Study Desk

You people living in the town of Dedan, run away and hide in deep caves, because I will bring disaster on the people of Esau. It is time for me to punish them.

This message is to the city of Damascus: "The towns of Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, because they have heard bad news. They are discouraged. They are troubled like the tossing sea.

"Babylon, you are excited and happy, because you took my land. You dance around like a young cow in the grain. Your laughter is like the neighing of male horses.

Because of the Lord 's anger, no one will live there. She will be completely empty. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be shocked. They will shake their heads when they see all her injuries.

"Take your positions for war against Babylon, all you soldiers with bows. Shoot your arrows at Babylon! Do not save any of them, because Babylon has sinned against the Lord .

The Lord says, "At that time people will try to find Israel's guilt, but there will be no guilt. People will try to find Judah's sins, but no sins will be found, because I will leave a few people alive from Israel and Judah, and I will forgive their sins.

The Lord has opened up his storeroom and brought out the weapons of his anger, because the Lord God All-Powerful has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.

Kill all the young men in Babylon; let them be killed like animals. How terrible it will be for them, because the time has come for their defeat; it is time for them to be punished.

"Run away from Babylon and save your lives! Don't stay and be killed because of Babylon's sins. It is time for the Lord to punish Babylon; he will give Babylon the punishment she deserves.

"Sharpen the arrows! Pick up your shields! The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because he wants to destroy Babylon. The Lord will punish them as they deserve for destroying his Temple.

"People are so stupid and know so little. Goldsmiths are made ashamed by their idols, because those statues are only false gods. They have no breath in them.

People will not find any rocks in Babylon big enough for cornerstones. People will not take any rocks from Babylon to use for the foundation of a building, because your city will be just a pile of ruins forever," says the Lord .

The land shakes and moves in pain, because the Lord will do what he has planned to Babylon. He will make Babylon an empty desert, where no one will live.

Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy about Babylon. They will shout because the army comes from the north to destroy Babylon," says the Lord .

"Babylon must fall, because she killed people from Israel. She killed people from everywhere on earth.

"We people of Judah are disgraced, because we have been insulted. We have been shamed, because strangers have gone into the holy places of the Lord 's Temple!"

The army has come to destroy Babylon. Her soldiers have been captured, and their bows are broken, because the Lord is a God who punishes people for the evil they do. He gives them the full punishment they deserve.

Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and will not rise again because of the terrible things I will make happen here. Her people will fall.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.

All this happened in Jerusalem and Judah because the Lord was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.

The roads to Jerusalem are sad, because no one comes for the feasts. No one passes through her gates. Her priests groan, her young women are suffering, and Jerusalem suffers terribly.