with my people, I profaned mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: {Or, After the glory, he hath &c.}After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
But look not thou on the day of thy brother in {Or, the day that he was made a stranger}the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress.
For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me.
Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.