1 The word which the Lord spake of Babylon, and of the land of Chaldees, in the hand of Jeremy, the prophet.

2 Tell ye among heathen men, and make ye heard; raise ye [up] a sign; preach ye, and do not ye hold still; say ye, Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed, Merodach is overcome; the graven images thereof be shamed, the idols of them be overcome.

3 For a folk shall ascend [or go up] from the north against it, which folk shall set the land thereof into wilder-ness; and none shall be that shall dwell therein, from man unto beast; and they be moved, and went away.

4 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall haste, and seek their Lord God in Zion,

5 and they shall ask the way. Hither the faces of them shall come, and they shall be set to the Lord with bond of peace everlasting, which shall not be done away by any forgetting.

6 My people is made a lost flock, the shepherds of them deceived them, and made them to go unstably in hills; they passed from mountain into a little hill, they forgot their bed.

7 All men that found, ate them, and the enemies of them said, We sinned not, for that they sinned to the Lord, the fairness of rightfulness, and to the Lord, the abiding of their fathers.

8 Go ye away from the midst of Babylon, and go ye out of the land of Chaldees, and be ye as kids before the flock.

9 For lo! I shall raise, and bring into Babylon the gathering together of great folks, from the land of the north; and they shall be made ready against it, and it shall be taken in the day; the arrows thereof as of a strong man, a slayer, shall not turn again [void].

10 And Chaldea shall be into prey, all that destroy it, shall be [ful] filled, saith the Lord.

11 For ye make full out joy, and speak great things, and ravish mine heritage; for ye be shed [or poured] out as calves on herb, and lowed, or bellowed, as bulls.

12 Your mother is shamed greatly, and she that engendered you, is made even to dust; lo! she shall be the last among folks, and forsaken, without way, and dry.

13 For the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be driven all into wilderness; each that shall pass by Babylon, shall wonder, and shall hiss on all the wounds thereof.

14 All ye that bend bow, be made ready against Babylon by compass; overcome ye it, spare ye not arrows, for it sinned to the Lord.

15 Cry ye against it, everywhere it gave hand; the foundaments thereof fell down, and the walls thereof be destroyed; for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take ye vengeance of it; as it did, do ye to it.

16 Lose ye a sower of Babylon, and him that holdeth a sickle in the time of harvest, from the face of [the] sword of the culver; each man shall be turned to his people, and each man shall flee to his land.

17 Israel is a scattered flock, lions casted out it; first king of Assur ate it, this last, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did away the bones thereof.

18 Therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall visit the king of Babylon, and his land, as I visited the king of Assur;

19 and I shall bring again Israel to his dwelling place. Carmel and Bashan shall be fed, and his soul shall be [ful] filled in the hill [or mount] of Ephraim, and of Gilead.

20 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the wickedness of Israel shall be sought, and it shall not be; and the sin of Judah shall be sought, and it shall not be found; for I shall be merciful to them, which I shall forsake or leave.

21 Ascend thou [or go thou up] on the land of the lords, and visit thou on the dwellers thereof; scatter thou, and slay those things, that be after them, saith the Lord; and do thou by all things which I commanded to thee.

22 The voice of battle and great sorrow in the land.

23 How is the hammer of all earth broken and all-defouled? how is Babylon turned into desert, among heathen men?

24 Babylon, I have snared thee, and thou art taken, and thou knewest not; thou art found, and taken, for thou stirredest the Lord to wrath.

25 The Lord opened his treasure, and brought forth the vessels of his wrath; for why a work is to the Lord God of hosts in the land of Chaldees.

26 Come ye to it from the farthest ends, open ye, that they go out, that shall defoul it; take ye away stones from the way, and drive ye into heaps, and slay ye it, and nothing be residue.

27 Destroy ye all the strong men thereof, go they down into slaying; woe to them, for the day of them cometh, the time of visiting of them.

28 The voice of fleers, and of them that escaped from the land of Babylon, that they tell in Zion the vengeance of our Lord God, the vengeance of his temple.

29 Tell ye against Babylon to full many men, to all that bend bow. Stand ye together against it by compass, and let none escape; yield ye to it after his work, after all things which it did, do ye to it; for it was raised against the Lord, against the Holy of Israel.

30 Therefore young men thereof shall fall down in the streets thereof, and all men warriors thereof shall be stilled in that day, saith the Lord.

31 Lo! thou proud, I to thee, saith the Lord of hosts, for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation.

32 And the proud shall fall, and shall fall down together, and none shall be, that shall raise him; and I shall kindle fire in the cities of him, and it shall devour all things in compass of it.

33 The Lord of hosts saith these things, The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah together suffer false challenge; all that took them, hold, they will not deliver them.

34 The again-buyer of them is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name; by doom he shall defend the cause of them, that he make the land afeared, and stir together the dwellers of Babylon.

35 A sword to Chaldees, saith the Lord, and to the dwellers of Babylon, and to the princes, and to the wise men thereof.

36 A sword to the false diviners thereof, that shall be fools; a sword to the strong men thereof, that shall dread.

37 Sword to the horses thereof, and to the chariots thereof, and to all the common people which is in the midst thereof, and they shall be as women; a sword to the treasures thereof, that shall be ravished.

38 Dryness shall be on the waters thereof, and they shall be dry; for it is the land of graven images, and hath glory in false feignings.

39 Therefore dragons shall dwell with fond wild men, and ostriches shall dwell therein; and it shall no more be inhabited till into without end, and it shall not be builded till to generation and generation;

40 as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nigh cities there-of, saith the Lord. A man shall not dwell there, and the son of man shall not dwell in it.

41 Lo! a people cometh from the north, and a great folk, and many kings shall rise together from the ends of [the] earth.

42 They shall take bow and sword, they be cruel and unmerciful; the voice of them shall sound as the sea, and they shall ascend [or go up] on horses as a man made ready to battle, against thee, thou daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon heard the fame of them, and his hands be made numb; anguish took him, sorrow took him, as a woman travailing of child.

44 Lo! as a lion he shall ascend [or goeth up] from the pride of Jordan to the strong fairness, for I shall make him to run suddenly to it; and who shall be the chosen man whom I shall set [or put] before him? For who is like me? and who shall suffer me? and who is this shepherd, that shall against-stand my cheer?

45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he conceived in mind against Babylon, and his thoughts, which he thought on the land of Chaldees, no but the little of the flocks draw them down, no but the dwelling place of them be destroyed with them, else no man give credence to me.

46 The earth is moved of the voice of [the] captivity of Babylon, and cry is heard among heathen men.