Jeremiah 28
1 It happened in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and the fifth month, Hananiah son of Azzur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in Yahweh's house in front of the priests and all the people. He said,
Thus says the Lord; Behold, I stir up against Babylon, and against the Chaldeans dwelling therein, a deadly burning wind.
2 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: I have broken the yoke imposed by the king of Babylon.
And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall spoil her, and shall ravage her land. Woe to Babylon round about [her] in the day of her affliction.
3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the objects belonging to Yahweh's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and transported to Babylon.
Let the archer bend his bow, and him that has armour put it on: and spare you not her young men, but destroy you all her host.
4 Then I will bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the captives of Judah who were sent to Babylon—this is Yahweh's declaration—for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
And slain men shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and [men] pierced through shall fall without it.
5 So Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Hananiah the prophet in front of the priests and to all the people who stood in Yahweh's house.
For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken of their God, of the Lord Almighty; whereas their land was filled with iniquity against the holy things of Israel.
6 Jeremiah the prophet said, “May Yahweh do this! May Yahweh confirm the words that you prophesied and bring back to this place the objects belonging to Yahweh's house, and all the captives from Babylon.
Flee you out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every one his soul: and be not overthrown in her iniquity; for it is the time of her retribution from the Lord; he is rendering to her a recompence.
7 However, listen to the word that I am proclaiming in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.
Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, causing all the earth to be drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore they were shaken.
8 The prophets who existed before me and you from long ago also prophesied about many nations and against great kingdoms, about war, famine, and plague.
And Babylon is fallen suddenly, and is broken to pieces: lament for her; take balm for her deadly wound, if by any means she may be healed.
9 So the prophet who prophesies that there will be peace—if his word comes true, then it will be known that he is indeed a prophet sent out by Yahweh.”
We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed: let us forsake her, and depart every one to his own country: for her judgement has reached to the heaven, it has mounted up to the stars.
10 But Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.
The Lord has brought forth his judgement: come, and let us declare in Sion the works of the Lord our God.
11 Then Hananiah spoke in front of all the people and said, “Yahweh says this: Just like this, within two years I will break from off the neck of every nation the yoke imposed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.
Prepare the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes: for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy it utterly; for it is the Lord's vengeance, it is the vengeance of his people.
12 After Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,
Lift up a standard on the walls of Babylon, prepare the quivers, rouse the guards, prepare the weapons: for the Lord has taken [the work] in hand, and will execute what he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon,
13 “Go and speak to Hananiah and say, 'Yahweh says this: You broke a yoke of wood, but I will make instead a yoke of iron.'
dwelling on many waters, and amidst the abundance of her treasures; your end is come verily into your bowels.
14 For Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: I have placed a yoke of iron on the neck of all of these nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also given him the wild beasts in the fields to rule over.”
For the Lord has sworn by his arm, [saying, ]I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they that come down shall cry against you.
15 Next Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, but you yourself have caused this people to believe in lies.
The Lord made the earth by his power, preparing the world by his wisdom, by his understanding he stretched out the heaven.
16 So Yahweh says this: Look, I am about to send you out from the earth. You will die this year, since you proclaimed rebellion against Yahweh.”
At [his] voice he makes a sound of water in the heaven, and brings up clouds from the extremity of the earth; he makes lightnings for rain, and brings light out of his treasures.
17 In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.
Every man has completely lost understanding; every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven [images]: for they have cast false [gods], there is no breath in them.
They are vain works, objects of scorn; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Not such is Jacob's portion; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
You scatter for me the weapons of war: and I will scatter nations by you, and will destroy kings by means of you.
And by you I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by you I will scatter chariots and them that ride in them.
And by you I will scatter youth and maid; and by you I will scatter man and woman.
And by you I will scatter the shepherd and his flock; and by you I will scatter the husbandman and his husbandry; and by you I will scatter leaders and the captains.
And I will recompense to Babylon and to all the Chaldeans that dwell [there] all their mischiefs that they have done to Sion before your eyes, says the Lord.
Behold, I am against you, the ruined mountain, that destroys the whole earth; and I will stretch out mine hand upon you, and will roll you down upon the rocks, and will make you as a burnt mountain.
And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation: for you shall be a desolation for ever, says the Lord.
Lift up a standard in the land, sound the trumpet amongst the nations, consecrate the nations against her, raise up kings against her by me, and [that] for the people of Achanaz; set against her engines of war; bring up against her horses as a multitude of locusts.
Bring up nations against her, [even] the king of the Medes and of the whole earth, his rulers, and all his captains.
The earth has quaked and been troubled, because the purpose of the Lord has risen up against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, and uninhabitable.
The warrior of Babylon has failed to fight; they shall sit there in the siege; their power is broken; they are become like women; her tabernacles have been set on fire; her bars are broken.
One shall rush, running to meet [another] runner, and one [shall go] with tidings to meet [another] with tidings, to bring tidings to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken.
At the end of his passages they were taken, and his cisterns they have burnt with fire, and his warriors are going forth.
For thus says the Lord, The houses of the king of Babylon shall be threshed as a floor in the season; yet a little while, and her harvest shall come.
He has devoured me, he has torn me asunder, airy darkness has come upon me; Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon has swallowed me up, as a dragon has he filled his belly with my delicacies.
My troubles and my distresses have driven me out into Babylon, shall she that dwells in Sion say; and my blood [shall be] upon the Chaldeans dwelling [there], shall Jerusalem say.
Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will judge your adversary, and I will execute vengeance for you; and I will waste her sea, and dry up her fountain.
And Babylon shall be a desolation, and shall not be inhabited.
For they rose up together as lions, and as lions' whelps.
In their heat I will give them a draught, and make them drunk, that they may be stupified, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and not awake, says the Lord.
And bring you them down as lambs to the slaughter, and rams with kids.
How has the boast of all the earth been taken and caught in a snare! how has Babylon become a desolation amongst the nations!
The sea has come up upon Babylon with the sound of its waves, and she is covered.
Her cities are become like a dry and trackless land; not so much as one [man] shall dwell in it, neither shall a son of man lodge in it.
And I will take vengeance on Babylon, and bring forth out of her mouth what she has swallowed down, and the nations shall no more be gathered to her:
and in Babylon the slain men of all the earth shall fall.
Go forth of the land, you that escape, and stay not; you that are afar off, remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
We are ashamed, because we have heard our reproach; disgrace has covered our face; aliens are come into our sanctuary, [even] into the house of the Lord.
Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will take vengeance upon her graven [images]: and slain men shall fall in all her land.
For though Babylon should go up as the heaven, and though she should strengthen her walls with her power, from me shall come they that shall destroy her, says the Lord.
A sound of a cry in Babylon, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans:
for the Lord has utterly destroyed Babylon, and cut off from her the great voice sounding as many waters: he has consigned her voice to destruction.
For distress has come upon Babylon, her warriors are taken, their bows are useless: for God recompenses them.
The Lord recompenses, and will make her leaders and her wise men and her captains completely drunk, says the King, the Lord Almighty is his name.
Thus says the Lord, The wall of Babylon was made broad, but it shall be completely broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire; and the peoples shall not labour in vain, nor the nations fail in [their] rule.
THE WORD WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED THE PROPHET JEREMIAS to say to Saraeas son of Nerias, son of Maasaeas, when he went from Sedekias king of Juda to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. And Saraeas was over the bounties.
And Jeremias wrote in a book all the evils which should come upon Babylon, [even] all these words that are written against Babylon.
And Jeremias said to Saraeas, When you are come to Babylon, and shall see and read all these words;
then you shall say, O Lord God, you have spoken against this place, to destroy it, and that there should be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast; for it shall be a desolation for ever.
And it shall come to pass, when you shall cease from reading this book, that you shall bind a stone upon it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates;
and shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise, because of the evils which I bring upon it.
