Study Desk

In those days and in that time,'" declares Yahweh, "the people of Israel will come, they and the people of Judah together. Weeping as they go, they will go, and Yahweh their God they will seek.

They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there. They will come and join themselves to Yahweh by an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture, even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.'

For look, I am going to stir up, and I am going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from the land of the north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success, he does not return without success.

In those days and at that time," declares Yahweh, "the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I left behind.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah likewise, for all their captors have seized them, they refuse to let them go free.

A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror.

A sword against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her, so that they may become as women. A sword against her treasures, so that they may be plundered.

A drought will come against her waters, and they will dry up, for it is a land of images, and because of the frightful objects, they act like madmen.

They keep hold of bow and short sword. They are cruel and they have no mercy. Their sound is like the sea, it roars, and upon horses they ride. Drawn up for battle as a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.

Therefore hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Babylon, and his plans that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will cause their grazing place to be desolate over them.

And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will lay waste her land, for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.

And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.

Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, "Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts, and they will sing over you a war cry."

And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their wickedness that they have done in Zion before your eyes," declares Yahweh.

They will not take from you a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, for you will be an everlasting desolation," declares Yahweh.

At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep an everlasting sleep, and they will not wake up," declares Yahweh.

"And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men, her governors, and her officials, and her warriors, and they will sleep an everlasting sleep, and they will not wake up," declares the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished, and her high gates will burn with fire, and the peoples will labor for nothing, and the nations for fire, and they will grow weary."

And you must say, ‘Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, because of the face of the disasters that I am bringing on her, and they will grow weary.'" Thus far the words of Jeremiah.