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 50,17 Jer 50,17
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.
The young lions have roared upon him, and {Hebrew: given out their voice.}yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it;
in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city),
that all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, to wit, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, {Title of an officer.}Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, {Title of an officer.}Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.
And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the gate betwixt the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he {Hebrew: spake judgements with him. See chapter 12:1 (marg.).}gave judgment upon him.
Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith Jehovah.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the {Or, deserts}evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they {Or, practised}made.
And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Jehovah their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
and they set them up {Or, obelisks}pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree;
and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Jehovah carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger;
and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
Yet Jehovah testified unto Israel, and unto Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in Jehovah their God.
And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified unto them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.
And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Also Judah kept not the commandments of Jehovah their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they {Or, practised}made.
And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam {According to another reading, drew Israel away.}drove Israel from following Jehovah, and made them sin a great sin.
And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
until Jehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spake by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
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.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith Jehovah.
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the {Or, swelling}pride of the Jordan {Or, unto the permanent pastures}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 will stand before me?
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
And at the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
And the king of Assyria carried Israel away unto Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did {Hebrew: Sanherib.}Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
{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.
And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered.
They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps.
And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came {Or, against}unto him, and distressed him, but {Or, prevailed not against him}strengthened him not.
Zedekiah was one and twenty 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.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and there was none that did search or seek after them.
After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought {Hebrew: to break them up.}to win them for himself.
And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that {Hebrew: his face was to fight.}he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him.
So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?
And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and {The Vulgate has, built towers thereon.}raised it up to the towers, and {Or, another}the other wall without, and strengthened Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance.
And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,
Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for {Or, there are more}there is a greater with us than with him:
with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide {Or, in the stronghold}the siege in Jerusalem?
Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Jehovah our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and upon it shall ye burn incense?
Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand?
Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you after this manner, neither believe ye him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your {Or, gods}God deliver you out of my hand?
And his servants spake yet more against Jehovah God, and against his servant Hezekiah.
He wrote also {Or, a letter}letters, to rail on Jehovah, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.
And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city.
And they spake of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.
And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth from his own bowels {Hebrew: caused him to fall.}slew him there with the sword.
Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.
And many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
And Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
Surely at the commandment of Jehovah came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,
and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Jehovah would not pardon.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his servants were besieging it;
and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his {Or, eunuchs}officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.
And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his {Or, eunuchs}officers, and the {Or, mighty}chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king is his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was {Hebrew: Hamital.}Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in {Hebrew: the day of clouds and thick darkness.}the cloudy and dark day.
Wherefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh {Or, with hooks}in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.
Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God.
Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his {Or, palace}temple at Babylon.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found {Or, against}in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and {In 1 Chronicles 3:16, Jeconiah. In Jeremiah 22:24, Coniah.}Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
Jehoiachin was {In 2 Kings 24:8, eighteen.}eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah.
And at the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of Jehovah, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem:
and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God; he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Jehovah.
And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and {Hebrew: strengthened.}hardened his heart against turning unto Jehovah, the God of Israel.
Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place:
but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no {Hebrew: healing.}remedy.
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed: he gave them all into his hand.
And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.
And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths: for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Now in the first year of {Hebrew: Coresh.}Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.
I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land,
Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah — even the king of Assyria.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the {Or, rugged}desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon all thorn-hedges, and upon all {Or, bushes}pastures.
In that day will the Lord shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
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.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.
now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks;
And the king commanded, and they brought those men that had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
and it shall sweep onward into Judah; it shall overflow and pass through; it shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may {Or, have abundance}have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.
He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth them:
{Or, Woe to Asshur}Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!
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.
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.
For ye were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and {Or, Overseer}Bishop of your souls.
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that {Hebrew: Sanherib.}Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
And the king of Assyria sent {The title of an Assyrian officer.}Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
Then came forth unto him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the {Or, secretary}scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the {Or, chronicler}recorder.
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
I say, thy counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
Behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him.
But if thou say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
Now therefore, I pray thee, {Or, make a wager with}give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the {Hebrew: Aramean.}Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?
Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you:
neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, {Hebrew: Make with me a blessing.}Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Who are they among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.