The Hebrew Prophets

Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, All ye treading a bow, Shoot at her, have no pity on the arrow, For against Jehovah she hath sinned.

Shout against her round about, She hath given forth her hand, Fallen have her foundations, Thrown down have been her walls, For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, Be avenged of her, as she did--do ye to her.

Cut off the sower from Babylon, And him handling the sickle in the time of harvest, Because of the oppressing sword, Each unto his people--they turn, And each to his land--they flee.

A scattered sheep is Israel, lions have driven away, At first, devour him did the king of Asshur, And now, at last, broken his bone Hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

Therefore thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am seeing after the king of Babylon, And after his land, As I have seen after the king of Asshur;

And I have brought back Israel unto his habitation, And he hath fed on Carmel, and on Bashan. And in mount Ephraim, and on Gilead is his soul satisfied.

In those days, and at that time, An affirmation of Jehovah, Sought is the iniquity of Israel, and it is not, And the sin of Judah, and it is not found, For I am propitious to those whom I leave!

Against the land of Merathaim: Go up against it, and unto the inhabitants of Pekod, Waste and devote their posterity, An affirmation of Jehovah, And do according to all that I have commanded thee.

A noise of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

How hath it been cut and broken, The hammer of the whole earth! How hath Babylon been for a desolation among nations!

I have laid a snare for thee, And also--thou art captured, O Babylon, And thou--thou hast known, Thou hast been found, and also art caught, For against Jehovah thou hast stirred thyself up.

Jehovah hath opened His treasury, And He bringeth out the weapons of His indignation, For a work is to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, In the land of the Chaldeans.

Come ye in to her from the extremity, Open ye her storehouses, Raise her up as heaps, and devote her, Let her have no remnant.

Slay all her kine, they go down to slaughter, Woe is on them, for come hath their day, The time of their inspection.

A voice of fugitives and escaped ones Is from the land of Babylon, To declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, The vengeance of His temple.

Summon unto Babylon archers, all treading the bow, Encamp against her round about, Let her have no escape; Recompense to her according to her work, According to all that she did--do to her, For unto Jehovah she hath been proud, Unto the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore fall do her young men in her broad places, And all her men of war are cut off in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Lo, I am against thee, O pride, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, For thy day hath come, the time of thy inspection.

And stumbled hath pride, And he hath fallen, and hath no raiser up, And I have kindled a fire in his cities, And it hath devoured all round about him.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Oppressed are the sons of Israel, And the sons of Judah together, And all their captors have kept hold on them, They have refused to send them away.

Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, He doth thoroughly plead their cause, So as to cause the land to rest, And He hath given trouble to the inhabitants of Babylon.

A sword is for the Chaldeans, An affirmation of Jehovah, And it is on the inhabitants of Babylon, And on her heads, and on her wise men;

A sword is on the princes, And they have become foolish; A sword is on her mighty ones, And they have been broken down;

A sword is on his horses and on his chariot, And on all the rabble who are in her midst, And they have become women; A sword is on her treasuries, And they have been spoiled;

A sword is on her waters, and they have been dried up, For it is a land of graven images, And in idols they do boast themselves.