Study Desk

Babylon might grow until she touches the sky. Babylon might make her forts strong, but I will send people to fight against that city. And they will destroy her." This is what the Lord said.

The army will come and destroy Babylon. Its soldiers will be captured, and their bows will be broken, This will happen because the Lord punishes people for the bad things they do. He gives them the full punishment they deserve.

I will make Babylon's wise men and important officials drunk. I will make the governors, officers, and soldiers drunk too. Then they will sleep forever. They will never wake up." This is what the King said. His name is the Lord All-Powerful.

The Babylonian army broke up the bronze columns of the Lord 's Temple. They also broke up the stands and the bronze tank that were in the Lord 's Temple. They carried all that bronze to Babylon.

The commander of the king's special guards also took the officer in charge of the fighting men. He also took seven of the king's advisors as prisoners. They were still there in Jerusalem. He also took the scribe who was in charge of putting people in the army. And he took 60 of the ordinary people who were there in the city.

Jerusalem thinks back. She remembers the time when she was hurt and when she lost her home. She remembers all the nice things that she had in the past. She remembers those nice things that she had in the old days. She remembers when her people were captured by the enemy. She remembers when there was no one to help her. When her enemies saw her, they laughed, because she was destroyed.

Jerusalem sinned very badly. Because Jerusalem sinned, she became a ruined city that people shake their heads about. In the past people respected her. But now they hate her, because they abused her. Jerusalem groaned and turned away.

I called out to my lovers, but they tricked me. My priests and my elders have died in the city. They were looking for food for themselves. They wanted to keep themselves alive.

He rejected his altar, and he left his holy place of worship. He let the enemy pull down the walls of the palaces of Jerusalem. The enemy shouted with joy in the Lord 's Temple. They made noise as though it were a festival.

The elders of Zion sit on the ground. They sit on the ground and are quiet. They pour dust on their heads. They put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground in sorrow.

They ask their mothers, "Where is the bread and wine?" as they pour out their life in their mother's laps.

Those who pass by on the road clap their hands and laugh at you. They make fun of Jerusalem, shaking their heads at the sight of her. They ask, "Is this the city that people called ‘The Most Beautiful City' and ‘The Joy of all the Earth'?"

All your enemies laugh at you. They whistle and grind their teeth at you. They say, "We have swallowed them up! This is the day we were hoping for. We have finally seen this happen!"

Get up throughout the night and cry for help. Let your sorrow pour out before the Lord like water. Lift up your hands in prayer to him. Ask him to let your children live. They are starving to death on every street corner.

Look at us, Lord ! Have you ever treated anyone else so badly? Is it right for women to eat their own babies, the children they have cared for? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Temple of the Lord?

I have become a joke to all my people. All day long they sing songs about me and make fun of me.

They threw me alive into a pit and then threw stones at me.

when they sit down and when they stand up. Look how they make fun of me!

Some of the men of Judah were dedicated to God in a special way. They were very pure. They were whiter than snow, and whiter than milk. Their bodies were red like coral and their beards like sapphire stones.

It was better for those who were killed by the sword than for those who died of hunger. Those starving people were sad and hurt. They died because they got no food from the field.