God's severe judgments JEREMIAH, LII. 39 In their heat I will make their B. C. 595. feasts, and I will make them drunken, v that they may rejoice, v ver.57. and sleep a perpetual sleep, and w Da.5.4,&c. not wake, saith the LORD. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. 41 How is Sheshach taken ! and x Is.8.7. y ver.58. z ch.50.8. how is the praise of the whole 15 or, let not, 16 visit. denounced against Babylon. should fortify the height of her strength, yet, from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD. 54 A sound k of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: 55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: 56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompenses shall surely requite.m c ch.50.3,41. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swal-18or, country. lowed up and the nations shall d ch.44.28. not flow together any more unto e Ps. 122.6. him: yea, the wally of Babylon 137.5,6. shall fall. f La. 1.10. 45 My people, go ye out z of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. g ver.47. 58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts. The 19 broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly 20 broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain p h Is. 13. 15, 16. and the folk in the fire, and they Da.5.30,31.shall be weary. ch.49.16. Ps. 139.8-10. i k ch.50.22-29. 46 And 15 lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumoura that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. 47 Therefore behold, the days 1 1Sa.2.4. come, that I will 16 do judgment m Ps.94.1. upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing b for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, c saith the LORD. 49 17 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the 18 earth. 50 Ye that have escaped d the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem e come into your mind. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces; for strangers fare come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house. 52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: g and through all her land the wounded h shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mounti1 reigned. up to heaven, and though she 59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went 21 with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. 22 quiet And this Seraiah was a prince. 60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah. When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; 62 Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be 23 desolate for ever. 63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone q to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: 64 And thou shalt say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary.r Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. CHAPTER LII. 1 Zedekiah rebelleth. 4 Jerusalem is besieged and taken. EDEKIAH a was one and twen a 2Ki.24. 18.Zty years old when he 1 began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mo 708 Jerusalem is taken JEREMIAH, LII. ther's name was Hamutal the B. C. 595. daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according 2K1.25.1,&c. b ch.39.1,&c. c ch.32.4,5. to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 or, fetters. house of the 4 And b it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched e Zec.7.5. against it, and built forts against it round about. 8.19. 5 So the city was besieged unto f ver.29. the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 5 chief of the and burned. deans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. tain of the guard carried away cap15 Then Nebuzar-adan the captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor g of the land, for vine-dressers and for husbandmen. 17 Also h the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. 18 The i caldrons also, and the 7 shovels, and the snuffers, and the 8 bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they chief mar-ministered, took they away. shal; and so v. 14,&c. and Da.2.14. 6 stood be fore. 7 Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth 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 by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the g ch.39.10. plain. &c. 8 T But the army of the Chal-h ch.27. 19-22. deans pursued after the king, and IKI.7.15, overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then c they took the king and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him. i Ex.27.3. 19 And the basins, and the 9 firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away. 20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: 10 the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a 11 fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickremove the ness thereof was four fingers : it was ashes. hollow. or, instruments to 10 And the king of Babylon slew 8 or, basons. the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes 9 or, censers. of Judah in Riblah. 10 their. 11 Then dhe 2 put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Baby-11 thread. lon bound him in 3 chains, and k 2Ch.3.15. carried him to Babylon, and put him in 4 prison till the day of his 12Ki.25.18. death. 12 T Now in the fifth e month, in m ch.21.1. the tenth day of the month, (which 29.25. was the nineteenth ƒ year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,) came Nebuzar-adan, 5 captain of the guard, which 6 served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, 13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire. 1 And all the army of the Chal 22 And a chapiter k of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with net-work and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these. 23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the net-work were an hundred round about. 21 ¶ And the captain of the guard took Seraiahl the chief priest, and m Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the 12 door: 25 He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that 13 were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the 14 principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of Year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 19....Of Zedekiah, last king of Judahı, 11. CHAPTER I. The miserable estate of Jerusalem by reason of her sin. OW doth the city sit solitary, a H that was full of people! how is she become as a widow!b she that was great among the nations, and princess c among the provinces, how is she become tributary! 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: umong all her lovers d she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. 7 Jerusalem remembered in the 30.14,15. days of her affliction and of her míseries, all her 2 pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mocki at her sabbaths. of. e De.28.64. fDe.28.43,44. g Da.9.7,16. h Je.52.8,11. 3 Judah is gone into captivity be2 or, desiracause of affliction, and 1 because of ble, ver. 10. great servitude: she dwelleth ei Ps. 137.3. among the heathen, she findeth no k 1Ki.8.46. rest: all her persecutors overtook 3 become a reher between the straits. moving,or, wandering. 4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts all her gates are desolate : her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Į Eze. 16.37. Ho.2.9.10. m De.32.29. Ro.6.21. A or, desira ble. 5 Her adversaries are the chief,ƒ her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude n Je.51.51. of her transgressions: g her children are gone into captivity before o De.23.3. the enemy. 52.13. 8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore k she is 3 removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. 9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end;m therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself. 10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her 4 pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen ʼn entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command o that they should not enter into thy congregation. Jerusalem complaineth. LAMENTATIONS, II. Jeremiah lamenteth 11 All her people sigh, they seek B. C. 588. before thee; and do unto them as 5 or,make the transgressions for my sighs are 6 or, It is. Ho.7.12. 12 T6 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass 7 by? behold, and see if there be any q sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, where with the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth t Ho.5.14. against them: he hath spread au Is.63.3. netr for my feet, he hath turned 8 or,the wineme back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day. s De.28.48. 9 press of the virgin. 14.17. 14 The yoke s of my transgressions v Je. 13.17. is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck he hath made my strength to fall, the LORD hath delivered me into their hands, from whomt I am not able to rise up. 15 The LORD hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the LORDU hath trodden 8 the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine-press. bring back. b Ps.51.3,4. Eze.7.15. d Is. 13.6,&c. 11 Je.46.10. or, pro- 16 For v these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should 9 relieve my soul is far from me: my w children are desolate, be-e Ps. 137.7-9. cause the enemy prevailed. Je.51.35. CHAPTER II. Jeremiah lamenteth the misery of Jerusalem. Ha TOW hath the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloudz heaven unto the earth the beauty b in his anger, and cast down from of Israel, and remembered not his footstool c in the day of his anger! 2 The LORD hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath notd pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath 1 brought them down to the ground:e he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. 3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back hisf right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming g fire, which devoureth round about. 4 He hath bent his bow like an h enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all 2 that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire. 5 The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he whath destroyed her strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort ƒ Lu.23.31. her: the LORD hath commanded g ch.5. 17. concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about y him: (CHAP. 2.) Jerusalem is as a menstruous wo-b 2Sa.1.19. a Joel 2.2. man among them. 18 T The LORD is righteous; z for I have rebelled against his 10 commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. a 19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls. 20 Behold, O LORD; for 1 am in distress; my bowels are troubled; Job 1.10. mine heart is turned within me; k ch.1.4. forb I have grievously rebelled; Le.26.31-44. abroad the sword bereaveth, c at 4 shut up. home there is as death. m Ps.74.4,&c. 21 They have heard that I sigh: n 2Ki.21.13, there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it thou wilt bring the dayd that thou hast 11 called, and they shall be like unto me. 22 Lete all their wickedness come 6 And he hath violently taken away i his 3 tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn k feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. 7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath 4 given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise m in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast. 8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line.n he hath not withdrawn his hand from 5 destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. 9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and 2Ki.24.15. broken her o bars: her king p and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, her pro swallowing o Je.51.30. p 25.7. Jeremiah complaineth. LAMENTATIONS, III. Lamentation of the faithful. phets also find no vision from the B. C. 588. thy young children, that faint for LORD. q 18.3.26. or, faint. r Je.27.14,15. 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit q upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang downs Is.58.1. their heads to the ground. 11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings 6 swoon in the streets of the city. 12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom. 13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? Je.23.22. by the way. t Ps.35.21. u Le.26.16, Je.18.11. v Ps.89.42. Ps.62.8. y Eze.5. 10, 16. 8 De.28.53. Je. 19.9. or, swad died with their hands. 14 Thy prophets r have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovereds thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false bur-b Je.6.25. dens, and causes of banishment. a 2Ch.36.17. 15 All that pass 7 by clap their c Ho.9.12,13. hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jeru- (CHAP. 3.) salem, saying, Is this the city that a Am.5.20. men call The perfection of beauty, b Job 16.8,&c. The joy of the whole earth? 16 All thine enemies have opened c Ps.51.8. Je.50.17. their moutht against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, d Ps. 143.3. We have swallowed her up cer tainly this is the day that we e Ho.2.6. looked for; we have found, we f Job 30.20. have seen it. 17 The LORD hath done that g Ho.5.14. 13.7,8. which he had devised; u he hath fulfilled his word that he hadh Ho.6.1. commanded in the days of old: he 1 sons. hath thrown down, and hath not i Job 7.20. pitied: and he v hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adver-h Ps.69.12. saries. 2 bitter nesses. 1 Pr.20.17. 3 rolled me the. 18 Their heart cried unto the LORD, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let w tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. 19 Arise, cry out in the night in 4 good, the beginning of the watches pour out a thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of Job 7.7. m Ps.31.22. 712 in hunger y in the top of every street. 20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, z and children 8 of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the LORD? 21 The young a and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied. 22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day, my terrors round about, b so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up c hath mine enerny consumed. CHAPTER III. 1 The prophet bewaileth his own calamities: 37 His humble confession of sins. AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, a but not into light. 3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. 4 My flesh b and my skin hath he made old: he hath broken c my bones. 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. 6 He hath set me in dark d places, as they that be dead of old. 7 He hath hedged e ine about, made my chain heavy. that I cannot get out: he hath 8 Also when I cryf and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. 10 He was unto me as a bear g lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. 11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled h me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. 12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark i for the arrow. 13 He hath caused the 1 arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. 14 I was a derision to all my people, and their song k all the day. 15 He hath filled me with 2 bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel-stones, l he hath 3 covered me with ashes. 17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat 4 prosperity. 18 And I said, m My strength and |