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Jeremia 46:1-28
This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:Concerning Egypt: This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:“ Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle!Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears, put on your armor!What do I see? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste without looking back, and there is terror on every side,” declares the Lord.“ The swift cannot flee nor the strong escape. In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.“ Who is this that rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters?Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says,‘ I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their people.’Charge, you horses! Drive furiously, you charioteers! March on, you warriors— men of Cush and Put who carry shields, men of Lydia who draw the bow.But that day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty— a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it has quenched its thirst with blood. For the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will offer sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.“ Go up to Gilead and get balm, Virgin Daughter Egypt. But you try many medicines in vain; there is no healing for you.The nations will hear of your shame; your cries will fill the earth. One warrior will stumble over another; both will fall down together.”This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt:“ Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it also in Memphis and Tahpanhes:‘ Take your positions and get ready, for the sword devours those around you.’Why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down.They will stumble repeatedly; they will fall over each other. They will say,‘ Get up, let us go back to our own people and our native lands, away from the sword of the oppressor.’There they will exclaim,‘ Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity.’“ As surely as I live,” declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty,“ one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea.Pack your belongings for exile, you who live in Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste and lie in ruins without inhabitant.“ Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north.The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves. They too will turn and flee together, they will not stand their ground, for the day of disaster is coming upon them, the time for them to be punished.Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent as the enemy advances in force; they will come against her with axes, like men who cut down trees.They will chop down her forest,” declares the Lord,“ dense though it be. They are more numerous than locusts, they cannot be counted.Daughter Egypt will be put to shame, given into the hands of the people of the north.”The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:“ I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh.I will give them into the hands of those who want to kill them— Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,” declares the Lord.“ Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord.“ Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.” (niv)
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Habakuk 2:5-8
indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.“ Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,“‘ Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey.Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. (niv)
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Habakuk 1:9-10
they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. (niv)
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Jeremia 25:9-26
I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord,“ and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp.This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.“ But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord,“ and will make it desolate forever.I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations.They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me:“ Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.”So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it:Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn, a curse— as they are today;Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people,and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines( those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod);Edom, Moab and Ammon;all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea;Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places;all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the wilderness;all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media;and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other— all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak will drink it too. (niv)
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Habakuk 2:17
The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. (niv)
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Jesaja 14:16-17
Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate:“ Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?” (niv)
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Jeremia 52:1-34
Zedekiah was twenty- one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah.Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings— all that were made of pure gold or silver.The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed.Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.The bronze capital on top of one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city.Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all.In the thirty- seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel- Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty- fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison.He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death. (niv)
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Hesekiel 25:1-17
The word of the Lord came to me:“ Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.Say to them,‘ Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you said“ Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile,therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk.I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels and Ammon into a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord.For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel,therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says:‘ Because Moab and Seir said,“ Look, Judah has become like all the other nations,”therefore I will expose the flank of Moab, beginning at its frontier towns— Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon and Kiriathaim— the glory of that land.I will give Moab along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations;and I will inflict punishment on Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says:‘ Because Edom took revenge on Judah and became very guilty by doing so,therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill both man and beast. I will lay it waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says:‘ Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah,therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast.I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them.’” (niv)
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Jesaja 19:8
The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away. (niv)
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Jesaja 14:6
which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression. (niv)
