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For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13
Daily Meditation
42 The sea is come
up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
Today’s Reading
Jeremiah
Chapter 51
I will raise up
against Babylon
1 Thus saith the
Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in
the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; 2 and will send
unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the
day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3 Against him that
bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in
his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her
host. 4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that
are thrust through in her streets. 5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor
Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts; though their land was filled with sin
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the
midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her
iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her
a recompence.
7 Babylon hath been
a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations
have drunken of her wine;
therefore the
nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take
balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but
she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for
her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10 The
Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the
work of the Lord our God.
11 Make bright the arrows;
gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the
Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the
vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up the standard upon
the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the
ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against
the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O thou that
dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the
measure of thy covetousness. 14 The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself,
saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall
lift up a shout against thee.
15 He hath made the
earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath
stretched out the heaven by his understanding. 16 When he uttereth his voice, there
is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend
from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth
the wind out of his treasures.
17 Every man is
brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for
his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are
vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 19
The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and
Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.
20 Thou art my
battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the
nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; 21 and with thee will I break
in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the
chariot and his rider; 22 with thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and
with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in
pieces the young man and the maid; 23 I will also break in pieces with thee the
shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and
his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. 24
And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their
evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.
25 Behold, I am
against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the
earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the
rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take of thee
a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate
for ever, saith the Lord.
27 Set ye up a
standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations
against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and
Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the
rough caterpillers. 28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the
Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of
his dominion. 29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of
the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a
desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of
Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might
hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her
bars are broken. 31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to
meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, 32
and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and
the men of war are affrighted. 33 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh
her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34 Nebuchadrezzar
the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an
empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly
with my delicates, he hath cast me out. 35 The violence done to me and to my
flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the
inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus
saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and
I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. 37 And Babylon shall become
heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an
inhabitant. 38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’
whelps. 39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and 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 how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon
become an astonishment among the nations! 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she
is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. 43 Her cities are a
desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither
doth any son of man pass thereby.
44 And I will punish
Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath
swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea,
the wall of Babylon shall fall. 45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and
deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord. 46 And lest
your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour 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 come, that I will do judgment 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
for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the
Lord. 49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon
shall fall the slain of all the earth.
50 Ye that have
escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and
let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard
reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are 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: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon
should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her
strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.
54 A sound 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 recompences shall
surely requite.
57 And I will make
drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her
mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the
King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58 Thus saith the
Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high
gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the
folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
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