The Hebrew Prophets

Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hatzor, which N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel struck, ADONAI says: "Set out! March against Kedar! Plunder the people of the east!

They will seize their tents and their flocks, their tent curtains and all their equipment; their camels too they will take for themselves and shout at them, 'Terror in every direction!'

Flee! Leave your homes! Hide yourselves well, you who live in Hatzor," says ADONAI; "for N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel has devised a plan against you; he has formed a scheme against you.

Get up! March on a nation at ease, that lives secure," says ADONAI. "They have neither gates nor bars; they live in isolation.

Their camels will be booty, their many cattle a spoil. I will scatter to the winds those who shave the sides of their heads; From every direction I will bring their disaster on them," says ADONAI.

"Hatzor will be a place for jackals to live, desolate forever; no one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again."

This is the word of ADONAI that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning 'Eilam at the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah:

"ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'I will break 'Eilam's bow, the mainstay of their might.

I will bring against 'Eilam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky and scatter them to all those winds. There will not be one nation to which the dispersed of 'Eilam will not come.

I will break 'Eilam before their foes, before those who seek their lives; I will bring disaster on them, my burning anger,' says ADONAI. 'I will send the sword to pursue them until I have finished them off.

I will put my throne in 'Eilam and destroy their king and leaders,' says ADONAI.

'But in the acharit-hayamim, I will bring back the exiles of 'Eilam,' says ADONAI."

This is the word which ADONAI spoke concerning Bavel, concerning the land of the Kasdim, through Yirmeyahu the prophet:

"Declare it among the nations, proclaim it! Hoist a banner, proclaim it, don't hide it! Say: 'Bavel is captured. Bel is shamed, M'rodakh disgraced, her images shamed, her idols disgraced.'

For from the north a nation is marching against her that will desolate her land. No one will live there - both humans and animals have fled and gone.

In those days, at that time," says ADONAI, "the people of Isra'el will come, together with the people of Y'hudah. They will weep as they go their way, seeking ADONAI their God.

They will ask the way to Tziyon; and, turning their faces toward it, will say, 'Come, join yourselves to ADONAI by an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.'

My people have been lost sheep. My shepherds made them go astray, turning them loose in the mountains. As they wandered from mountain to hill, they lost track of where their home is.

Everyone finding them ate them up. Their enemies said, 'We aren't guilty; for they sinned against ADONAI, the resting place of justice; yes, against ADONAI, their ancestors' hope.'

Flee from Bavel! Leave the land of the Kasdim! Be like male goats leading the flock;

for I will stir up and bring against Bavel an alliance of great nations from the country to the north. They will array themselves against her; from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like those of a death-dealing warrior; none will return in vain.

The land of the Kasdim will be plundered; all who plunder it will get enough," says ADONAI.

"Because you are glad, because you exult, you plunderers of my heritage; because you frisk like a calf in the grass and neigh like stallions;

your mother will be utterly shamed, she who bore you will be disgraced. Here she is! - last among the nations, a desert, parched and barren.

Because of the anger of ADONAI, no one will live there any more; all of it will be desolate. Everyone passing Bavel will whistle in shock at all her plagues.