Babylon

Then the king of the Assyrians brought some from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim. And he located them in the cities of Samaria, in place of the sons of Israel. And they possessed Samaria, and they lived in its cities.

So the men of Babylon made Soccoth-benoth; and the men of Cuth made Nergal; and the men of Hamath made Ashima;

At that time, Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of the Babylonians, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah. For he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.

Then the prophet Isaiah came to king Hezekiah, and said to him: “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said to him, “They came to me from Babylon, from a far away land.”

Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have stored up even to this day, will be carried away to Babylon. Nothing at all shall remain, says the Lord.

Then too, they will take from your sons, who will go forth from you, whom you will conceive. And they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

During his days, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ascended, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. And again he rebelled against him.

And the king of Egypt no longer continued to go out from his own land. For the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt as far as the river Euphrates.

At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ascended against Jerusalem. And the city was encircled with fortifications.

And Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, went to the city, with his servants, so that he might fight against it.

And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his leaders, and his eunuchs. And the king of Babylon received him, in the eighth year of his reign.

Also, he carried away Jehoiachin into Babylon, and the mother of the king, and the wives of the king, and his eunuchs. And he led into captivity the judges of the land, from Jerusalem to Babylon,

and all the robust men, seven thousand, and the artisans and craftsman, one thousand: all who were strong men and fit for war. And the king of Babylon led them away as captives, into Babylon.

And he appointed Mattaniah, his uncle, in his place. And he imposed the name Zedekiah upon him.

For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Judah, until he cast them away from his face. And so Zedekiah withdrew from the king of Babylon.

Then it happened that, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, he and his entire army, arrived against Jerusalem. And they encircled it, and they constructed fortifications all around it.

Therefore, having apprehended him, they led the king to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And he was speaking with him in judgment.

Then he killed the sons of Zedekiah before him, and he dug out his eyes, and he bound him with chains, and he led him away to Babylon.

In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, went into Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, carried away the rest of the people, who had remained in the city, and the fugitives, who had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.

Now the pillars of brass which were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass, which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke apart. And they took all the brass to Babylon.

Taking them, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

And the king of Babylon struck them and killed them at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. And Judah was taken away from his land.

But over the people who had remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had permitted, he appointed as ruler Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

And when all the commanders of the military had heard this, they and the men who were with them, specifically, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of a Maacathite, they and their companions.

And Gedaliah swore to them and to their companions, saying: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Remain in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

Truly, it happened that, in the thirty-seventh year of the transmigration of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach, the king of Babylon, in the year when he had begun to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, from prison.

And he spoke kindly to him. And he set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him at Babylon.

And he changed his garments that he had worn in prison. And he ate bread before him always, during all the days of his life.

And so, all of Israel was numbered. And the sum of them was written in the book of the kings of Israel and of Judah. And they were taken away to Babylon because of their transgression.

Yet still, concerning the legates from the leaders of Babylon, who had been sent to him so that they might inquire about the portent which had happened upon the earth, God permitted him to be tempted, so that everything might be made known which was in his heart.

Therefore, he led over them the leaders of the army of the king of the Assyrians. And they captured Manasseh, and they led him, bound with chains and fetters, to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, ascended against him, and led him bound in chains to Babylon.

And to there, he also took away the vessels of the Lord, and he placed them in his temple.

And when the course of a year had turned, king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, carrying away, at the same time, the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord. Truly, he appointed his uncle, Zedekiah, as king over Judah and Jerusalem.

For he led over them the king of the Chaldeans. And he put to death their young men by the sword, in the house of his sanctuary. There was no pity for adolescents, nor virgins, nor the elderly, nor even for the disabled. Instead, he delivered them all into his hands.

And all the vessels of the house of Lord, as much the greater as the lesser, and the treasures of the temple, and of the king and the rulers, he carried away to Babylon.

If anyone had escaped from the sword, he was led into Babylon. And he served the king and his sons, until the king of Persia would command,

Now these are the sons of the province, who ascended from the captivity, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had transferred to Babylon, and who were returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each one to his own city.

“Rehum, the commander, and Shimshai, the scribe, and the rest of their counselors, the judges, and rulers, the officials, those from Persia, from Erech, from Babylonia, from Susa, the Dehavites, and the Elamites,

Let it be known to the king, that the Jews, who ascended from you to us, have arrived in Jerusalem, a rebellious and most wicked city, which they are building, constructing its ramparts and repairing the walls.

But afterward, our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, so he delivered them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean. And he destroyed this house, and he transferred its people to Babylon.

Then, in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, king Cyrus issued a decree, so that this house of God would be built.

And now the vessels of gold and silver from the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem, and which he had carried away to the temple of Babylon, king Cyrus brought out of the temple of Babylon, and they were given to one called Sheshbazzar, whom he also appointed as governor.

Now then, if it seems good to the king, let him search in the king’s library, which is in Babylon, to see whether it was ordered by king Cyrus, that the house of God in Jerusalem should be built. And may the will of the king be sent to us about this matter.”

But also, let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple of Jerusalem, and which he carried away to Babylon, be restored and be carried back to the temple of Jerusalem, to their place, just as they had been placed in the temple of God.

Now after these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

These are the sons of the province, who ascended from the captivity of the transmigration, those whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had taken away, and who returned into Jerusalem and Judea, each one to his own city.

But during all this, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon, I went to the king, and at the end of some days, I petitioned the king.

who had been carried away from Jerusalem at the time that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon carried away Jeconiah king of Judah,

For my soul has been filled with evils, and my life has drawn near to Hell.

Of David himself. O Lord, I will confess to you with my whole heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth. I will sing psalms to you in the sight of the Angels.

If I wander into the midst of tribulation, you will revive me. For you extended your hand against the wrath of my enemies. And your right hand has accomplished my salvation.

The Lord will provide retribution on my behalf. O Lord, your mercy is forever. Do not disdain the works of your hands.

The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.

Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates!

And they will be like a doe fleeing away, or like sheep; and there will be no one who may gather them together. Each one will turn to his own people, and every one will flee to his own land.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not seek silver, nor desire gold.

And then Babylon, the glorious one among kingdoms, that famous pride of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

It will not be inhabited, even unto the end, and it will not be reestablished, even from generation to generation. The Arab will not pitch his tents there, nor will the shepherds take rest there.

And the tawny owls will answer one another there, in its buildings, and the Sirens in its shrines of pleasure.

you will accept this parable against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How is it that the oppressor has ceased, along with his tribute?

But I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts. And I will perish the name of Babylon and its remnants: both the plant and its progeny, says the Lord.

And I will appoint it as a possession for the hedgehog, with swamps of water. And I will sweep it out and wear it away with a brush, says the Lord of hosts.

The burden of the desert of the sea. Just as the whirlwinds approach from Africa, it approaches from the desert, from a terrible land.

A difficult vision has been announced to me: he who is unbelieving, he acts unfaithfully, and he who is a plunderer, he devastates. Ascend, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I have caused all its mourning to cease.

Behold, a certain man approaches, a man riding on a two-horse chariot.” And he responded, and he said: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! And all its graven gods have been crushed into the earth!

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans: never before was there such a people! Assur founded it. They have led away its strong ones into captivity. They have dug under its houses. They have left it in ruins.

At that time, Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah. For he had heard that he had fallen ill and had recovered.

Then Isaiah the prophet entered before king Hezekiah, and he said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far away land, from Babylon.”

Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have stored up, even to this day, will be taken away to Babylon. There will be nothing left behind, says the Lord.

And your children, who will issue from you, whom you will produce, they will be taken away. And they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake, I sent to Babylon, and tore down all their bars, with the Chaldeans who glory in their ships.

Bel has been broken. Nebo has been crushed. Their idols have been placed upon beasts and cattle, your grievous heavy burdens, even unto exhaustion.

Descend, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground. There is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called delicate and tender.

I was angry with my people. I have polluted my inheritance, and I have given them into your hand. You have not shown mercy to them. You have greatly increased the burden of your yoke upon the elders.

Gather together, all of you, and listen. Who among them has announced these things? The Lord has loved him; he will do his will with Babylon, and his arm is upon the Chaldeans.

Depart from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Announce it with a voice of exultation. Cause it to be heard, and carry it even to the ends of the earth. Say: “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will give you over to fear, you and all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. And I will give all of Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. And he will lead them away to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword.

And I will give away the entire substance of this city, and all its labor, and every precious thing. And I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hands of their enemies. And they will plunder them, and take them away, and lead them into Babylon.

But you, Pashhur, and all the inhabitants of your house, will go into captivity. And you will go to Babylon. And there you shall die. And there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied a lie.”

“Question the Lord on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is fighting against us. Perhaps it may be that the Lord will act toward us according to all his wonders, and he may withdraw from us.”

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, who besiege you at the surrounding walls. And I will gather these things together in the midst of this city.

And afterward, thus says the Lord: I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and his people, and those who have been left behind in this city after pestilence and the sword and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword. And he will not waver, and he will not be lenient, and he will not take pity.

For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, says the Lord. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

And I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you dread, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

The Lord revealed to me, and behold, two baskets full of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, carried away Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and his leaders, and the craftsmen and engravers of Jerusalem, and led them into Babylon.

The word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah. The same is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

behold, I will send for and take all the associates of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will lead them over this land, and over its inhabitants, and over all the nations that are around it. And I will destroy them, and I will set them in the midst of stupor and hissing, and continual desolations.

And this entire land will be in desolation and in stupor. And all these nations will serve the king of Babylon, for seventy years.

And when the seventy years have been completed, I will visit their iniquity upon the king of Babylon, and upon that nation, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, says the Lord. And I will set it in continual desolations.

For they have served them, though these were populous nations and great kings. And I will repay them according to their works and according to the deeds of their hands.”

And now, therefore, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. Moreover, I have given to him also the beasts of the field, so that they may serve him.

And all the nations will serve him, and his son, and his son’s son. Many nations and great kings will serve him, until the time arrives for him and his land.

But the nation or kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and whoever will not bend his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, says the Lord, until I consume them by his hand.

Therefore, you should not choose to listen to your own prophets, and diviners, and dreamers, and soothsayers, and sorcerers, who say to you: ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’

Furthermore, the nation which will bend its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and which will serve him, I will permit them to remain in their own land, says the Lord. And they will cultivate it, and they will live in it.”

And I spoke to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, according to all these words, saying: “Subject your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and you will live.

Why should you suffer death, you and your people, by the sword, and famine, and pestilence, just as the Lord has spoken against any nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon?

Do not choose to listen to the words of the prophets, saying to you: ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ For they are speaking a lie to you.

I spoke also to the priests and to this people, saying: “Thus says the Lord: Do not choose to listen to the words of your prophets, who prophesy to you, saying: ‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord will now quickly be returned from Babylon.’ For they are prophesying to you a lie.

Therefore, do not choose to listen to them, but instead, serve the king of Babylon, so that you may live. Why should this city be given over into desolation?

But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is in them, then let them intercede before the Lord of hosts, so that the vessels that were left behind in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.

which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, did not take when he carried away Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, from Jerusalem into Babylon, with all the nobility of Judah and Jerusalem:

They shall be carried away to Babylon, and there they shall be, until the day of their visitation, says the Lord. And then I will cause them to be carried back, and to be restored to this place.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

There are still two years of days, and then I will cause to be carried back to this place all the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, took from this place and carried away to Babylon.

And I will return to this place: Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and all those taken captive from Judah, who were brought into Babylon, says the Lord. For I will crush the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

And Jeremiah the prophet said: “Amen, may the Lord accomplish this; may the Lord act upon your words, which you have prophesied, so that the vessels may be carried back to the house of the Lord, and so that all those taken captive may return from Babylon to this place.

And Hananiah spoke in the sight of all the people, saying: “Thus says the Lord: So shall I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, after two years of days, from the neck of all the people.”

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have placed a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, so that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And they shall serve him. Moreover, I have given to him even the beasts of the earth.”

And these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the remnant of the elders of the transmigration, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had led away from Jerusalem to Babylon,

It was sent by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and by Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, saying:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who have been taken away, whom I have caused to be transferred from Jerusalem to Babylon:

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not allow your prophets and your diviners, who are in your midst, to seduce you. And you should pay no attention to your dreams, which you are dreaming.

For thus says the Lord: When the seventy years will begin to be completed in Babylon, I will visit you. And I will raise up over you my good word, so that I may lead you back to this place.

For you have said: ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.’

For thus says the Lord, to the king who sits upon the throne of David, and to all the people who live in this city, to your brothers who have not departed with you in the transmigration:

Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord, all you of the transmigration, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem into Babylon.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and to Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.