Study Desk

"But I have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his hiding places So that he will not be able to conceal himself; His offspring have been destroyed along with his brothers And his neighbors, and he no longer exists.

For this is what the LORD says: "Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink the cup will certainly drink it, so are you the one who will be held completely blameless? You will not be held blameless, but you will certainly drink it.

'So I will shatter Elam before their enemies And before those who seek their lives; And I will bring disaster upon them, Even My fierce anger,' declares the LORD, 'And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.

"They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come so that they may join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

"Raise your battle cry against her on every side! She has given herself up, her towers have fallen, Her walls have been torn down. For this is the vengeance of the LORD: Take vengeance on her; As she has done to others, so do to her.

"Summon many against Babylon, All those who bend the bow: Encamp against her on every side, Let there be no escape. Repay her according to her work; According to all that she has done, so do to her; For she has become arrogant against the LORD, Against the Holy One of Israel.

"Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of armies is His name; He will vigorously plead their case So that He may bring rest to their land, But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

"I will send foreigners to Babylon so that they may winnow her And devastate her land; For they will be opposed to her on every side On the day of her disaster.

So the land quakes and writhes, For the plans of the LORD against Babylon stand, To make the land of Babylon A desolation without inhabitants.

"When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph, And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares the LORD.

"Now, so that your heart does not grow faint, And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land— For the report will come in one year, And after that another report in another year, And violence will be in the land With ruler against ruler—

"I will make her leaders and her wise men drunk, Her governors, her officials, and her warriors, So that they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up," Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of armies.

This is what the LORD of armies says: "The broad wall of Babylon will be completely demolished, And her high gates will be set on fire; So the peoples will labor for nothing, And the nations become exhausted only for fire."

and say, 'You, LORD, have promised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there will be nothing living in it, whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.'

and say, 'Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted.'" To this point are the words of Jeremiah.

So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

So the entire army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem.

Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led into exile from its land.

So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and had his meals in the king's presence regularly all the days of his life.