Study Desk

-"A ^(C1)sword against the Chaldeans," declares the LORD, "And against the inhabitants of Babylon And against her ^(C2)leaders and her ^(C3)wise men!

-"A sword against the ^(C1)oracle priests, and they will become fools! A sword against her ^(C2)warriors, and they will be ^(F1)(C3)shattered!

-"A sword against ^(F1)their ^(C1)horses, against ^(F1)their chariots, And against all the ^(F2)(C2)foreigners who are in the midst of her, And they will become ^(C3)women! A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

-"A ^(F1)(C1)drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of ^(C2)idols, And they go insane at frightful images.

"Therefore the ^(C1)desert creatures will live there with the jackals; The ostriches also will live in it. It will ^(C2)never again be inhabited Nor lived in from generation to generation.

-"As when God overthrew ^(C1)Sodom And Gomorrah with its neighbors," declares the LORD, "No one will live there, Nor will ^(F1)anyone of mankind reside in it.

"Behold, a people is coming ^(C1)from the north, And a great nation and many kings Will be roused from the remote parts of the earth.

-"They ^(C1)seize their bow and javelin; They are ^(C2)cruel and have no mercy. Their ^(C3)voice roars like the sea; And they ride on ^(C4)horses, ^(C5)Drawn up like a man for the battle Against you, daughter of Babylon.

-"The ^(C1)king of Babylon has heard the report about them, And his hands hang limp; ^(C2)Distress has gripped him, Agony like a woman in childbirth.

"^(C1)Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will chase them away from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is ^(C2)chosen. For who is ^(C3)like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can ^(C4)stand against Me?"

Therefore hear the ^(C1)plan of the LORD which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has in mind against the land of the Chaldeans: ^(C2)they will certainly drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; He will certainly make their pasture desolate because of them.

At the ^(F1)shout, "Babylon has been conquered!" the ^(C1)earth quakes, and an ^(C2)outcry is heard among the nations.