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"I will dispatchforeigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate her land; For on everyside they will be opposed to her In the day of her calamity.
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Flee from the midst of Babylon, And each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, For this is the LORD'Stime of vengeance; He is going to renderrecompense to her.
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Babylon has been a goldencup in the hand of the LORD, Intoxicatingall the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore* the nations are goingmad.
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We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed; Forsake her and let us eachgo to his own country, For her judgment has reached to heaven And towers up to the very skies.
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Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose is againstBabylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple.
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Lift up a signalagainst the walls of Babylon; Post a strongguard, Stationsentries, Place men in ambush! For the LORD has bothpurposed and performedWhat He spokeconcerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
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The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself: "Surely* I will fill you with a population like locusts, And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you."
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When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makeslightning for the rain And bringsforth the wind from His storehouses.
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Allmankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Everygoldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his moltenimages are deceitful, And there is nobreath in them.
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"Behold, I am against you, O destroyingmountain, Who destroys the wholeearth," declares the LORD, "And I will stretch out My handagainst you, And roll you down from the crags, And I will make you a burnt out mountain.
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Lift up a signal in the land, Blow a trumpet among the nations! Consecrate the nationsagainst her, Summonagainst her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz; Appoint a marshalagainst her, Bring up the horses like bristlylocusts.
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The mightymen of Babylon have ceasedfighting, They stay in the strongholds; Their strength is exhausted, They are becoming like women; Their dwellingplaces are set on fire, The bars of her gates are broken.
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For thussays the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor At the time it is stampedfirm; Yet in a littlewhile the time of harvest will come for her."
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"Nebuchadnezzarking of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me, He has set me down like an emptyvessel; He has swallowed me like a monster, He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has washed me away.
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"May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon," The inhabitant of Zion will say; And, "May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.
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Thereforethussays the LORD, "Behold, I am going to plead your case And exactfullvengeance for you; And I will dry up her sea And make her fountaindry.
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"When they becomeheated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them drunk, that they may becomejubilant And may sleep a perpetualsleep And not wake up," declares the LORD.
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"I will punishBel in Babylon, And I will make what he has swallowedcome out of his mouth; And the nations will nolongerstream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallendown!
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"Now so that your heart does not growfaint, And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land - For the report will come one year, And after that another report in another year, And violence will be in the land With ruleragainstruler -
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Thereforebehold, days are coming When I will punish the idols of Babylon; And her wholeland will be put to shame And all her slain will fall in her midst.
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"Then heaven and earth and all that is in them Will shout for joyoverBabylon, For the destroyers will come to her from the north," Declares the LORD.
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"ThoughBabylon should ascend to the heavens, And though she should fortify her loftystronghold, From Me destroyers will come to her," declares the LORD.
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For the LORD is going to destroyBabylon, And He will make her loudnoisevanish from her. And their waves will roar like manywaters; The tumult of their voicessoundsforth.
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For the destroyer is comingagainst her, againstBabylon, And her mightymen will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the LORD is a God of recompense, He will fullyrepay.
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"I will make her princes and her wisemendrunk, Her governors, her prefects and her mightymen, That they may sleep a perpetualsleep and not wake up," Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
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Thussays the LORD of hosts, "The broadwall of Babylon will be completelyrazed And her highgates will be set on fire; So the peoples will toil for nothing, And the nationsbecomeexhausted only for fire."
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The messagewhichJeremiah the prophetcommandedSeraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourthyear of his reign. (Now Seraiah was quartermaster*.)
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and say, 'You, O LORD, have promisedconcerningthisplace to cut it off, so that there will be nothingdwelling in it, whetherman or beast, but it will be a perpetualdesolation.'
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and say, 'Justso shall Babylonsinkdown and not rise again because* of the calamity that I am going to bring upon her; and they will becomeexhausted.' " Thusfar are the words of Jeremiah.