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1I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
2her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares
3the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
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"Thus says the LORD of hosts: The broad
4wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground,
5and her high gates shall be burned with fire.
6The peoples labor for nothing, and
7the nations weary themselves only for fire."
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The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah
8the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon,
9in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.
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10Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon,
11all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
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And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,
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and say, 'O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so
12that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be
13desolate forever.'
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When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it
14and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,
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and say,
15'Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her,
16and they shall become exhausted.'"Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.