A Prophecy against Babylon

1The wordes yt the LORDE spake vnto the prophet Ieremy, concernynge Babilon, & the londe of the Caldees:

2Preach amonge the Gentiles, let youre voyce be herde, make a toke: crie out, kepe no sylence, but saye: Babilon shal be wonne, Bel shalhe cofounded, and Merodach shalbe ouer come. Yee their goddes shal be brought to shame, and their ymages shall stonde in feare.

3For out of the north there shal come a people agaynst her, which shal make hir londe so waist, that no body shal dwell therin: nether man ner beast, for they shall fle and departe from thence.

Hope for Israel and Judah

4In those dayes & at that tyme (saieth the LORDE) the childre of Israel shall come, they & the children of Iuda, wepinge & makinge haist, & shal seke the LORDE their God. 5They shall axe the waye to Sion, thyther shall they turne their faces, & come, and hange vpon the, in a couenaunt that neuer shal be broken.

6My people hath bene a lost flocke, my shepherdes haue disceaued them, & haue made them go astraye vpon the hilles. They haue gone from the mountayne to the litle hill, & forgotten their folde.

7All they yt came vpon them, haue deuoured the: & their enemies sayde: We haue made no faute agaynst them, for they haue displeased the LORDE, yee euen the LORDE which is the bewtie of their rightuousnes, & yt defended their fathers.

8Yet shal ye fle from Babilon, & departe out of ye londe of the Caldees, and ye shall be as the rammes that go before the flocke.

9For lo, I will wake vp an hoost of people from ye northren londe, & bringe them vpon Babilon: these shal laye sege to it, & wynne it: Their arowes shal not mysse, like as a connynge archer shuteth not wronge.

10And the Caldees shalbe spoyled, & all they that spoyle them, shalbe satisfied, saieth the LORDE:

Babylon’s Fall Is Certain

11because ye were so chearfull & glad, to treade downe myne heretage, & fulfilled youre pleasures, as the calues in the grasse: and triumphed ouer them like the bulles, when ye had gotten the victory.

12Youre mothers shalbe sore confounded, and they that bare you, shal come to shame. She shall be the leest set by amonge the nacions, vyode, waist, & dried vp.

13No man shal be able to dwell there, for the feare of ye LORDE, but she shal be whole desolate. All they that go by Babilon, shall stonde still, & be abashed, & shal wondre at all hir plages.

14Go forth in yor araye agaynst Babilon rounde aboute, all ye that can hadle bowes: shute as her, spare no arowes, for she hath synned agaynst the LORDE.

15Crie out: vpon her, vpon her, agaynst her roude aboute: she shal yelde herselfe, her foundacios shal fall, & hir walles shall come downe, for it shalbe the vengeaunce of the LORDE. Yee vegeaunce shalbe taken of her, & as she hath done, so shal she be dealt withall.

16They shal rote out the sower from Babilon, & him yt handleth the sickle in haruest. For feare of the swearde of the enemie, euery man shall get him to his owne people, & euery man shal fle to his owne londe.

Redemption for God’s People

17Israel is a scatred flocke, the Lyons haue dispersed them. First the kinge of the Assirians deuoured them, last of all this Nabuchodonosor kynge of Babilon hath brussed all their bones. 18Therfore thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes the God of Israel: Beholde, I will viset the kinge of Babilon & his kingdome, as I haue visited the kinge of the Assirians: 19and will bringe Israel agayne to his pleasaunt pasture, that he maye fede vpon Charmel & Basan, and be satisfied vpon the mount of Ephraim & Galaad. 20In those dayes and at the same tyme (saieth the LORDE) yf the offence of Israel be sought for, there shal none be founde: Yf men enquere for the synne of Iuda, there shal be none: for I wil be mercifull vnto them, whom I suffre to remayne ouer.

The Destruction of Babylon

21Go downe (o thou avenger) in to the enemies londe, & viset them that dwell therin: downe with them, and smyte them vpon the backes, saieth the LORDE: do acordinge to all, that I haue commaunded the.

22There is gone aboute the londe a crie of a slaughter & greate murthur, namely on this maner:

23How happeneth it, that the hammer of the whole worlde is thus broken & brussed in sonder? How chaunceth it, that Babilon is become a wildernes amonge the Heithen on this maner?

24I myself haue layed wayte for the, & thou art taken: vnawarres art thou trapped & snared: for why, thou hast prouoked ye LORDE vnto anger:

25The LORDE hath opened his house of ordinaunce, & brought forth the weapens of his wrath. For the thinge that is done in the londe of the Caldees, it is the LORDE of hoostes worke.

26These thinges shal come vpon her at the last, they shal breake in to hir preuy chabres, they shall leaue her as bare as stones, that be layed together vpon heapes. They shall so destroye her, yt nothinge shal be left.

27They shal slaye all hir mightie souldyers, and put them to death. Wo be vnto the, for the daye & tyme of their visitacion is at honde.

28Me thinke I heare already a crie, of them that be fled & escaped out of the londe of Babilon, which shewe in Sion the vengeaunce of the LORDE oure God, the vengeaunce of his temple: Yee a voyce of them, that crie agaynst Babilon:

29Call vp all the archers agaynst Babilon, pytch youre tentes rounde aboute her, that none escape. Recompence her, as she hath deserued: and acordinge as she hath done, so deale with her agayne: for she hath set vp her self agaynst the LORDE, agaynst ye holy one of Israel.

30Therfore shal hir yonge men fall downe in the stretes, & all hir men of warre shal be roted out in yt daye, saieth the LORDE.

31Beholde, I speake vnto the (o thou proude) saieth the LORDE God of hoostes: for thy daye shal come, eue the tyme of yi visitacio.

32And the proude shal stomble & fall, & no man shal helpe him vp. I wil burne vp his cities with fyre, & it shal consume all that is rounde aboute him.

33Thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes: The children of Israel & Iuda suffre violence together. All they that haue them in captiuyte, kepe them fast, & wil not let them go:

34but their aveger & redemer is mightie, whose name is the LORDE of hoostes: he shal manteyne their cause, he shal make the londe shake, & iudge them that dwell therin, one with another.

35The swearde shall come vpon the Caldees (saieth the LORDE) vpon them that dwell in Babilon, vpon their prynces, & vpo their wyse me:

36The swearde vpon their soythsayers, (as for those, they shall become fooles.) The swearde vpo their worthies, so that they shal stonde in feare:

37The swearde vpon their horsmen and charettes, & vpon all the comon people that dwell vnder the: so that they all shal become like women: The swearde vpon their treasure, so that it shal be stolen awaye:

38The swearde vpon their waters, so that they shalbe dried vp: For the londe worshippeth ymages, & delyteth in straunge wondrefull thinges.

39Therfore shal wilde beestes, Apes & Estriches dwell therin: for there shal neuer man dwell there, nether shal eny man haue his habitacion there fore euermore.

40Like as God destroyed Sodom & Gomorre, with the cities that laye there aboute, saieth the LORDE: So shal noman dwell there also, nether shal eny ma haue there his habitacion.

41Beholde, there shal come a people from the north, with a greate bonde of men, & many kinges shal stonde vp from the endes of the earth:

42They beare bowes & buclers, cruell are they & vnmercifull. Their voyce roareth like the raginge see, they ryde vpon horses, & come weapened to fight agaynst the: O Babilon.

43As soone as the kinge of Babilon heareth tell of them, his hondes shal waxe feable: Sorowe and heuynes shall come vpon him, as a woman trauelinge with childe.

44Beholde, like as the Lyon commeth vp from the pleasaunt medowes of Iordane vnto the grene pastures of Ethan, so wil I dryue the forth, and make them runne agaynst her. But whom shal I chose out, & ordene to soch thinge? For who is like me, or who wil stryue with me? or what shepherde maye stonde agaynst me? 45Therfore heare the councel that the LORDE hath geuen vpon Babilon, and the deuyce that he hath taken vpon the londe of the Caldees. The leest amoge the people shal teare them in peces, & loke what pleasaunt thinge they haue: they shal laye it waist. 46The noyse at ye wynnynge of Babilon shal moue the earth, & the crie shalbe herde amonge the Getiles.