From: "FamilyNet" 

Bible Reading for August 20

Jeremiah 50
[1] The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of
the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
[2] Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded,
Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are
broken in pieces.
[3] For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall
make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove,
they shall depart, both man and beast. [4] In those days, and in that time,
saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of
Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their
God. [5] They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward,
saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant
that shall not be forgotten.
[6] My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go
astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from
mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. [7] All that
found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not,
because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even
the LORD, the hope of their fathers. [8] Remove out of the midst of
Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he
goats before the flocks. [9] For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up
against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and
they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be
taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return
in vain. [10] And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be
satisfied, saith the LORD.
[11] Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine
heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as
bulls;
[12] Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be
ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry
land, and a desert.
[13] Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it
shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be
astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. [14] Put yourselves in array
against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare
no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.
[15] Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance
of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. [16]
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the
time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one
to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. [17] Israel
is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of
Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon
hath broken his bones.
[18] Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I
will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king
of Assyria.
[19] And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on
Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and
Gilead.
[20] In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of
Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve. [21] Go
up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the
inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD,
and do according to all that I have commanded thee. [22] A sound of battle
is in the land, and of great destruction. [23] How is the hammer of the
whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation
among the nations! [24] I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also
taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught,
because thou hast striven against the LORD.
[25] The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons
of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the
land of the Chaldeans.
[26] Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast
her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. [27]
Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them!
for their day is come, the time of their visitation. [28] The voice of them
that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the
vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
[29] Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow,
camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her
according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her:
for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
[30] Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of
war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. [31] Behold, I am against
thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come,
the time that I will visit thee. [32] And the most proud shall stumble and
fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it shall devour all round about him.
[33] Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children
of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them
fast; they refused to let them go.
[34] Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall
throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and
disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
[35] A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the
inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. [36] A
sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty
men; and they shall be dismayed. [37] A sword is upon their horses, and
upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst
of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and
they shall be robbed. [38] A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be
dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their
idols. [39] Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of
the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it
shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from
generation to generation.
[40] As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof,
saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man
dwell therein.
[41] Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and
many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. [42] They shall
hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their
voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one
put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of
Babylon.
[43] The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed
feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. [44]
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the
habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her:
and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me?
and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand
before me?
[45] Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against
Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the
Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he
shall make their habitation desolate with them. [46] At the noise of the
taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the
nations.

Jeremiah 51
[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 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 lion's 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. [59] The word
which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of
Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the
fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
[60] So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon
Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. [61] And
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and
shalt read all these words; [62] Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast
spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it,
neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
[63] And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that
thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:
[64] And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from
the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are
the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 52
[1] Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
[2] And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to
all that Jehoiakim had done.
[3] For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and
Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled
against the king of Babylon.
[4] And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he
and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built
forts against it round about.
[5] So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. [6]
And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore
in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. [7]
Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth
out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls,
which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round
about:) and they went by the way of the plain. [8] But the army of the
Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of
Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. [9] Then they took the
king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of
Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him. [10] And the king of Babylon slew
the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah
in Riblah. [11] Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of
Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in
prison till the day of his death.
[12] Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the
nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan,
captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
[13] And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the
houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with
fire:
[14] And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the
guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. [15] Then
Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the
poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the
city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the
rest of the multitude.
[16] But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of
the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. [17] Also the pillars of
brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea
that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the
brass of them to Babylon. [18] The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the
snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass
wherewith they ministered, took they away.
[19] And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and
the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in
gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard
away.
[20] The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the
bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of
all these vessels was without weight. [21] And concerning the pillars, the
height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did
compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow. [22]
And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was
five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about,
all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto
these.
[23] And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the
pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about. [24] And the
captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the
second priest, and the three keepers of the door: [25] He took also out of
the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men
of them that were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and
the principal 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 midst of
the city.
[26] So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them
to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
[27] And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in
the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own
land. [28] This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in
the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty: [29] In the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem
eight hundred thirty and two persons: [30] In the three and twentieth year
of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away
captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons
were four thousand and six hundred. [31] And it came to pass in the seven
and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the
twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that
Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the
head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,
[32] And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the
kings that were with him in Babylon, [33] And changed his prison garments:
and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. [34]
And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of
Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of
his life.


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