Jeremiah 51

 ¹  This is what the LORD says:
"I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon
  and the people of Babylonia. [1] 
 ²  Foreigners will come and winnow her,
  blowing her away as chaff.
They will come from every side
  to rise against her in her day of trouble.
 ³  Don't let the archers put on their armor
  or draw their bows.
Don't spare even her best soldiers!
  Let her army be completely destroyed. [3] 
 ⁴  They will fall dead in the land of the Babylonians, [4] 
  slashed to death in her streets.
 ⁵  For the LORD of Heaven's Armies
  has not abandoned Israel and Judah.
He is still their God,
  even though their land was filled with sin
  against the Holy One of Israel."

 ⁶  Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves!
  Don't get trapped in her punishment!
It is the LORD's time for vengeance;
  he will repay her in full.
 ⁷  Babylon has been a gold cup in the LORD's hands,
  a cup that made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank Babylon's wine,
  and it drove them all mad.
 ⁸  But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen.
  Weep for her.
Give her medicine.
  Perhaps she can yet be healed.
 ⁹  We would have helped her if we could,
  but nothing can save her now.
Let her go; abandon her.
  Return now to your own land.
For her punishment reaches to the heavens;
  it is so great it cannot be measured.
 ¹⁰  The LORD has vindicated us.
  Come, let us announce in Jerusalem [10] 
  everything the LORD our God has done.

 ¹¹  Sharpen the arrows!
  Lift up the shields! [11] 
For the LORD has inspired the kings of the Medes
  to march against Babylon and destroy her.
This is his vengeance against those
  who desecrated his Temple.
 ¹²  Raise the battle flag against Babylon!
  Reinforce the guard and station the watchmen.
Prepare an ambush,
  for the LORD will fulfill all his plans against Babylon.
 ¹³  You are a city by a great river,
  a great center of commerce,
but your end has come.
  The thread of your life is cut.
 ¹⁴  The LORD of Heaven's Armies has taken this vow
  and has sworn to it by his own name:
"Your cities will be filled with enemies,
  like fields swarming with locusts,
  and they will shout in triumph over you."

A Hymn of Praise to the LORD
 ¹⁵  The LORD made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens.  ¹⁶  When he speaks in the thunder,
  the heavens are filled with water.
He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.
  He sends the lightning with the rain
  and releases the wind from his storehouses.

 ¹⁷  The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!
  The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
  These idols have no breath or power.
 ¹⁸  Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!
  On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
 ¹⁹  But the God of Israel [19]  is no idol!
  He is the Creator of everything that exists,
including his people, his own special possession.
  The LORD of Heaven's Armies is his name!

Babylon's Great Punishment
 ²⁰  "You [20]  are my battle-ax and sword,"
  says the LORD.
"With you I will shatter nations
  and destroy many kingdoms.
 ²¹  With you I will shatter armies—
  destroying the horse and rider,
  the chariot and charioteer.
 ²²  With you I will shatter men and women,
  old people and children,
  young men and maidens.
 ²³  With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks,
  farmers and oxen,
  captains and officers.

 ²⁴  "I will repay Babylon
  and the people of Babylonia [24] 
for all the wrong they have done
  to my people in Jerusalem," says the LORD.

 ²⁵  "Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth!
  I am your enemy," says the LORD.
"I will raise my fist against you,
  to knock you down from the heights.
When I am finished,
  you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble.
 ²⁶  You will be desolate forever.
  Even your stones will never again be used for building.
You will be completely wiped out,"
  says the LORD.

 ²⁷  Raise a signal flag to the nations.
  Sound the battle cry!
Mobilize them all against Babylon.
  Prepare them to fight against her!
Bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
  Appoint a commander,
  and bring a multitude of horses like swarming locusts!
 ²⁸  Bring against her the armies of the nations—
  led by the kings of the Medes
  and all their captains and officers.

 ²⁹  The earth trembles and writhes in pain,
  for everything the LORD has planned against Babylon stands unchanged.
Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant.
 ³⁰    Her mightiest warriors no longer fight.
They stay in their barracks, their courage gone.
  They have become like women.
The invaders have burned the houses
  and broken down the city gates.
 ³¹  The news is passed from one runner to the next
  as the messengers hurry to tell the king
  that his city has been captured.
 ³²  All the escape routes are blocked.
  The marshes have been set aflame,
  and the army is in a panic.

 ³³  This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies,
  the God of Israel, says:
"Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor,
  about to be trampled.
In just a little while
  her harvest will begin."

 ³⁴  "King Nebuchadnezzar [34]  of Babylon has eaten and crushed us
  and drained us of strength.
He has swallowed us like a great monster
  and filled his belly with our riches.
  He has thrown us out of our own country.
 ³⁵  Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,"
  say the people of Zion.
"Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,"
  says Jerusalem.

The LORD's Vengeance on Babylon
 ³⁶  This is what the LORD says to Jerusalem:

"I will be your lawyer to plead your case,
  and I will avenge you.
I will dry up her river,
  as well as her springs,
 ³⁷  and Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
  haunted by jackals.
She will be an object of horror and contempt,
  a place where no one lives.
 ³⁸  Her people will roar together like strong lions.
  They will growl like lion cubs.
 ³⁹  And while they lie inflamed with all their wine,
  I will prepare a different kind of feast for them.
I will make them drink until they fall asleep,
  and they will never wake up again,"
  says the LORD.
 ⁴⁰  "I will bring them down
  like lambs to the slaughter,
  like rams and goats to be sacrificed.

 ⁴¹  "How Babylon [41]  is fallen—
  great Babylon, praised throughout the earth!
Now she has become an object of horror
  among the nations.
 ⁴²  The sea has risen over Babylon;
  she is covered by its crashing waves.
 ⁴³  Her cities now lie in ruins;
  she is a dry wasteland
  where no one lives or even passes by.
 ⁴⁴  And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon,
  and make him vomit up all he has eaten.
The nations will no longer come and worship him.
  The wall of Babylon has fallen!

A Message for the Exiles
 ⁴⁵  "Come out, my people, flee from Babylon.
  Save yourselves! Run from the LORD's fierce anger.
 ⁴⁶  But do not panic; don't be afraid
  when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces.
  For rumors will keep coming year by year.
Violence will erupt in the land
  as the leaders fight against each other.
 ⁴⁷  For the time is surely coming
  when I will punish this great city and all her idols.
Her whole land will be disgraced,
  and her dead will lie in the streets.
 ⁴⁸  Then the heavens and earth will rejoice,
  for out of the north will come destroying armies
  against Babylon," says the LORD.
 ⁴⁹  "Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel
  and others throughout the world,
  so must her people be killed.
 ⁵⁰  Get out, all you who have escaped the sword!
  Do not stand and watch—flee while you can!
Remember the LORD, though you are in a far-off land,
  and think about your home in Jerusalem."

 ⁵¹  "We are ashamed," the people say.
  "We are insulted and disgraced
because the LORD's Temple
  has been defiled by foreigners."

 ⁵²  "Yes," says the LORD, "but the time is coming
  when I will destroy Babylon's idols.
The groans of her wounded people
  will be heard throughout the land.
 ⁵³  Though Babylon reaches as high as the heavens
  and makes her fortifications incredibly strong,
I will still send enemies to plunder her.
  I, the LORD, have spoken!

Babylon's Complete Destruction
 ⁵⁴  "Listen! Hear the cry of Babylon,
  the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
 ⁵⁵  For the LORD is destroying Babylon.
  He will silence her loud voice.
Waves of enemies pound against her;
  the noise of battle rings through the city.
 ⁵⁶  Destroying armies come against Babylon.
  Her mighty men are captured,
  and their weapons break in their hands.
For the LORD is a God who gives just punishment;
  he always repays in full.
 ⁵⁷  I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
  along with her captains, officers, and warriors.
They will fall asleep
  and never wake up again!"
says the King, whose name is
  the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

 ⁵⁸  This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies says:
"The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground,
  and her massive gates will be burned.
The builders from many lands have worked in vain,
  for their work will be destroyed by fire!"

Jeremiah's Message Sent to Babylon
 ⁵⁹  The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, a staff officer, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. [59]   ⁶⁰  Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words written here.  ⁶¹  He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll.  ⁶²  Then say, `LORD, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.'  <sup>63</sup>  When you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates River.  <sup>64</sup>  Then say, `In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.'"
  This is the end of Jeremiah's messages.

Jeremiah 52

The Fall of Jerusalem
 ¹  Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.  ²  But Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD's sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.  ³  These things happened because of the LORD's anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile.
  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  ⁴  So on January 15, [4]  during the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar [4]  of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.  ⁵  Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign.
   ⁶  By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, [6]  the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.  ⁷  Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, [7]  they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king's garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley. [7] 
   ⁸  But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and caught him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.  ⁹  They took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.  ¹⁰  He made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons and all the other officials of Judah.  ¹¹  Then they gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.

The Temple Destroyed
 ¹²  On August 17 of that year, [12]  which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.  ¹³  He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings [13]  in the city.  ¹⁴  Then he supervised the entire Babylonian [14]  army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.  ¹⁵  Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, then took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.  ¹⁶  But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields.
   ¹⁷  The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the LORD's Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.  ¹⁸  They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.  ¹⁹  Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, dishes, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.
   ²⁰  The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the LORD's Temple in the days of King Solomon.  ²¹  Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. [21]  They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick. [21]   ²²  The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7½ feet [22]  high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.  ²³  There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 on the network around the top.
   ²⁴  Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.  ²⁵  And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king's personal advisers; the army commander's chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.  ²⁶  Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.  ²⁷  And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.
   ²⁸  The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign [28]  was 3,023.  ²⁹  Then in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year [29]  he took 832 more.  ³⁰  In Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year [30]  he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all.

Hope for Israel's Royal Line
 ³¹  In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to [31]  Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year. [31]   ³²  He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.  ³³  He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king's presence for the rest of his life.  ³⁴  So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.

<<  51:1 Hebrew of Leb-kamai, a code name for Babylonia.
<<  51:3 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the L<%=ftSC%>ORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
<<  51:4 Or Chaldeans; also in 51:54.
<<  51:10 Hebrew Zion; also in 51:24.
<<  51:11 Greek version reads Fill up the quivers.
<<  51:19 Hebrew the Portion of Jacob. See note on 5:20.
<<  51:20 Possibly Cyrus, whom God used to conquer Babylon. Compare Isa 44:28; 45:1.
<<  51:24 Or Chaldea; also in 51:35.
<<  51:34 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
<<  51:41 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon.
<<  51:59 The fourth year of Zedekiah's reign was 593 <%=ftSC%>B.C.
<<  52:4a Hebrew on the tenth day of the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in Jeremiah can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This day was January 15, 588 <%=ftSC%>B.C. 52:4b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 52:12, 28, 29, 30.
<<  52:6 Hebrew By the ninth day of the fourth month [in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign]. This day was July 18, 586 <%=ftSC%>B.C.; also see note on 52:4a.
<<  52:7a Or the Chaldeans; similarly in 52:8, 17. 52:7b Hebrew the Arabah.
<<  52:12 Hebrew On the tenth day of the fifth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was August 17, 586 <%=ftSC%>B.C.; also see note on 52:4a.
<<  52:13 Or destroyed the houses of all the important people.
<<  52:14 Or Chaldean.
<<  52:21a Hebrew 18 cubits [8.1 meters] tall and 12 cubits [5.4 meters] in circumference. 52:21b Hebrew 4 fingers thick [8 centimeters].
<<  52:22 Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters].
<<  52:28 This exile in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign occurred in 597 <%=ftSC%>B.C.
<<  52:29 This exile in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign occurred in 586 <%=ftSC%>B.C.
<<  52:30 This exile in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign occurred in 581 <%=ftSC%>B.C.
<<  52:31a Hebrew He raised the head of. 52:31b Hebrew on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, of the ancient lunar Hebrew calendar. This day was March 31, 561 <%=ftSC%>B.C.; also see note on 52:4a.

Hebrews 9

Old Rules about Worship
 ¹  That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.  ²  There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. [2]  In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place.  ³  Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room [3]  called the Most Holy Place.  ⁴  In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron's staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant.  ⁵  Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark's cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.
   ⁶  When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room [6]  as they performed their religious duties.  ⁷  But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.  ⁸  By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle [8]  and the system it represented were still in use.
   ⁹  This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.  ¹⁰  For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.

Christ Is the Perfect Sacrifice
 ¹¹  So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. [11]  He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.  ¹²  With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
   ¹³  Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurity.  ¹⁴  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  ¹⁵  That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.    ¹⁶  Now when someone leaves a will, [16]  it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. [16]   ¹⁷  The will goes into effect only after the person's death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.
   ¹⁸  That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.  ¹⁹  For after Moses had read each of God's commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, [19]  along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God's law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool.  ²⁰  Then he said, "This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you." [20]   ²¹  And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship.  ²²  In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.    ²³  That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
   ²⁴  "For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf."  ²⁵  And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.  ²⁶  If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age [26]  to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
   ²⁷  And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, ...  ²⁸  Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

<<  9:2 Or tent; also in 9:11, 21.
<<  9:3 Greek second tent.
<<  9:6 Greek first tent.
<<  9:8 Or the first room; Greek reads the first tent.
<<  9:11 Some manuscripts read that are about to come.
<<  9:14 Greek from dead works.
<<  9:16a Or covenant; also in 9:17. 9:16b Or Now when someone makes a covenant, it is necessary to ratify it with the death of a sacrifice.
<<  9:19 Some manuscripts do not include and goats.
<<  9:20 Exod 24:8.
<<  9:26 Greek the ages.