Jeremiah 51

Translation: ESV

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

51 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,

Against those who dwell in Leb Kamai,

A destroying wind.

2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon,

Who shall winnow her and empty her land.

For in the day of doom

They shall be against her all around.

3 Against her let the archer bend his bow,

And lift himself up against her in his armor.

Do not spare her young men;

Utterly destroy all her army.

4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,

And those thrust through in her streets.

5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah,

By his God, the Lord of hosts,

Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

6 Flee from the midst of Babylon,

And every one save his life!

Do not be cut off in her iniquity,

For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;

He shall recompense her.

7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,

That made all the earth drunk.

The nations drank her wine;

Therefore the nations are deranged.

8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed.

Wail for her!

Take balm for her pain;

Perhaps she may be healed.

9 We would have healed Babylon,

But she is not healed.

Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country;

For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.

10 The Lord has revealed our righteousness.

Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

11 Make the arrows bright!

Gather the shields!

The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.

For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,

Because it is the vengeance of the Lord,

The vengeance for His temple.

12 Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon;

Make the guard strong,

Set up the watchmen,

Prepare the ambushes.

For the Lord has both devised and done

What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

13 O you who dwell by many waters,

Abundant in treasures,

Your end has come,

The measure of your covetousness.

14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:

“Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts,

And they shall lift up a shout against you.”

15 He has made the earth by His power;

He has established the world by His wisdom,

And stretched out the heaven by His understanding.

16 When He utters His voice—

There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:

“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;

He makes lightnings for the rain;

He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

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17 Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;

Every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image;

For his molded image is falsehood,

And there is no breath in them.

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18 They are futile, a work of errors;

In the time of their punishment they shall perish.

19 The Portion of Jacob is not like them,

For He is the Maker of all things;

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance.

The Lord of hosts is His name.

20 “You are My battle-ax and weapons of war:

For with you I will break the nation in pieces;

With you I will destroy kingdoms;

21 With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider;

With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;

22 With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;

With you I will break in pieces old and young;

With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;

23 With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;

With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;

And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.

24 “And I will repay Babylon

And all the inhabitants of Chaldea

For all the evil they have done

In Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.

25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

Who destroys all the earth,” says the Lord.

“And I will stretch out My hand against you,

Roll you down from the rocks,

And make you a burnt mountain.

26 They shall not take from you a stone for a corner

Nor a stone for a foundation,

But you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.

27 Set up a banner in the land,

Blow the trumpet among the nations!

Prepare the nations against her,

Call the kingdoms together against her:

Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.

Appoint a general against her;

Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.

28 Prepare against her the nations,

With the kings of the Medes,

Its governors and all its rulers,

All the land of his dominion.

29 And the land will tremble and sorrow;

For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,

To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.

30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,

They have remained in their strongholds;

Their might has failed,

They became like women;

They have burned her dwelling places,

The bars of her gate are broken.

31 One runner will run to meet another,

And one messenger to meet another,

To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;

32 The passages are blocked,

The reeds they have burned with fire,

And the men of war are terrified.

33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

When it is time to thresh her;

Yet a little while

And the time of her harvest will come.”

34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon

Has devoured me, he has crushed me;

He has made me an empty vessel,

He has swallowed me up like a monster;

He has filled his stomach with my delicacies,

He has spit me out.

35 Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,”

The inhabitant of Zion will say;

“And my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!”

Jerusalem will say.

36 Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you.

I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

37 Babylon shall become a heap,

A dwelling place for jackals,

An astonishment and a hissing,

Without an inhabitant.

38 They shall roar together like lions,

They shall growl like lions’ whelps.

39 In their excitement I will prepare their feasts;

I will make them drunk,

That they may rejoice,

And sleep a perpetual sleep

And not awake,” says the Lord.

40 “I will bring them down

Like lambs to the slaughter,

Like rams with male goats.

41 “Oh, how Sheshach is taken!

Oh, how the praise of the whole earth is seized!

How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!

42 The sea has come up over Babylon;

She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

43 Her cities are a desolation,

A dry land and a wilderness,

A land where no one dwells,

Through which no son of man passes.

44 I will punish Bel in Babylon,

And I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed;

And the nations shall not stream to him anymore.

Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

45 “My people, go out of the midst of her!

And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 And lest your heart faint,

And you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land

(A rumor will come one year,

And after that, in another year

A rumor will come,

And violence in the land,

Ruler against ruler),

47 Therefore behold, the days are coming

That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon;

Her whole land shall be ashamed,

And all her slain shall fall in her midst.

48 Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them

Shall sing joyously over Babylon;

For the plunderers shall come to her from the north,” says the Lord.

49 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,

So at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.

50 You who have escaped the sword,

Get away! Do not stand still!

Remember the Lord afar off,

And let Jerusalem come to your mind.

51 We are ashamed because we have heard reproach.

Shame has covered our faces,

For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will bring judgment on her carved images,

And throughout all her land the wounded shall groan.

53 Though Babylon were to mount up to heaven,

And though she were to fortify the height of her strength,

Yet from Me plunderers would come to her,” says the Lord.

54 The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

And great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,

55 Because the Lord is plundering Babylon

And silencing her loud voice,

Though her waves roar like great waters,

And the noise of their voice is uttered,

56 Because the plunderer comes against her, against Babylon,

And her mighty men are taken.

Every one of their bows is broken;

For the Lord is the God of recompense,

He will surely repay.

57 “And I will make drunk

Her princes and wise men,

Her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men.

And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep

And not awake,” says the King,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken,

And her high gates shall be burned with fire;

The people will labor in vain,

And the nations, because of the fire;

And they shall be weary.”

Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah

59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all these words, 62 then you shall say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. 64 Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be weary.’ ”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

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Proverbs 24

Translation: ESV

1 Be not envious of evil men,

    nor desire to be with them,

2 for their hearts devise violence,

    and their lips talk of trouble.

3 By wisdom a house is built,

    and by understanding it is established;

4 by knowledge the rooms are filled

    with all precious and pleasant riches.

5 A wise man is full of strength,

    and a man of knowledge enhances his might,

6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war,

    and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

7 Wisdom is too high for a fool;

    in the gate he does not open his mouth.

8 Whoever plans to do evil

    will be called a schemer.

9 The devising of folly is sin,

    and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

10 If you faint in the day of adversity,

    your strength is small.

11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death;

    hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”

    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,

    and will he not repay man according to his work?

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good,

    and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul;

    if you find it, there will be a future,

    and your hope will not be cut off.

15 Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous;

    do no violence to his home;

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16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,

    but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

    and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased,

    and turn away his anger from him.

19 Fret not yourself because of evildoers,

    and be not envious of the wicked,

20 for the evil man has no future;

    the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

21 My son, fear the Lord and the king,

    and do not join with those who do otherwise,

22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them,

    and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

More Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise.

Partiality in judging is not good.

24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,”

    will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,

25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,

    and a good blessing will come upon them.

26 Whoever gives an honest answer

    kisses the lips.

27 Prepare your work outside;

    get everything ready for yourself in the field,

    and after that build your house.

28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,

    and do not deceive with your lips.

29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;

    I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

30 I passed by the field of a sluggard,

    by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;

    the ground was covered with nettles,

    and its stone wall was broken down.

32 Then I saw and considered it;

    I looked and received instruction.

33 A little sleep, a little slumber,

    a little folding of the hands to rest,

34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

    and want like an armed man.

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Isaiah 53

Translation: ESV

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

    and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

    and no beauty that we should desire him.

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3 He was despised and rejected by men,

    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

    we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

    yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

    so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

    and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

    stricken for the transgression of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked

    and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

    he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

    make many to be accounted righteous,

    and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

    and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

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Job 25

Translation: ESV

Bildad

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Date: January 26 2023

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 “Dominion and awe belong to God;

    he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

3 Can his forces be numbered?

    On whom does his light not rise?

4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?

    How can one born of woman be pure?

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5 If even the moon is not bright

    and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—

    a human being, who is only a worm!”

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Isaiah Pile

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Isaiah 6

1 In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.

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Isaiah 6

2 Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they hew.

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Isaiah 7

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.

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Date: March 8 2022
Isaiah 40

6 The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the held.

7 The grass is withered, and the dower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:

8 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.

1 The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth: but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread.

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Isaiah 40

31 But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

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Isaiah 44

    "I am the Lord, who made all things,

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Isaiah 44

    who alone stretched out the heavens,

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Isaiah 44

     who spread out the earth by myself,

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Isaiah 54

18 For thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens

    (he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

    (he established it;

he did not create it empty,

    he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

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Isaiah 54

1 Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord.

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Isaiah 60

19 Thou shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day, neither shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory.

20 Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not decrease: for the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

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Date: 20 November 2021
Isaiah 61

11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
     and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
     so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
     to sprout up before all the nations.

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Proverbs 6

Translation: ESV

Practical Warnings

1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,

have given your pledge for a stranger,

2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words of your mouth,

3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:

go, hasten,[a] and plead urgently with your neighbor.

4 Give your eyes no sleep

and your eyelids no slumber;

5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[b]

like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;

consider her ways, and be wise.

7 Without having any chief,

officer, or ruler,

8 she prepares her bread in summer

and gathers her food in harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man,

goes about with crooked speech,

13 winks with his eyes, signals[c] with his feet,

points with his finger,

14 with perverted heart devises evil,

continually sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,

seven that are an abomination to him:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes out lies,

and one who sows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

20 My son, keep your father's commandment,

and forsake not your mother's teaching.

21 Bind them on your heart always;

tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk, they[d] will lead you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

and when you awake, they will talk with you.

23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

24 to preserve you from the evil woman,[e]

from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.[f]

25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,

and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;

26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,[g]

but a married woman[h] hunts down a precious life.

27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest

and his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can one walk on hot coals

and his feet not be scorched?

29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;

none who touches her will go unpunished.

30 People do not despise a thief if he steals

to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;

he will give all the goods of his house.

32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;

he who does it destroys himself.

33 He will get wounds and dishonor,

and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

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34 For jealousy makes a man furious,

     and he will not spare when he takes revenge.

35 He will accept no compensation;

     he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

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Proverbs 4

 Translation: ESV

A Father's Wise Instruction

Patreon image donor: Stephen MacLellan
Date: November 18 2023
Inktober prompt: Trumpet

1 Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,

    and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

2 for I give you good precepts;

    do not forsake my teaching.

3 When I was a son with my father,

    tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

4 he taught me and said to me,

“Let your heart hold fast my words;

    keep my commandments, and live.

5 Get wisdom; get insight;

    do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

    love her, and she will guard you.

7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

    and whatever you get, get insight.

8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;

    she will honor you if you embrace her.

9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;

    she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

10 Hear, my son, and accept my words,

    that the years of your life may be many.

11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;

    I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,

    and if you run, you will not stumble.

13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;

    guard her, for she is your life.

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Inktober prompt: Scratchy

14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,

    and do not walk in the way of the evil.

15 Avoid it; do not go on it;

    turn away from it and pass on.

16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;

    they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

17 For they eat the bread of wickedness

    and drink the wine of violence.

18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

    which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

    they do not know over what they stumble.

20 My son, be attentive to my words;

    incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Let them not escape from your sight;

    keep them within your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them,

    and healing to all their flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

    for from it flow the springs of life.

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24 Put away from you crooked speech,

    and put devious talk far from you.

25 Let your eyes look directly forward,

    and your gaze be straight before you.

26 Ponder the path of your feet;

    then all your ways will be sure.

27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

    turn your foot away from evil.

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