CHAPTER Babylon she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wildernes, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doeth any sonne of man passe thereby. 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. My people, goe ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soule from the fierce anger of the LORD, and lest your heart faint, and ye feare for the rumour that shall be heard in the land: a rumour shall both come one yeere, and after that in another yeere shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. Therefore behold, the dayes come, that I will doe iudgment upon the graven images of Babylon, and her whole land shall bee confounded, and all her slaine shall fall in the midst of her. 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. As Babylon hath caused the slaine of Israel to fall: so at Babylon shall fall the slaine of all the earth. Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still remember the LORD afarre off: and let Ierusalem come into your mind. We are confounded, because wee have heard reproch, shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the Sanctuaries of the LORDS house. Wherfore behold, the dayes come, saith the LORD, that I will do iudgment upon her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall grone. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though shee should fortifie the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD. A sound of a crie commeth from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Caldeans. Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voyce when her waves doe roare like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered. Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mightie men are taken, every one of their bowes is broken, for the LORD God of recompenses shall surely requite. And I will make drunke her princes and her wise men, her captaines and her rulers, and her mightie men: and they shall sleepe a perpetuall sleepe, and not wake, saith the king, whose Name is the LORD of hosts. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, The broad walles of Babylon shalbe utterly broken, and her high gates shal be burnt with fire, and the people shall labour in vaine, and the folke in the fire, and they shall be weary. The word which Ieremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the CHAPTER booke of this be cast into sonne of Neriah, the sonne of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Iudah into Babylon, in the fourth yeere of LI his reigne, and this Seraiah was a quiet prince. So Ieremiah Ieremiah dewrote in a booke all the evill that should come upon Babylon: livereth the even all these wordes that are written against Babylon. And prophecie to Ieremiah said to Seraiah, When thou commest to Babylon, and Sheraiah, to shalt see, and shalt read all these words, then shalt thou O say, Euphrates, LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none in token of shall remaine in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shalbe the perpetuall desolate for ever. And it shall bee when thou hast made an end of reading this booke, that thou shalt binde a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates. And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sinke, and shall not rise from the evill that I will bring upon her and they shall be wearie. Thus farre are the words of Ieremiah. Z : CHAPTER LII sinking of Babylon. 'EDEKIAH was one and twentie yeere olde when he began Zedekiah to reigne, and he reigned eleven yeeres in Ierusalem, and rebelleth. his mothers name was Hamutal the daughter of Ieremiah of Libnah. And hee did that which was evill in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Iehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the LORD it came to passe in Ierusalem and Iudah, till hee had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. taken. And it came to passe in the ninth yere of his reigne, in the Ierusalem is tenth moneth, in the tenth day of the moneth, that Nebuchad- besieged and rezzar king of Babylon came, hee, and all his armie against Ierusalem, and pitched against it, and built fortes against it round about. So the citie was besieged unto the eleventh yeere of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth moneth, in the ninth day of the moneth, the famine was sore in the citie, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of warre fled, and went foorth out of the citie by night, by the way of the gate between the two wals, which was by the kings garden (now the Caldeans were by the city round about) and they went by the way of the plaine. and his owne eyes put out. But the armie of the Caldeans pursued after the king, and over- Zedekiahs tooke Zedekiah in the plaines of Iericho, and all his armie was sonnes killed, scattered from him. Then they tooke the king, and caried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath : where he gave iudgement upon him. And the king of Babylon slew the sonnes of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slewe also all the 4. Y 169 LII CHAPTER princes of Iudah in Riblah. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babylon bound him in chaines, and caried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. Nebuzaradan burneth and spoileth the citie. Hee carieth away the captives. Now in the fifth moneth, in the tenth day of the moneth (which was the nineteenth yeere of Nebuchad-rezzar king of Babylon) came Nebuzaradan captaine of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Ierusalem; and burnt the house of the LORD, and the kings house, and all the houses of Ierusalem, and all the houses of the great men burnt he with fire. And all the armie of the Caldeans that were with the captaine of the guard, brake downe all the walles of Ierusalem round about. Then Nebuzaradan the captaine of the guard, caried away captive certaine of the poore of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the citie, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan the captaine of the guard, left certaine of the poore of the land for Vine-dressers and for husbandmen. Also the pillars of brasse that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Caldeans brake, and caried all the brasse of them to Babylon. The cauldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bolles, and the spoones, and all the vessels of brasse wherewith they ministred, tooke they away. And the basons, and the firepans, and the bolles, and the cauldrons, and the candlestickes, and the spoones, and the cuppes; that which was of golde, in golde, and that which was of silver, in silver, tooke the captaine of the guard away: the two pillars, one Sea, and twelve brasen bulles, that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brasse of all these vessels was without weight. And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteene cubites, and a fillet of twelve cubites did compasse it, and the thickenesse thereof was foure fingers: it was hollow. And a chapiter of brasse was upon it, and the height of one chapiter was five cubites, with networke and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brasse : the second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these. And there were ninetie and sixe pomegranates on a side, and all the pomegranates upon the networke were an hundreth round about. And the captaine of the guard tooke Seraiah the chiefe Priest, and Zephaniah the second Priest, and the three keepers of the doore. Hee tooke also out of the citie an Eunuch, which had the charge of the men of warre, and seven men of them that were neere the kings person which were found in the citie, and the principall Scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the middest of the citie. So Nebuzar-adan the captaine of the guard tooke them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath: thus Iudah was caried away captive out of his owne land. This is the people whom Nebuchad-rezzar caried away captive in the seventh yeere, three thousand lewes and three and twentie. In the eighteenth yeere of Nebuchad-rezzar hee caried away captive from Ierusalem eight hundreth, thirtie and two persons. In the three and twentith yeere of Nebuchad-rezzar, Nebuzar-adan the captaine of the guard, caried away captive of the Lewes seven hundreth fortie and five persons: all the persons were foure thousand and sixe hundreth. CHAPTER LII Iehoiakim. And it came to passe in the seven and thirtieth yeere of the Evil-merodach captivitie of Iehoiakin king of Iudah, in the twelfth moneth, in advanceth the five and twentieth day of the moneth, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first yeere of his reigne, lifted up the head of Iehoiakin king of Iudah, and brought him forth out of prison, and spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments: and hee did continually eate bread before him all the dayes of his life. And for his diet, there was a continuall diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion untill the day of his death, all the dayes of his life. The miserable estate of Ierusalem by reason of her sinne. THE LAMENTATIONS OF IEREMIAH CHAPTER I JOW doeth the citie sit 'solitarie that was full of people? How is she become as a widow? She that was great among the nations, and princesse among the provinces, How is she become tributarie ? Shee weepeth sore in the night, and her teares are on her cheekes: Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort All her friends have dealt treacherously with her, Iudah is gone into captivitie, because of affliction, and She dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest : All her persecutors overtook her betweene the straits. The wayes of Zion do mourne, because none come to the solemne feasts: All her gates are desolate : her priests sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitternesse. Her adversaries are the chiefe, her enemies prosper : For the LORD hath afflicted her; for the multitude of her Her children are gone into captivitie before the enemie. All her pleasant things that she had in the dayes of old, |