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Jeremiah 2:15
Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him; they raise their voices in triumph. They have laid his land waste; his cities have been burned down and deserted.
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1 Peter 2 25
For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
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2 Kings 18 9-2 Kings 18 13
In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign( it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.After three years he captured it( in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured.The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor( the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.This happened because they did not obey the LORD their God and broke his agreement with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the LORD’s servant, had commanded.In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
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Joel 3:2
Then I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment against them there concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, whom they scattered among the nations. They partitioned my land,
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Jeremiah 50:6
“ My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have allow them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place.
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Jeremiah 52:1
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
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Jeremiah 5:6
So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things.
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Jeremiah 23:1-2
The LORD says,“ The leaders of my people are sure to be judged. They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered.So the LORD God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people:“ You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the LORD, affirm it!
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Jeremiah 39:1-8
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. The siege began in the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.It lasted until the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year. On that day they broke through the city walls.Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters in the Middle Gate.When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.But the Babylonian army chased after them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho and captured him. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah in the territory of Hamath and Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him there.There at Riblah the king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon also had all the nobles of Judah put to death.Then he had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains to be led off to Babylon.The Babylonians burned down the royal palace, the temple of the LORD, and the people’s homes, and they tore down the wall of Jerusalem.
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Isaiah 8:7-8
So look, the sovereign master is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River– the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks.It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, O Immanuel.”
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Isaiah 10:5-7
Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets.But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations.
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2 Chronicles 33 11
So the LORD brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon.
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2 Chronicles 36 1-2 Chronicles 36 23
The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.The king of Egypt prevented him from ruling in Jerusalem and imposed on the land a special tax of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.The king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Necho seized his brother Jehoahaz and took him to Egypt.Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon.Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items in the LORD’s temple to Babylon and put them in his palace there.The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD.At the beginning of the year King Nebuchadnezzar ordered him to be brought to Babylon, along with the valuable items in the LORD’s temple. In his place he made his relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, the LORD’s spokesman.He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return to the LORD God of Israel.All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. They defiled the LORD’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.The LORD God of their ancestors continually warned them through his messengers, for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place.But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, and ridiculed his prophets. Finally the LORD got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment.He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him.He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials.They burned down the LORD’s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items.He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power.This took place to fulfill the LORD’s message delivered through Jeremiah. The land experienced its sabbatical years; it remained desolate for seventy years, as prophesied.In the first year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the promise he delivered through Jeremiah, the LORD moved King Cyrus of Persia to issue a written decree throughout his kingdom.It read:“ This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:‘ The LORD God of the heavens has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build for him a temple in Jerusalem in Judah. May the LORD your God energize you who belong to his people, so you may be able to go back there!”
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2 Kings 24 1-2 Kings 25 7
During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.The LORD sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.Just as the LORD had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed.Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the LORD was unwilling to forgive them.The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD as his ancestors had done.At that time the generals of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city.King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it.King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took Jehoiachin prisoner.Nebuchadnezzar took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the LORD’s temple, just as the LORD had warned.He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers( 10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land.The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers( there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors.The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as Jehoiakim had done.What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the LORD’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign.The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.The enemy broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden.( The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him.They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he passed sentence on him.Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.
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Jeremiah 51:38
The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat.
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Ezekiel 34:5-6
They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast.My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.
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Jeremiah 4:7
Like a lion that has come up from its lair the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.
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2 Chronicles 28 20
King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came, but he gave him more trouble than support.
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Isaiah 7:17-20
The LORD will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah– the king of Assyria!”At that time the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.All of them will come and make their home in the ravines between the cliffs, and in the crevices of the cliffs, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the watering holes.At that time the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River, the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair; it will also shave off the beard.
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Isaiah 36:1-22
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.The chief adviser said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah:‘ This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says:“ What is your source of confidence?Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!Perhaps you will tell me,‘ We are trusting in the LORD our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem,‘ You must worship at this altar.’Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.Furthermore it was by the command of the LORD that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The LORD told me,‘ March up against this land and destroy it!’”’”Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser,“ Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”But the chief adviser said,“ My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!”The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,“ Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.This is what the king says:‘ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you!Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD by saying,“ The LORD will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says,‘ Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,until I come and take you to a land just like your own– a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.Hezekiah is misleading you when he says,“ The LORD will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered,“ Don’t respond to him.”Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.
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2 Chronicles 32 1-2 Chronicles 32 23
After these faithful deeds were accomplished, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities, intending to seize them.When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had invaded and intended to attack Jerusalem,he consulted with his advisers and military officers about stopping up the springs outside the city, and they supported him.A large number of people gathered together and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the district. They reasoned,“ Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?”Hezekiah energetically rebuilt every broken wall. He erected towers and an outer wall, and fortified the terrace of the City of David. He made many weapons and shields.He appointed military officers over the army and assembled them in the square at the city gate. He encouraged them, saying,“ Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic because of the king of Assyria and this huge army that is with him! We have with us one who is stronger than those who are with him.He has with him mere human strength, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and fight our battles!” The army was encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.Afterward King Sennacherib of Assyria, while attacking Lachish with all his military might, sent his messengers to Jerusalem. The message was for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem. It read:“ This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says:‘ Why are you so confident that you remain in Jerusalem while it is under siege?Hezekiah says,“ The LORD our God will rescue us from the power of the king of Assyria.” But he is misleading you and you will die of hunger and thirst!Hezekiah is the one who eliminated the LORD’s high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem,“ At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.”Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power?Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power?Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how can your gods rescue you from my power?’”Sennacherib’s servants further insulted the LORD God and his servant Hezekiah.He wrote letters mocking the LORD God of Israel and insulting him with these words:“ The gods of the surrounding nations could not rescue their people from my power. Neither can Hezekiah’s god rescue his people from my power.”They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city.They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven.The LORD sent a messenger and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib returned home humiliated. When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.The LORD delivered Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from all the other nations. He made them secure on every side.Many were bringing presents to the LORD in Jerusalem and precious gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah. From that time on he was respected by all the nations.
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Luke 15:4-6
“ Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety- nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing.Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them,‘ Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’
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Jeremiah 49:19
“ A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Edomites off their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler who can stand up against me.
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Ezekiel 34:12
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day.
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John 10:10-12
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.“ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them.
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2 Kings 17 6-2 Kings 17 23
In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor( the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.This happened because the Israelites sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods;they observed the practices of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel.The Israelites said things about the LORD their God that were not right. They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress.They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the LORD had driven away from before them. Their evil practices made the LORD angry.They worshiped the disgusting idols in blatant disregard of the LORD’s command.The LORD solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers,“ Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.”But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors, who had not trusted the LORD their God.They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to the LORD. They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the LORD’s command.They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, and worshiped Baal.They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD and made him angry.So the LORD was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left.Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the LORD their God; they followed Israel’s example.So the LORD rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence.He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from the LORD and encouraged them to commit a serious sin.The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and did not repudiate them.Finally the LORD rejected Israel just as he had warned he would do through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.
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Daniel 6:24
The king gave another order, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lions’ den– they, their children, and their wives. They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
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Matthew 9:36-38
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.Then he said to his disciples,“ The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
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Jeremiah 51:34-35
“ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon devoured me and drove my people out. Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me. He filled his belly with my riches. He made me an empty dish. He completely cleaned me out.”The person who lives in Zion says,“ May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives.” Jerusalem says,“ May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people.”
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2 Kings 15 29
During Pekah’s reign over Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people to Assyria.
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Isaiah 47:6
I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you even placed a very heavy burden on old people.
