To The Word – Day 187

₁This is what the LORD said about Ammon: “Where are the men of Israel? Is there no one to defend their land? Why have they let the people who worship Molech take the territory of the tribe of Gad and settle there? ₂But the time is coming when I will make the people of the capital city of Rabbah hear the noise of battle, and it will be left in ruins and its villages burnt to the ground. Then Israel will take its land back from those who took it from them. ₃People of Heshbon, cry out! Ai is destroyed! Women of Rabbah, go into mourning! Put on sackcloth and mourn. Run about in confusion. Your god Molech will be taken into exile, together with his priests and princes. ₄Why do you unfaithful people boast? Your strength is failing. Why do you trust in your power and say that no one would dare attack you? ₅I will bring terror on you from every side. You will all run away. Each one will run for his life, and there will be no one to bring your troops together again.

₆“But later on I will make Ammon prosperous again. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₇This is what the LORD Almighty said about Edom: “Have the people of Edom lost their good judgement? Can their advisers no longer tell them what to do? Has all their wisdom disappeared? ₈People of Dedan, turn and run! Hide! I am going to destroy Esau's descendants, because the time has come for me to punish them. ₉When people pick grapes, they leave a few on the vines, and when robbers come at night, they take only what they want. ₁₀But I have stripped Esau's descendants completely and uncovered their hiding places, so that they can no longer hide. All the people of Edom are destroyed. Not one of them is left. ₁₁Leave your orphans with me, and I will take care of them. Your widows can depend on me.

₁₂“If even those who did not deserve to be punished had to drink from the cup of punishment, do you think that you will go unpunished? No, you must drink from the cup! ₁₃I myself have sworn that the city of Bozrah will become a horrifying sight and a desert; people will jeer at it and use its name as a curse. All the nearby villages will be in ruins for ever. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁₄I said, “Edom, I have received a message from the LORD. He has sent a messenger to tell the nations to assemble their armies and to get ready to attack you. ₁₅The LORD is going to make you weak, and no one will respect you. ₁₆Your pride has deceived you. No one fears you as much as you think they do. You live on the rocky cliffs, high on top of the mountain; but even though you live as high up as an eagle, the LORD will bring you down. The LORD has spoken.”

₁₇The LORD said, “The destruction that will come on Edom will be so terrible that everyone who passes by will be shocked and terrified. ₁₈The same thing will happen to Edom as happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when they and the nearby towns were destroyed. No one will ever live there again. I, the LORD, have spoken. ₁₉Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan up to the green pasture land, I will come and make the Edomites run away suddenly from their country. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me? ₂₀So listen to the plan that I have made against the people of Edom, and to what I intend to do to the people of the city of Teman. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified. ₂₁When Edom falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard as far away as the Gulf of Aqaba. ₂₂The enemy will attack Bozrah like an eagle swooping down with outspread wings. On that day Edom's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labour.”

₂₃This is what the LORD said about Damascus: “The people in the cities of Hamath and Arpad are worried and troubled because they have heard bad news. Anxiety rolls over them like a sea, and they cannot rest. ₂₄The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labour. ₂₅The famous city that used to be happy is completely deserted. ₂₆On that day her young men will be killed in the city streets, and all her soldiers destroyed. ₂₇I will set the walls of Damascus on fire and will burn down King Benhadad's palaces. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.”

₂₈This is what the LORD said about the tribe of Kedar and the districts controlled by Hazor, which were conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia: “Attack the people of Kedar and destroy that tribe of eastern people! ₂₉Seize their tents and their flocks, their tent curtains and everything in their tents. Take their camels and tell the people, ‘Terror is all round you!’

₃₀“People of Hazor, I, the LORD, warn you to run far away and hide. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia has plotted against you, and this is what he says, ₃₁‘Come on! We'll attack those people that feel safe and secure! Their city has no gates or locks and is completely unprotected.’

₃₂“Take their camels and all their livestock! I will scatter in every direction those people who cut their hair short, and I will bring disaster on them from every side. ₃₃Hazor will be made a desert for ever, a place where only jackals live. No one will ever live there again. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₃₄Soon after Zedekiah became king of Judah, the LORD Almighty spoke to me about the country of Elam. ₃₅He said, “I will kill all the archers who have made Elam so powerful. ₃₆I will make winds blow against Elam from all directions, and I will scatter her people everywhere, until there is no country where her refugees have not gone. ₃₇I will make the people of Elam afraid of their enemies, who want to kill them. In my great anger I will destroy the people of Elam and send armies against them until I have wiped them out. ₃₈I will destroy their kings and leaders, and set up my throne there. ₃₉But later on I will make the people of Elam prosperous again. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁This is the message that the LORD gave me about the city of Babylon and its people:

₃“A nation from the north has come to attack Babylonia and will make it a desert. People and animals will run away, and no one will live there.”

₄The LORD says, “When that time comes, the people of both Israel and Judah will come weeping, looking for me, their God. ₅They will ask the way to Zion and then go in that direction. They will make an eternal covenant with me and never break it.

₆“My people are like sheep whose shepherds have let them get lost in the mountains. They have wandered like sheep from one mountain to another, and they have forgotten where their home is. ₇They are attacked by all who find them. Their enemies say, ‘They sinned against the LORD, and so what we have done is not wrong. Their ancestors trusted in the LORD, and they themselves should have remained faithful to him.’

₈“People of Israel, run away from Babylonia! Leave the country! Be the first to leave! ₉I am going to stir up a group of strong nations in the north and make them attack Babylonia. They will line up in battle against the country and conquer it. They are skilful hunters, shooting arrows that never miss the mark. ₁₀Babylonia will be looted, and those who loot it will take everything they want. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁₁The LORD says, “People of Babylonia, you plundered my nation. You are happy and glad, going about like a cow threshing corn or like a neighing horse, ₁₂but your own great city will be humiliated and disgraced. Babylonia will be the least important nation of all; it will become a dry and waterless desert. ₁₃Because of my anger no one will live in Babylon; it will be left in ruins, and all who pass by will be shocked and amazed.

₁₄“Archers, line up for battle against Babylon and surround it. Shoot all your arrows at Babylon, because it has sinned against me, the LORD. ₁₅Raise the war cry all round the city! Now Babylon has surrendered. Its walls have been broken through and torn down. I am taking my revenge on the Babylonians. So take your revenge on them, and treat them as they have treated others. ₁₆Do not let seeds be sown in that country or let a harvest be gathered. Every foreigner living there will be afraid of the attacking army and will go back home.”

₁₇The LORD says, “The people of Israel are like sheep, chased and scattered by lions. First, they were attacked by the emperor of Assyria, and then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia gnawed their bones. ₁₈Because of this, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will punish King Nebuchadnezzar and his country, just as I punished the emperor of Assyria. ₁₉I will restore the people of Israel to their land. They will eat the food that grows on Mount Carmel and in the region of Bashan, and they will eat all they want of the crops that grow in the territories of Ephraim and Gilead. ₂₀When that time comes, no sin will be found in Israel and no wickedness in Judah, because I will forgive those people whose lives I have spared. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₂₁The LORD says, “Attack the people of Merathaim and of Pekod. Kill and destroy them. Do everything I command you. I, the LORD, have spoken. ₂₂The noise of battle is heard in the land, and there is great destruction. ₂₃Babylonia hammered the whole world to pieces, and now that hammer is shattered! All the nations are shocked at what has happened to that country. ₂₄Babylonia, you fought against me, and you have been caught in the trap I set for you, even though you did not know it. ₂₅I have opened the place where my weapons are stored, and in my anger I have taken them out, because I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, have work to do in Babylonia. ₂₆Attack it from every side and break open the places where its grain is stored! Pile up the loot like piles of grain! Destroy the country! Leave nothing at all! ₂₇Kill all their soldiers! Slaughter them! The people of Babylonia are doomed! The time has come for them to be punished!”

₂₈(Refugees escape from Babylonia and come to Jerusalem, and they tell how the LORD our God took revenge for what the Babylonians had done to his Temple.)

₂₉“Tell the archers to attack Babylon. Send out everyone who knows how to use the bow and arrow. Surround the city and don't let anyone escape. Pay it back for all it has done, and treat it as it has treated others, because it acted with pride against me, the Holy One of Israel. ₃₀So its young men will be killed in the city streets, and all its soldiers will be destroyed on that day. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₃₁“Babylonia, you are filled with pride, so I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, am against you! The time has come for me to punish you. ₃₂Your proud nation will stumble and fall, and no one will help you up. I will set your cities on fire, and everything around will be destroyed.”

₃₃The LORD Almighty says, “The people of Israel and of Judah are oppressed. All who captured them are guarding them closely and will not let them go. ₃₄But the one who will rescue them is strong — his name is the LORD Almighty. He himself will take up their cause and will bring peace to the earth, but trouble to the people of Babylonia.”

₃₅The LORD says,

₃₉“And so Babylon will be haunted by demons and evil spirits, and by unclean birds. Never again will people live there, not for all time to come. ₄₀The same thing will happen to Babylon as happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when I destroyed them and the nearby towns. No one will ever live there again. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₄₄“Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan up to the green pasture land, I, the LORD, will come and make the Babylonians run away suddenly from their city. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me? ₄₅So listen to the plan that I have made against the city of Babylon and to what I intend to do to its people. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified. ₄₆When Babylon falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard by the other nations.”

₁The LORD says, “I am bringing a destructive wind against Babylonia and its people. ₂I will send foreigners to destroy Babylonia like a wind that blows straw away. When that day of destruction comes, they will attack from every side and leave the land bare. ₃Don't give its soldiers time to shoot their arrows or to put on their armour. Do not spare the young men! Destroy the whole army! ₄They will be wounded and die in the streets of their cities. ₅I, the LORD God Almighty, have not abandoned Israel and Judah, even though they have sinned against me, the Holy One of Israel. ₆Run away from Babylonia! Run for your lives! Do not be killed because of Babylonia's sin. I am now taking my revenge and punishing it as it deserves. ₇Babylonia was like a gold cup in my hand, making the whole world drunk. The nations drank its wine and went out of their minds. ₈Babylonia has suddenly fallen and is destroyed! Mourn over it! Get medicine for its wounds, and perhaps it can be healed. ₉Foreigners living there said, ‘We tried to help Babylonia, but it was too late. Let's leave her now and go back home. God has punished Babylonia with all his might and has destroyed it completely.’ ”

₁₀The LORD says, “My people shout, ‘The LORD has shown that we are in the right. Let's go and tell the people in Jerusalem what the LORD our God has done.’ ”

₁₁The LORD has stirred up the kings of Media, because he intends to destroy Babylonia. That is how he will take revenge for the destruction of his Temple.

The attacking officers command, “Sharpen your arrows! Get your shields ready! ₁₂Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Place men in ambush!”

The LORD has done what he said he would do to the people of Babylonia. ₁₃That country has many rivers and rich treasures, but its time is up, and its thread of life is cut. ₁₄The LORD Almighty has sworn by his own life that he will bring many men to attack Babylonia like a swarm of locusts, and they will shout with victory.

₂₀The LORD says,

₂₄The LORD says, “You will see me repay Babylonia and its people for all the evil they did to Jerusalem. ₂₅Babylonia, you are like a mountain that destroys the whole world, but I, the LORD, am your enemy. I will take hold of you, level you to the ground, and leave you in ashes. ₂₆None of the stones from your ruins will ever be used again for building. You will be like a desert for ever. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₂₇“Give the signal to attack! Blow the trumpet so that the nations can hear! Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia! Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack. Appoint an officer to lead the attack. Bring up the horses like a swarm of locusts. ₂₈Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia. Send for the kings of Media, their leaders and officials, and the armies of all the countries they control. ₂₉The earth trembles and shakes because the LORD is carrying out his plan to make Babylonia a desert, where no one lives. ₃₀The Babylonian soldiers have stopped fighting and remain in their forts. They have lost their courage and have become like women. The city gates are broken down, and the houses are on fire. ₃₁Messenger after messenger runs to tell the king of Babylonia that his city has been broken into from every side. ₃₂The enemy have captured the river crossing and have set the fortresses on fire. The Babylonian soldiers have panicked. ₃₃Soon the enemy will cut them down and trample them like corn on a threshing place. I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, have spoken.”

₃₆And so the LORD said to the people of Jerusalem, “I will take up your cause and will make your enemies pay for what they did to you. I will dry up the source of Babylonia's water and make its rivers go dry. ₃₇That country will become a pile of ruins where wild animals live. It will be a horrible sight; no one will live there, and all who see it will be terrified. ₃₈The Babylonians all roar like lions and growl like lion cubs. ₃₉Are they greedy? I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk and happy. They will go to sleep and never wake up. ₄₀I will take them to be slaughtered, like lambs, goats, and rams. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₄₁The LORD says about Babylon: “The city that the whole world praised has been captured! What a horrifying sight Babylon has become to the nations! ₄₂The sea has rolled over Babylon and covered it with roaring waves. ₄₃The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels. ₄₄I will punish Bel, the god of Babylonia, and make him give up his stolen goods; the nations will not worship him any more.

“Babylon's walls have fallen. ₄₅People of Israel, run away from there! Run for your life from my fierce anger. ₄₆Do not lose courage or be afraid because of the rumours you hear. Every year a different rumour spreads — rumours of violence in the land and of one king fighting another. ₄₇And so the time is coming when I will deal with Babylonia's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its people will be killed. ₄₈Everything on earth and in the sky will shout for joy when Babylonia falls to the people who come from the north to destroy it. ₄₉Babylonia caused the death of people all over the world, and now Babylonia will fall because it caused the death of so many Israelites. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₅₀The LORD says to his people in Babylonia: “You have escaped death! Now go! Don't wait! Though you are far from home, think about me, your LORD, and remember Jerusalem. ₅₁You say, ‘We've been disgraced and made ashamed; we feel completely helpless because foreigners have taken over the holy places in the Temple.’ ₅₂So then, I say that the time is coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols, and the wounded will groan throughout the country. ₅₃Even if Babylon could climb to the sky and build a strong fortress there, I would still send people to destroy it. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₅₄The LORD says,

₅₉King Zedekiah's personal attendant was Seraiah, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. In the fourth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, Seraiah was going to Babylonia with him, and I gave him some instructions. ₆₀I wrote in a book an account of all the destruction that would come on Babylonia, as well as all these other things about Babylonia. ₆₁I told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, be sure to read aloud to the people everything that is written here. ₆₂Then pray, ‘LORD, you have said that you would destroy this place, so that there would be no living creatures in it, neither people nor animals, and it would be like a desert for ever.’ ₆₃Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people, then tie it to a stone and throw it into the River Euphrates, ₆₄and say, ‘This is what will happen to Babylonia — it will sink and never rise again, because of the destruction that the LORD is going to bring on it.’ ”

The words of Jeremiah end here.

₁Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of the Jeremiah who lived in the city of Libnah. ₂King Zedekiah sinned against the LORD, just as King Jehoiakim had done. ₃The LORD became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.

Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, ₄and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls round it, ₅and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. ₆On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat, ₇the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley. ₈But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him. ₉Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. ₁₀At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed. ₁₁After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.

₁₂On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. ₁₃He burnt down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem; ₁₄and his soldiers tore down the city walls. ₁₅Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workmen, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. ₁₆But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.

₁₇The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. ₁₈They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the temple service. ₁₉They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lampstands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out offerings of wine. ₂₀The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple — the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it — were too heavy to weigh. _21-22The two columns were identical: each one was eight metres high and 5.3 metres round. They were hollow, and the metal was 75 millimetres thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 2.2 metres high, and all round it was a grating decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze. ₂₃On the grating of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and 96 of these were visible from the ground.

₂₄In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important temple officials. ₂₅From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men. ₂₆Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah ₂₇in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death.

So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile. ₂₈This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023; ₂₉in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem; ₃₀and in his 23rd year, 745 — taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.

₃₁In the year that Evil-merodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the 25th day of the twelfth month of the 37th year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner. ₃₂Evil-merodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honour than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia. ₃₃So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life. ₃₄Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.

₁Here are more of Solomon's proverbs, copied by men at the court of King Hezekiah of Judah.

₂We honour God for what he conceals; we honour kings for what they explain.

₃You never know what a king is thinking; his thoughts are beyond us, like the heights of the sky or the depths of the ocean.

₄Take the impurities out of silver and the artist can produce a thing of beauty. ₅Keep evil advisers away from the king and his government will be known for its justice.

₆When you stand before the king, don't try to impress him and pretend to be important. ₇It is better to be asked to take a higher position than to be told to give your place to someone more important.

₈Don't be too quick to go to court about something you have seen. If another witness later proves you wrong, what will you do then?

₉If you and your neighbour have a difference of opinion, settle it between yourselves and do not reveal any secrets. ₁₀Otherwise everyone will learn that you can't keep a secret, and you will never live down the shame.

₁₁An idea well expressed is like a design of gold, set in silver.

₁₂A warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings or jewellery made of the finest gold.

₁₃A reliable messenger is refreshing to the one who sends him, like cold water in the heat of harvest time.

₁₄People who promise things that they never give are like clouds and wind that bring no rain.

₁₅Patient persuasion can break down the strongest resistance and can even convince rulers.

₁₆Never eat more honey than you need; too much may make you vomit. ₁₇Don't visit your neighbours too often; they may get tired of you and come to hate you.

₁₈A false accusation is as deadly as a sword, a club, or a sharp arrow.

₁₉Depending on an unreliable person in a crisis is like trying to chew with a loose tooth or walk with a crippled foot.

₂₀Singing to a person who is depressed is like taking off his clothes on a cold day or like rubbing salt in a wound.

₂₁If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink. ₂₂You will make them burn with shame, and the LORD will reward you.

₂₃Gossip brings anger just as surely as the north wind brings rain.

₂₄Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife.

₂₅Finally, hearing good news from a distant land is like a drink of cold water when you are dry and thirsty.

₂₆A good person who gives in to someone who is evil reminds you of a polluted spring or a poisoned well.

₂₇Too much honey is bad for you, and so is trying to win too much praise.

₂₈If you cannot control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls, open to attack.