Jeremiah: the nations and Babylon · Ezekiel: oracles about the nations

Jeremiah 52 WEB

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ²He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ³For through the LORD’s anger this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ⁴In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. ⁵So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁷Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were against the city all around. The men of war went toward the Arabah, ⁸but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. ⁹Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him. ¹⁰The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death. ¹²Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. ¹³He burned the LORD’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire. ¹⁴All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. ¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers. ¹⁷The Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the LORD’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the LORD’s house in pieces, and carried all of their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. ¹⁹The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, as gold, and that which was of silver, as silver. ²⁰They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made for the LORD’s house. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight. ²¹As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow. ²²A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also had the same, with pomegranates. ²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around. ²⁴The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, ²⁵and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. ²⁶Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. ²⁷The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. ²⁸This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Jews; ²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five people. All the people numbered four thousand six hundred. ³¹In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and released him from prison. ³²He spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, ³³and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life. ³⁴For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Ezekiel 25–26 WEB

^25:1The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them. ³Tell the children of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord GOD! The Lord GOD says, “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, ⁴therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession. They will set their encampments in you and make their dwellings in you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. ⁵I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” ⁶For the Lord GOD says: “Because you have clapped your hands, stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul against the land of Israel, ⁷therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries. I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” ⁸“‘The Lord GOD says: “Because Moab and Seir say, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations,’ ⁹therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on its frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim, ¹⁰to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations. ¹¹I will execute judgments on Moab. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” ¹²“‘The Lord GOD says: “Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and taken revenge on them,” ¹³therefore the Lord GOD says, “I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman. They will fall by the sword even to Dedan. ¹⁴I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath. Then they will know my vengeance,” says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵“‘The Lord GOD says: “Because the Philistines have taken revenge, and have taken vengeance with contempt of soul to destroy with perpetual hostility,” ¹⁶therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I lay my vengeance on them.”’”

^26:1In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken! She who was the gateway of the peoples has been returned to me. I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste;’ ³therefore the Lord GOD says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. ⁴They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. ⁵She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘She will become plunder for the nations. ⁶Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ⁷“For the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen, and an army with many people. ⁸He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. ⁹He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. ¹⁰By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter into a city which is broken open. ¹¹He will tread down all your streets with the hoofs of his horses. He will kill your people with the sword. The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground. ¹²They will make a plunder of your riches and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your dust in the middle of the waters. ¹³I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won’t be heard any more. ¹⁴I will make you a bare rock. You will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken it,’ says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵“The Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Won’t the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you? ¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. ¹⁷They will take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, “How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!” ¹⁸Now the islands will tremble in the day of your fall. Yes, the islands that are in the sea will be dismayed at your departure.’ ¹⁹“For the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you, ²⁰then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living. ²¹I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being. Though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,’ says the Lord GOD.”