Study Desk

"Now the LORD has brought it about and has done just as He promised. Because you [people of Judah] have sinned against the LORD and did not listen to and honor His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you.

"But now, listen carefully, [because of your innocence] I am freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you [carefully]; but if you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, then do not do so. Look, all the land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right (convenient) for you to go."

because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed [governor] over the land [and whose death the king might avenge].

because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and incense to serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

"The LORD could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your acts and the repulsive acts which you have committed; because of them your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

"Because you have burned sacrifices [to idols] and because you have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law and in His statutes and in His testimonies, therefore this tragedy has fallen on you, as it has this day."

"Why have your strong ones been cut down? They do not stand because the LORD drove them away.

"Also her mercenaries in her army Are like fattened calves, For they too have turned back and have fled together; They did not stand [their ground], Because the day of their disaster has come upon them, The time of their punishment.

"They have cut down her forest," says the LORD; "Certainly it will no longer be found, Because they (the invaders) are more numerous than locusts And cannot be counted.

"Because of the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of the war-horses [of the Babylonian king], The rattling of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers have not looked and turned back for their children, So weak are their hands [with terror]

Because of the day that is coming To destroy all the Philistines And to cut off from Tyre and Sidon Every ally who remains. For the LORD is going to destroy the Philistines, The remnant [still surviving] of the coastland of Caphtor.

"For because you have trusted in your works [your hand-made idols] and in your treasures [instead of in God], Even you yourself will be captured; And Chemosh [your disgusting god cannot rescue you, but] will go away into exile [along with the fugitives] Together with his priests and his princes.

"Moab will be destroyed from being a nation (people) Because he has become arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD.

Therefore hear the plan of the LORD which He has devised against Edom, and [hear] what He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will be dragged away, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate because of them.

"All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries have said, 'We are not guilty, Because they have sinned against the LORD [and are no longer holy to Him], their [true] habitation of righteousness and justice, Even the LORD, the [confident] hope of their fathers.'

"Because of the wrath of the LORD she will not be inhabited But she will be completely desolate; Everyone who goes by Babylon will be appalled And will hiss (mock) at all her wounds and plagues.

"I set a trap for you and you also were caught, O Babylon, And you did not know it; You have been found and also seized Because you have struggled against the LORD."

Therefore hear the plan of the LORD which He has devised against Babylon, and hear what He has purposed against [the inhabitants of the land of] the Chaldeans: surely they will be dragged away, [even] the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their habitation desolate because of them.

Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields [and cover yourselves]! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it; For that is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance [on Babylon] for [plundering and destroying] His temple.

"Then say, 'In the same way Babylon will sink down and not rise because of the disaster that I will bring on her; and the Babylonians will become [hopelessly] exhausted.'" Thus the words of Jeremiah are completed.