Study Desk

But I promise that someday I will bring your people back to their land.

I am your true pastureland, the one who gave hope to your ancestors. But you abandoned me, so when your enemies found you, they felt no guilt as they gobbled you down.

The city of Babylon was like a mother to you. But it will be disgraced and become nothing but a barren desert.

But I will bring Israel back to its own land. The people will be like sheep eating their fill on Mount Carmel and in Bashan, in the hill country of Ephraim and in Gilead.

Babylonia was a hammer pounding every country, but now it lies broken. What a shock to the nations of the world!

Babylonia challenged me, the Lord God All-Powerful, but that nation doesn't know it is caught in a trap that I set.

The Babylonian army destroyed my temple, but soon I will take revenge. Then refugees from Babylon will tell about it in Zion.

Babylon, you should be named, "The Proud One." But the time has come when I, the Lord All-Powerful, will punish you.

You are proud, but you will stumble and fall, and no one will help you up. I will set your villages on fire, and everything around you will go up in flames.

But I, the Lord All-Powerful, will rescue and protect them. I will bring peace to their land and trouble to yours.

Everyone in Israel and Judah is guilty. But I, the Lord All-Powerful, their holy God, have not abandoned them.

But suddenly, Babylon will fall and be destroyed. I, the Lord , told the foreigners who lived there, "Weep for the city! Get medicine for its wounds; maybe they will heal."

The foreigners answered, "We have already tried to treat Babylon's wounds, but they would not heal. Come on, let's all go home to our own countries. Nothing is left in Babylonia; everything is destroyed."

People of Babylon, you live along the Euphrates River and are surrounded by canals. You are rich, but now the time has come for you to die.

But the Lord , Israel's God, is all-powerful. He created everything, and he chose Israel to be his very own.

But now, my people will watch, while I repay you for what you did to Zion.

You destroyed the nations and seem strong as a mountain, but I am your enemy. I might even grab you and roll you off a cliff. When I am finished, you'll only be a pile of scorched bricks.

Babylon will be a pile of rubble where only jackals live. People will laugh, but they will be afraid to walk among the ruins.

All nations now praise Babylon, but when it is captured, those same nations will be horrified.

My people, you escaped death when Jerusalem fell. Now you live far from home, but you should trust me and think about Jerusalem. Leave Babylon! Don't stay!