‭‭Ezekiel 6:1-14 MSG‬‬
[1-7] Then the Word of God came to me: “Son of man, now turn and face the mountains of Israel and preach against them: ‘O Mountains of Israel, listen to the Message of God, the Master. God, the Master, speaks to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I’m about to destroy your sacred god and goddess shrines. I’ll level your altars, bust up your sun-god pillars, and kill your people as they bow down to your no-god idols. I’ll stack the dead bodies of Israelites in front of your idols and then scatter your bones around your shrines. Every place where you’ve lived, the towns will be torn down and the pagan shrines demolished—altars busted up, idols smashed, all your custom-made sun-god pillars in ruins. Corpses everywhere you look! Then you’ll know that I am God. [8-10] “‘But I’ll let a few escape the killing as you are scattered through other lands and nations. In the foreign countries where they’re taken as prisoners of war, they’ll remember me. They’ll realize how devastated I was by their betrayals, by their voracious lust for gratifying themselves in their idolatries. They’ll be disgusted with their evil ways, disgusting to God in the way they’ve lived. They’ll know that I am God. They’ll know that my judgment against them was no empty threat. [11-14] “‘This is what God, the Master, says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, yell out, “No, no, no!” because of all the evil obscenities rife in Israel. They’re going to be killed, dying of hunger, dying of disease—death everywhere you look, people dropping like flies, people far away dying, people nearby dying, and whoever’s left in the city starving to death. Why? Because I’m angry, furiously angry. They’ll realize that I am God when they see their people’s corpses strewn over and around all their ruined sex-and-religion shrines on the bare hills and in the lush fertility groves, in all the places where they indulged their sensual rites. I’ll bring my hand down hard on them, demolish the country wherever they live, turn it into wasteland from one end to the other, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they’ll know that I am God!’”

https://bible.com/bible/97/ezk.6.1-7.MSG

‭‭Ezekiel 5:1-17 MSG‬‬
[1-2] “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a straight razor, shaving your head and your beard. Then, using a set of balancing scales, divide the hair into thirds. When the days of the siege are over, take one-third of the hair and burn it inside the city. Take another third, chop it into bits with the sword and sprinkle it around the city. The final third you’ll throw to the wind. Then I’ll go after them with a sword. [3-4] “Retrieve a few of the hairs and slip them into your pocket. Take some of them and throw them into the fire—burn them up. From them, fire will spread to the whole family of Israel. [5-6] “This is what God, the Master, says: This means Jerusalem. I set her at the center of the world, all the nations ranged around her. But she rebelled against my laws and ordinances, rebelled far worse than the nations ranged around her—sheer wickedness!—refused my guidance, ignored my directions. [7] “Therefore this is what God, the Master, says: You’ve been more headstrong and willful than any of the nations around you, refusing my guidance, ignoring my directions. You’ve sunk to the gutter level of those around you. [8-10] “Therefore this is what God, the Master, says: I’m setting myself against you—yes, against you, Jerusalem. I’m going to punish you in full sight of the nations. Because of your disgusting no-god idols, I’m going to do something to you that I’ve never done before and will never do again: turn families into cannibals—parents eating children, children eating parents! Punishment indeed. And whoever’s left over I’ll throw to the winds. [11-12] “Therefore, as sure as I am the living God—Decree of God, the Master—because you’ve polluted my Sanctuary with your obscenities and disgusting no-god idols, I’m pulling out. Not an ounce of pity will I show you. A third of your people will die of either disease or hunger inside the city, a third will be killed outside the city, and a third will be thrown to the winds and chased by killers. [13] “Only then will I calm down and let my anger cool. Then you’ll know that I was serious about this all along, that I’m a jealous God and not to be trifled with. [14-15] “When I get done with you, you’ll be a pile of rubble. Nations who walk by will make coarse jokes. When I finish my angry punishment and searing rebukes, you’ll be reduced to an object of ridicule and mockery, turned into a horror story circulating among the surrounding nations. I, God, have spoken. [16-17] “When I shoot my lethal famine arrows at you, I’ll shoot to kill. Then I’ll step up the famine and cut off food supplies. Famine and more famine—and then I’ll send in the wild animals to finish off your children. Epidemic disease, unrestrained murder, death—and I will have sent it! I, God, have spoken.”

https://bible.com/bible/97/ezk.5.1-2.MSG

‭‭Ezekiel 4:1-17 MSG‬‬
[1-3] “Now, son of man, take a brick and place it before you. Draw a picture of the city Jerusalem on it. Then make a model of a military siege against the brick: Build siege walls, construct a ramp, set up army camps, lay in battering rams around it. Then get an iron skillet and place it upright between you and the city—an iron wall. Face the model: The city shall be under siege and you shall be the besieger. This is a sign to the family of Israel. [4-5] “Next lie on your left side and place the sin of the family of Israel on yourself. You will bear their sin for as many days as you lie on your side. The number of days you bear their sin will match the number of years of their sin, namely, 390. For 390 days you will bear the sin of the family of Israel. [6-7] “Then, after you have done this, turn over and lie down on your right side and bear the sin of the family of Judah. Your assignment this time is to lie there for forty days, a day for each year of their sin. Look straight at the siege of Jerusalem. Roll up your sleeve, shake your bare arm, and preach against her. [8] “I will tie you up with ropes, tie you so you can’t move or turn over until you have finished the days of the siege. [9-12] “Next I want you to take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, dried millet and spelt, and mix them in a bowl to make a flat bread. This is your food ration for the 390 days you lie on your side. Measure out about half a pound for each day and eat it on schedule. Also measure out your daily ration of about a pint of water and drink it on schedule. Eat the bread as you would a muffin. Bake the muffins out in the open where everyone can see you, using dried human dung for fuel.” [13] God said, “This is what the people of Israel are going to do: Among the pagan nations where I will drive them, they will eat foods that are strictly taboo to a holy people.” [14] I said, “God, my Master! Never! I’ve never contaminated myself with food like that. Since my youth I’ve never eaten anything forbidden by law, nothing found dead or violated by wild animals. I’ve never taken a single bite of forbidden food.” [15] “All right,” he said. “I’ll let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human dung.” [16-17] Then he said to me, “Son of man, I’m going to cut off all food from Jerusalem. The people will live on starvation rations, worrying where the next meal’s coming from, scrounging for the next drink of water. Famine conditions. People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones, and shake their heads. This is what sin does.”

https://bible.com/bible/97/ezk.4.1-3.MSG

‭‭Ezekiel 3:1-27 MSG‬‬
[1] He told me, “Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.” [2-3] As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, “Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!” So I ate it. It tasted so good—just like honey. [4-6] Then he told me, “Son of man, go to the family of Israel and speak my Message. Look, I’m not sending you to a people who speak a hard-to-learn language with words you can hardly pronounce. If I had sent you to such people, their ears would have perked up and they would have listened immediately. [7-9] “But it won’t work that way with the family of Israel. They won’t listen to you because they won’t listen to me. They are, as I said, a hard case, hardened in their sin. But I’ll make you as hard in your way as they are in theirs. I’ll make your face as hard as rock, harder than granite. Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t be afraid of them, even though they’re a bunch of rebels.” [10-11] Then he said, “Son of man, get all these words that I’m giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own. And now go. Go to the exiles, your people, and speak. Tell them, ‘This is the Message of God, the Master.’ Speak your piece, whether they listen or not.” [12-13] Then the Spirit picked me up. Behind me I heard a great commotion—“Blessed be the Glory of God in his Sanctuary!”—the wings of the living creatures beating against each other, the whirling wheels, the rumble of a great earthquake. [14-15] The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn’t want to go. But God had me in his grip. I arrived among the exiles who lived near the Kebar River at Tel Aviv. I came to where they were living and sat there for seven days, appalled. [16] At the end of the seven days, I received this Message from God: [17-19] “Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life. [20-21] “And if the righteous turn back from living righteously and take up with evil when I step in and put them in a hard place, they’ll die. If you haven’t warned them, they’ll die because of their sins, and none of the right things they’ve done will count for anything—and I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn these righteous people not to sin and they listen to you, they’ll live because they took the warning—and again, you’ll have saved your life.” [22] God grabbed me by the shoulder and said, “Get up. Go out on the plain. I want to talk with you.” [23] So I got up and went out on the plain. I couldn’t believe my eyes: the Glory of God! Right there! It was like the Glory I had seen at the Kebar River. I fell to the ground, prostrate. [24-26] Then the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. He said, “Go home and shut the door behind you.” And then something odd: “Son of man: They’ll tie you hand and foot with ropes so you can’t leave the house. I’ll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won’t be able to talk and tell the people what they’re doing wrong, even though they are a bunch of rebels. [27] “But then when the time is ripe, I’ll free your tongue and you’ll say, ‘This is what God, the Master, says: . . .’ From then on it’s up to them. They can listen or not listen, whichever they like. They are a bunch of rebels!”

https://bible.com/bible/97/ezk.3.1.MSG

‭‭Ezekiel 2:1-10 MSG‬‬
[1] It said, “Son of man, stand up. I have something to say to you.” [2] The moment I heard the voice, the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. As he spoke to me, I listened. [3-7] He said, “Son of man, I’m sending you to the family of Israel, a rebellious nation if there ever was one. They and their ancestors have fomented rebellion right up to the present. They’re a hard case, these people to whom I’m sending you—hardened in their sin. Tell them, ‘This is the Message of God, the Master.’ They are a defiant bunch. Whether or not they listen, at least they’ll know that a prophet’s been here. But don’t be afraid of them, son of man, and don’t be afraid of anything they say. Don’t be afraid when living among them is like stepping on thorns or finding scorpions in your bed. Don’t be afraid of their mean words or their hard looks. They’re a bunch of rebels. Your job is to speak to them. Whether they listen is not your concern. They’re hardened rebels. [8] “Only take care, son of man, that you don’t rebel like these rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.” [9-10] When I looked he had his hand stretched out to me, and in the hand a book, a scroll. He unrolled the scroll. On both sides, front and back, were written lamentations and mourning and doom.

https://bible.com/bible/97/ezk.2.1.MSG

This is the last chapter of Lamentations, next, Ezekiel (YAY!).

‭‭Lamentations 5:1-22 MSG‬‬
[1-22] “Remember, God, all we’ve been through. Study our plight, the black mark we’ve made in history. Our precious land has been given to outsiders, our homes to strangers. Orphans we are, not a father in sight, and our mothers no better than widows. We have to pay to drink our own water. Even our firewood comes at a price. We’re nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed, worn out and without any rest. We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt just to get something to eat. Our parents sinned and are no more, and now we’re paying for the wrongs they did. Slaves rule over us; there’s no escape from their grip. We risk our lives to gather food in the bandit-infested desert. Our skin has turned black as an oven, dried out like old leather from the famine. Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion, and our virgins in the cities of Judah. They hanged our princes by their hands, dishonored our elders. Strapping young men were put to women’s work, mere boys forced to do men’s work. The city gate is empty of wise elders. Music from the young is heard no more. All the joy is gone from our hearts. Our dances have turned into dirges. The crown of glory has toppled from our head. Woe! Woe! Would that we’d never sinned! Because of all this we’re heartsick; we can’t see through the tears. On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined, jackals pace and prowl. And yet, God, you’re sovereign still, your throne intact and eternal. So why do you keep forgetting us? Why dump us and leave us like this? Bring us back to you, God—we’re ready to come back. Give us a fresh start. As it is, you’ve cruelly disowned us. You’ve been so very angry with us.”

https://bible.com/bible/97/lam.5.1-22.MSG

‭‭Lamentations 4:1-22 MSG‬‬
[1] Oh, oh, oh . . .  How gold is treated like dirt, the finest gold thrown out with the garbage, Priceless jewels scattered all over, jewels loose in the gutters. [2] And the people of Zion, once prized, far surpassing their weight in gold, Are now treated like cheap pottery, like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter. [3] Even wild jackals nurture their babies, give them their breasts to suckle. But my people have turned cruel to their babies, like an ostrich in the wilderness. [4] Babies have nothing to drink. Their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. Little children ask for bread but no one gives them so much as a crust. [5] People used to the finest cuisine forage for food in the streets. People used to the latest in fashions pick through the trash for something to wear. [6] The evil guilt of my dear people was worse than the sin of Sodom— The city was destroyed in a flash, and no one around to help. [7] The splendid and sacred nobles once glowed with health. Their bodies were robust and ruddy, their beards like carved stone. [8] But now they are smeared with soot, unrecognizable in the street, Their bones sticking out, their skin dried out like old leather. [9] Better to have been killed in battle than killed by starvation. Better to have died of battle wounds than to slowly starve to death. [10] Nice and kindly women boiled their own children for supper. This was the only food in town when my dear people were broken. [11] God let all his anger loose, held nothing back. He poured out his raging wrath. He set a fire in Zion that burned it to the ground. [12] The kings of the earth couldn’t believe it. World rulers were in shock, Watching old enemies march in big as you please, right through Jerusalem’s gates. [13] Because of the sins of her prophets and the evil of her priests, Who exploited good and trusting people, robbing them of their lives, [14] These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets, grimy and stained from their dirty lives, Wasted by their wasted lives, shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags. [15] People yell at them, “Get out of here, dirty old men! Get lost, don’t touch us, don’t infect us!” They have to leave town. They wander off. Nobody wants them to stay here. Everyone knows, wherever they wander, that they’ve been kicked out of their own hometown. [16] God himself scattered them. No longer does he look out for them. He has nothing to do with the priests; he cares nothing for the elders. [17] We watched and watched, wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing. We mounted our lookouts and looked for the help that never showed up. [18] They tracked us down, those hunters. It wasn’t safe to go out in the street. Our end was near, our days numbered. We were doomed. [19] They came after us faster than eagles in flight, pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert. [20] Our king, our life’s breath, the anointed of God, was caught in their traps— Our king under whose protection we always said we’d live. [21] Celebrate while you can, O Edom! Live it up in Uz! For it won’t be long before you drink this cup, too. You’ll find out what it’s like to drink God’s wrath, Get drunk on God’s wrath and wake up with nothing, stripped naked. [22] And that’s it for you, Zion. The punishment’s complete. You won’t have to go through this exile again. But Edom, your time is coming: He’ll punish your evil life, put all your sins on display.

https://bible.com/bible/97/lam.4.1.MSG

‭‭Lamentations 3:1-66 MSG‬‬
[1-3] I’m the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger. He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness. Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand over and over and over again. [4-6] He turned me into a skeleton of skin and bones, then broke the bones. He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times. He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin. [7-9] He shuts me in so I’ll never get out, handcuffs my wrists, shackles my feet. Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key. He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He’s got me cornered. [10-12] He’s a prowling bear tracking me down, a lion in hiding ready to pounce. He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. When he finished, there was nothing left of me. He took out his bow and arrows and used me for target practice. [13-15] He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver. Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads. He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks. [16-18] He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud. I gave up on life altogether. I’ve forgotten what the good life is like. I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished. God is a lost cause.” [19-21] I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: [22-24] God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. [25-27] God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times. [28-30] When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst” is never the worst. [31-33] Why? Because the Master won’t ever walk out and fail to return. If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way: [34-36] Stomping down hard on luckless prisoners, Refusing justice to victims in the court of High God, Tampering with evidence— the Master does not approve of such things. [37-39] Who do you think “spoke and it happened”? It’s the Master who gives such orders. Doesn’t the High God speak everything, good things and hard things alike, into being? And why would anyone gifted with life complain when punished for sin? [40-42] Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living and reorder our lives under God. Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, praying to God in heaven: “We’ve been contrary and willful, and you haven’t forgiven. [43-45] “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. You chased us and cut us down without mercy. You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds so no prayers could get through. You treated us like dirty dishwater, threw us out in the backyard of the nations. [46-48] “Our enemies shout abuse, their mouths full of derision, spitting invective. We’ve been to hell and back. We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. Rivers of tears pour from my eyes at the smashup of my dear people. [49-51] “The tears stream from my eyes, an artesian well of tears, Until you, God, look down from on high, look and see my tears. When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city, the pain breaks my heart. [52-54] “Enemies with no reason to be enemies hunted me down like a bird. They threw me into a pit, then pelted me with stones. Then the rains came and filled the pit. The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’ [55-57] “I called out your name, O God, called from the bottom of the pit. You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears! Get me out of here! Save me!’ You came close when I called out. You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’ [58-60] “You took my side, Master; you brought me back alive! God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. Give me my day in court! Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes, their plots to destroy me. [61-63] “You heard, God, their vicious gossip, their behind-my-back plots to ruin me. They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief, hatching malice, day after day after day. Sitting down or standing up—just look at them!— they mock me with vulgar doggerel. [64-66] “Make them pay for what they’ve done, God. Give them their just deserts. Break their miserable hearts! Damn their eyes! Get good and angry.…[Read more]

This is the first chapter of Lamentations.

‭‭Lamentations 1:1-22 MSG‬‬
[1] Oh, oh, oh . . .  How empty the city, once teeming with people. A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations, once queen of the ball, she’s now a drudge in the kitchen. [2] She cries herself to sleep each night, tears soaking her pillow. No one’s left among her lovers to sit and hold her hand. Her friends have all dumped her. [3] After years of pain and hard labor, Judah has gone into exile. She camps out among the nations, never feels at home. Hunted by all, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. [4] Zion’s roads weep, empty of pilgrims headed to the feasts. All her city gates are deserted, her priests in despair. Her virgins are sad. How bitter her fate. [5] Her enemies have become her masters. Her foes are living it up because God laid her low, punishing her repeated rebellions. Her children, prisoners of the enemy, trudge into exile. [6] All beauty has drained from Daughter Zion’s face. Her princes are like deer famished for food, chased to exhaustion by hunters. [7] Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything, when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help. Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence. [8] Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast. All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface. Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame. [9] She played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow, and now she’s crashed royally, with no one to hold her hand: “Look at my pain, O God! And how the enemy cruelly struts.” [10] The enemy reached out to take all her favorite things. She watched as pagans barged into her Sanctuary, those very people for whom you posted orders: keep out: this assembly off-limits. [11] All the people groaned, so desperate for food, so desperate to stay alive that they bartered their favorite things for a bit of breakfast: “O God, look at me! Worthless, cheap, abject! [12] “And you passersby, look at me! Have you ever seen anything like this? Ever seen pain like my pain, seen what he did to me, what God did to me in his rage? [13] “He struck me with lightning, skewered me from head to foot, then he set traps all around so I could hardly move. He left me with nothing—left me sick, and sick of living. [14] “He wove my sins into a rope and harnessed me to captivity’s yoke. I’m goaded by cruel taskmasters. [15] “The Master piled up my best soldiers in a heap, then called in thugs to break their fine young necks. The Master crushed the life out of fair virgin Judah. [16] “For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears, and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul. My children are wasted, my enemy got his way.” [17] Zion reached out for help, but no one helped. God ordered Jacob’s enemies to surround him, and now no one wants anything to do with Jerusalem. [18] “God has right on his side. I’m the one who did wrong. Listen everybody! Look at what I’m going through! My fair young women, my fine young men, all herded into exile! [19] “I called to my friends; they betrayed me. My priests and my leaders only looked after themselves, trying but failing to save their own skins. [20] “O God, look at the trouble I’m in! My stomach in knots, my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion. Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses. [21] “Oh, listen to my groans. No one listens, no one cares. When my enemies heard of the trouble you gave me, they cheered. Bring on Judgment Day! Let them get what I got! [22] “Take a good look at their evil ways and give it to them! Give them what you gave me for my sins. Groaning in pain, body and soul, I’ve had all I can take.”

https://bible.com/bible/97/lam.1.1.MSG

This is the last chapter of Jeremiah. Next up, Lamentations.

‭‭Jeremiah 52:1-34 MSG‬‬
[1] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah. Her hometown was Libnah. [2] As far as God was concerned, Zedekiah was just one more evil king, a carbon copy of Jehoiakim. [3-5] The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God’s anger. God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem with a full army. He set up camp and sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. He arrived on the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah’s reign. The city was under siege for nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah). [6-8] By the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad that there wasn’t so much as a crumb of bread for anyone. Then the Babylonians broke through the city walls. Under cover of the night darkness, the entire Judean army fled through an opening in the wall (it was the gate between the two walls above the King’s Garden). They slipped through the lines of the Babylonians who surrounded the city and headed for the Jordan into the Arabah Valley, but the Babylonians were in full pursuit. They caught up with them in the Plains of Jericho. But by then Zedekiah’s army had deserted and was scattered. [9-11] The Babylonians captured Zedekiah and marched him off to the king of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath, who tried and sentenced him on the spot. The king of Babylon then killed Zedekiah’s sons right before his eyes. The summary murder of his sons was the last thing Zedekiah saw, for they then blinded him. The king of Babylon followed that up by killing all the officials of Judah. Securely handcuffed, Zedekiah was hauled off to Babylon. The king of Babylon threw him in prison, where he stayed until the day he died. [12-16] In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon on the seventh day of the fifth month, Nebuzaradan, the king of Babylon’s chief deputy, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned the Temple of God to the ground, went on to the royal palace, and then finished off the city. He burned the whole place down. He put the Babylonian troops he had with him to work knocking down the city walls. Finally, he rounded up everyone left in the city, including those who had earlier deserted to the king of Babylon, and took them off into exile. He left a few poor dirt farmers behind to tend the vineyards and what was left of the fields. [17-19] The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in the Temple of God, and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. They also took the various bronze-crafted liturgical accessories, as well as the gold and silver censers and sprinkling bowls, used in the services of Temple worship. The king’s deputy didn’t miss a thing. He took every scrap of precious metal he could find. [20-23] The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls that supported the Sea, and the ten washstands that Solomon had made for the Temple of God was enormous. They couldn’t weigh it all! Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high with a circumference of eighteen feet. The pillars were hollow, the bronze a little less than an inch thick. Each pillar was topped with an ornate capital of bronze pomegranates and filigree, which added another seven and a half feet to its height. There were ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced—in all, a hundred pomegranates worked into the filigree. [24-27] The king’s deputy took a number of special prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the associate priest, three wardens, the chief remaining army officer, seven of the king’s counselors who happened to be in the city, the chief recruiting officer for the army, and sixty men of standing from among the people who were still there. Nebuzaradan the king’s deputy marched them all off to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon killed the lot of them in cold blood. Judah went into exile, orphaned from her land. * * * [28] 3,023 men of Judah were taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar in the seventh year of his reign. [29] 832 from Jerusalem were taken in the eighteenth year of his reign. [30] 745 men from Judah were taken off by Nebuzaradan, the king’s chief deputy, in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year. The total number of exiles was 4,600. * * * [31-34] When Jehoiachin king of Judah had been in exile for thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became king in Babylon and let Jehoiachin out of prison. This release took place on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. The king treated him most courteously and gave him preferential treatment beyond anything experienced by the political prisoners held in Babylon. Jehoia…[Read more]

‭‭Jeremiah 51:1-64 MSG‬‬
[1-5] There’s more. God says more: “Watch this: I’m whipping up A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—‘Hurricane Persia’— against all who live in that perverse land. I’m sending a cleanup crew into Babylon. They’ll clean the place out from top to bottom. When they get through there’ll be nothing left of her worth taking or talking about. They won’t miss a thing. A total and final Doomsday! Fighters will fight with everything they’ve got. It’s no-holds-barred. They will spare nothing and no one. It’s final and wholesale destruction—the end! Babylon littered with the wounded, streets piled with corpses. It turns out that Israel and Judah are not widowed after all. As their God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well, committed to them even though They filled their land with sin against Israel’s most Holy God. [6-8] “Get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Run for your lives! Save your necks! Don’t linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her as I pay her back for her sins. Babylon was a fancy gold chalice held in my hand, Filled with the wine of my anger to make the whole world drunk. The nations drank the wine and they’ve all gone crazy. Babylon herself will stagger and crash, senseless in a drunken stupor—tragic! Get anointing balm for her wound. Maybe she can be cured.” * * * [9] “We did our best, but she can’t be helped. Babylon is past fixing. Give her up to her fate. Go home. The judgment on her will be vast, a skyscraper-memorial of vengeance. [10] “God has set everything right for us. Come! Let’s tell the good news Back home in Zion. Let’s tell what our God did to set things right. [11-13] “Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! God has stirred up the kings of the Medes, infecting them with war fever: ‘Destroy Babylon!’ God’s on the warpath. He’s out to avenge his Temple. Give the signal to attack Babylon’s walls. Station guards around the clock. Bring in reinforcements. Set men in ambush. God will do what he planned, what he said he’d do to the people of Babylon. You have more water than you need, you have more money than you need— But your life is over, your lifeline cut.” * * * [14] God-of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn: “I’ll fill this place with soldiers. They’ll swarm through here like locusts chanting victory songs over you.” * * * [15-19] By his power he made earth. His wisdom gave shape to the world. He crafted the cosmos. He thunders and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches the wind from his warehouse. Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish! god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds, dead sticks— deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. They’re nothing but stale smoke. When the smoke clears, they’re gone. But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing; he put the whole universe together, With special attention to Israel. His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies! [20-23] God says, “You, Babylon, are my hammer, my weapon of war. I’ll use you to smash godless nations, use you to knock kingdoms to bits. I’ll use you to smash horse and rider, use you to smash chariot and driver. I’ll use you to smash man and woman, use you to smash the old man and the boy. I’ll use you to smash the young man and young woman, use you to smash shepherd and sheep. I’ll use you to smash farmer and yoked oxen, use you to smash governors and senators. [24] “Judeans, you’ll see it with your own eyes. I’ll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion.” God’s Decree. [25-26] “I’m your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer, you ravager of the whole earth. I’ll reach out, I’ll take you in my hand, and I’ll crush you till there’s no mountain left. I’ll turn you into a gravel pit— no more cornerstones cut from you, No more foundation stones quarried from you! Nothing left of you but gravel.” God’s Decree. * * * [27-28] “Raise the signal in the land, blow the shofar-trumpet for the nations. Consecrate the nations for holy work against her. Call kingdoms into service against her. Enlist Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a field marshal against her, and round up horses, locust hordes of horses! Consecrate the nations for holy work against her— the king of the Medes, his leaders and people. [29-33] “The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain, terrorized by my plans against Babylon, Plans to turn the country of Babylon into a lifeless moonscape—a wasteland. Babylon’s soldiers have quit fighting. They hide out in ruins and caves— Cowards who’ve given up without a fight, exposed as cowering crybabies. Babylon’s houses are going up in flames, the city gates torn off their hinges. Runner after runner comes racing in, each on the heels of the last, Bringing reports to the king of Babylon that his city is a lost cause. The fords of the rivers are all taken. Wildfire rages through the swamp grass. Soldiers desert left and right. I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, said it would happen: ‘…[Read more]

‭‭Jeremiah 50:1-46 MSG‬‬
[1-3] The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans: “Get the word out to the nations! Preach it! Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide: Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame, god-Marduk exposed as a fraud. All her god-idols shuffling in shame, all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds. For a nation will come out of the north to attack her, reduce her cities to rubble. Empty of life—no animals, no people— not a sound, not a movement, not a breath. [4-5] “In those days, at that time”—God’s Decree— “the people of Israel will come, And the people of Judah with them. Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their God. They’ll ask directions to Zion and set their faces toward Zion. They’ll come and hold tight to God, bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget. [6-7] “My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of home, couldn’t remember where they came from. Everyone who met them took advantage of them. Their enemies had no qualms: ‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on God. They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’ [8-10] “But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Be rid of that Babylonian country. On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don’t you be led. Lead the way home! Do you see what I’m doing? I’m rallying a host of nations against Babylon. They’ll come out of the north, attack and take her. Oh, they know how to fight, these armies. They never come home empty-handed. Babylon is ripe for picking! All her plunderers will fill their bellies!” God’s Decree. [11-16] “You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you? You lived it up, exploiting and using my people, Frisky calves romping in lush pastures, wild stallions out having a good time! Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you. The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased. Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation! Rubble and garbage and weeds! Emptied of life by my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown. Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down! Throw everything you have against her. Hold nothing back. Knock her flat. She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me! Shout battle cries from every direction. All the fight has gone out of her. Her defenses have been flattened, her walls smashed. ‘Operation God’s Vengeance.’ Pile on the vengeance! Do to her as she has done. Give her a good dose of her own medicine! Destroy her farms and farmers, ravage her fields, empty her barns. And you captives, while the destruction rages, get out while the getting’s good, get out fast and run for home. * * * [17] “Israel is a scattered flock, hunted down by lions. The king of Assyria started the carnage. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Has completed the job, gnawing the bones clean.” [18-20] And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, has to say: “Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land, the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria. But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures. He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan, On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead. He will eat to his heart’s content. In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree— “they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing; Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing. These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate. * * * [21] “Attack Merathaim, land of rebels! Go after Pekod, country of doom! Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep.” God’s Decree. “These are my orders. Do what I tell you. [22-24] “The thunderclap of battle shakes the foundations! The Hammer has been hammered, smashed and splintered, Babylon pummeled beyond recognition. I set out a trap and you were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap! That’s what you get for taking on God. [25-28] “I, God, opened my arsenal. I brought out my weapons of wrath. The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, has a job to do in Babylon. Come at her from all sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave nothing! Leave no one! Kill all her young turks. Send them to their doom! Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday! The clock has finally run out on them. And here’s a surprise: Runaways and escapees from Babylon Show up in Zion reporting the news of God’s vengeance, taking vengeance for my own Temple. [29-30] “Call in the troops against Babylon, anyone who can shoot straight! Tighten the noose! Leave no loopholes! Give her back as good as she gave, a dose of her own medicine! Her brazen insolence is an outrage against God, The Holy of Israel. And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets, her soldiers dead, silent forever.” God’s Decree. [31-32] “Do…[Read more]