A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Question: As Türkiye and Hungary have expressend joining BRICS, would Nato kick out these two countries? Then Nato could speak with a single voice, which could be their aim!

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20

And I went unto the angel and said unto him, “Give me the little book.” And he said unto me, “Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey” Revelation 10:9

Understanding what that bitterness is, in the “latter days” that is, in the distant future; ye shall understand it clearly, viz. that the calamities of what that bittlerness was meant to be, which will have come upon the whole world are the divine judgement upon our sins. Only in the endtime would we be able to understand this fully.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint; and to dismiss it as another testimony for spiritual inspiration and understanding, as virtually all the endtime Churches do, is an absolute disgrace.

The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. That is, the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us today from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Hence, for ignoring the Targum as an authority for Understanding and Truth, the endtime Churches has being described as wretches, blind and naked; and would be thus justifiably destined to be spewed out of God’s mouth!

Jeremiah 27

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).

The year in that Jeremiah began to prophesy, Jeremiah 1:2 in the thirteenth year of Josiah reign would be around 628 BC, and he preached for the last 19 years of Josiah’s life, until 609 BC when Josiah died. By the time the kings of Judah reigns ended with Zedekiah being exiled to Babylon and his reign ended in 586 BC, Jeremiah’s prophesying life work in and around Jerusalem would have lasted some 42 years.

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, — Jehoiakim reign from 609 to 598; so this is another relaying, with more details, of the same scenes we have gone through before.

² Thus saith the Lord to me: “Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck, — thus saith the Lord to Jeremiah; make thee bonds and yokes; the yokes were made of wood, as appears from Jeremiah 28:13; and the bonds were strings or thongs, which bound the yoke together, that it might not slip off the neck;

³ and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah.

— all neighbouring kings and states: of Edom, of Moab and Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, to whom the wine cup of God’s wrath was to be sent, and they made to drink of it.

⁴ And command them to say unto their masters, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; thus shall ye say unto your masters: — and all nations shall serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and his son, and his son’s son; and many nations and great kings serve Nebuchadnezzar;

⁵ I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. — even the beasts of the field also have God given to Nebuchadnezzar to serve him.

⁶ And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. — and three times God describes Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant” Jeremiah 25:9,27:6,43:10;

— and now I have given to Nebuchadnezzar all these lands: land from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon and Judea:

— into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, God’s servant; whom God used as a horsewhip in correcting and chastising the nations; and who obeyed his will, though he knew not; yet had the honour of being called his servant, and of being rewarded with a very large empire;

— and the beasts of the field have God given him also to serve him; and his armies for the invasion and taking the above countries; or the cattle found there, which belonged to these countries, and the inhabitants thereof, which would fall into his hands.

⁷ And all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the very time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall themselves be served by him. — and his son, and his son’s son; their Scripture names were Evilmerodach and Belshazzar, Jeremiah 52:31.

⁸ And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

— that nation disobeyed, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the Sword, Famine and Pestilence; with one judgement after another; some will perish by the sword of the enemy, sallying out upon them, or endeavouring to make their escape;

— others by famine their provisions being spent through the length of the siege; and lastly by pestilence, or the plague, or by the hand of God: until I have consumed them by his hand; Nebuchadnezzar’s; by any means of him; by his sword and strait besieging them; or “into his hand”

— and so the Targum says, “until I have delivered them into his hand;” having consumed multitudes by the sword, famine and pestilence, will deliver the rest into his hands to be carried away as captives.

⁹ Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak unto you, saying, “Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.”

— which speak unto you, saying, ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; meaning, either that they ought not to become tributary to him; or they should not be brought into subjection by him: and so were stirred up to oppose him and not submit to him.

¹⁰ For they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and ye should perish. — from the Message Bible:

“‘So don’t for a minute listen to all your prophets and spiritualists and fortunetellers, who claim to know the future and who tell you not to give in to the king of Babylon.

They’re handing you a line of lies, barefaced lies, that will end up putting you in exile far from home. I myself will drive you out of your lands, and that’ll be the end of you.

But the nation that accepts the yoke of the king of Babylon and does what he says, I’ll let that nation stay right where it is, minding its own business.’” Jeremiah 27:9-11 MSG

¹¹ But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord, and they shall till it and dwell therein.’” — but the nations that serve him; that readily submit unto him and pay him tribute, they will retain their territory and livelihood.

¹² I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

— submit yourself to the king of Babylon; you, O king, your nobles, and your people. Zedekiah was set upon the throne by the king of Babylon, become a tributary to him and had took an oath to be faithful to him;

— but was meditating against him; consulting and entering into a confederacy with neighbouring nations to throw off the yoke and be independent from him.

¹³ Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

— why will ye die, thou and thy people; by the Sword, by Famine and by Pestilence; through a blockade of the Chaldean army, which would invade their land and besiege their city, upon a refusal to be subject to their yoke.

¹⁴ Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets who speak unto you, saying, ‘Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie unto you.

— therefore hearken not unto the words of these false prophets, as the Targum says; such bad kings always had them, to whom they listened, and which often brought forth bad and terrible consequences.

¹⁵ ‘For I have not sent them,’ saith the Lord, ‘yet they prophesy a lie in My name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye and the prophets who prophesy unto you.’”

— ye, and the false prophets, as the Targum again calls them, that prophesy unto you; for it would end in the ruin and destruction of them; both their false prophets and those that listened to their prophecies; both would fall into the ditch.

¹⁶ Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets who prophesy unto you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord’S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon’; for they prophesy a lie unto you.

— also Jeremiah spoke to the priests, and to all this people, from the court of the Temple, and spoke to the priests that were ministering there, who had a special concern in what he had to say especially the vessels of the Temple;

— behold, your false prophets claimed the vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought back from Babylon; which were carried there, both in the times of Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah, II Chronicles 36:7; these vessels carried off would be returned; that the king of Babylon, would send them back.

¹⁷ Hearken not unto them: serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be laid waste?

¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem go not to Babylon.

— that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the palace of the king of Judah in Jerusalem, go not to Babylon; instead of prophesying about their return, let them pray for the preservation and continuance of what are left, that they do not go also; of which there was great danger of following the same route of being taken away to Babylon,

— yea, certainty, in case of non-submission to and rebellion against the king of Babylon; there were some vessels of the sanctuary as well as others in the king’s palace and in the houses of the noble and rich men in Jerusalem.

¹⁹ For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, — for thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars of brass that stood in the Temple; the one called Boaz, and the other Jachin, 1 Kings 7:15;

— and concerning the sea of molten brass, which stood upon twelve oxen, 1 Kings 7:23; and concerning the bases: the ten bases, which also were made of brass, 1 Kings 7:27; and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city; in the king’s palace, and in the houses of the noblemen and wealthy of Jerusalem.

²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem”

— which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not; for he seems only to have taken the vessels of gold and silver, and left the vessels of brass, as the above were; II Kings 24:13;

— when he carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; II Kings 24:12.

²¹ yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem:

²² ‘They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them,’ saith the Lord. ‘Then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.’” — they, too, shall be carried to Babylon; as they were; and with others, there is a particular account in II Kings 25:13;

— and there shall be until the day that I visit them, saith to the Lord; the Chaldeans in a way of wrath, and the Jews as captives and slaves; which was at the end of the seventy years’ captivity; and so long the vessels of the sanctuary continued there; here we read of them as in use the very night that Belshazzar was slain, and Babylon taken, Daniel 5:2;

— then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place; which was fulfilled when the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia to give leave to the Jews to return to their own land, and rebuild their Temple; and at the same time delivered into the hands of Sheshbazzar, to the prince of Judah, the vessels of the Temple, Ezra 1:1.

The Septuagint of this chapter 27 is very different; I’ll have it below for a seperate study:

¹ The Word of the Lord which He spoke against Babylon.

² Proclaim ye among the Gentiles, and cause the tidings to be heard, and suppress them not: say ye, Babylon is taken, Belus is confounded; the fearless, the luxurious Mærodach is delivered up. ³ For a nation has come up against her from the north, he shall utterly ravage her land, and there shall be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast.

⁴ In those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together; they shall proceed, weeping as they go, seeking the Lord their God. ⁵ They shall ask the way till they come to Sion, for that way shall they set their face; and they shall come and flee for refuge to the Lord their God; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten.

⁶ My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains: they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting-place. ⁷ All that found them consumed them: their enemies said, Let us not leave them alone, because they have sinned against the Lord: he that gathered their fathers had a pasture of righteousness.

⁸ Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans, and go forth, and be as serpents before sleep. ⁹ For, behold, I stir up against Babylon the gatherings of nations out of the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her: thence shall she be taken, as the dart of an expert warrior shall not return empty. ¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied.

¹¹ Because ye rejoiced, and boasted, while plundering mine heritage; because ye exulted as calves in the grass, and pushed with the horn as bulls. ¹² Your mother is greatly ashamed; your mother that bore you for prosperity is confounded: she is the last of the nations, desolate, ¹³ by reason of the Lord’s anger: it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be all a desolation; and every one that passes through Babylon shall scowl, and they shall hiss at all her plague.

¹⁴ Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows, ¹⁵ and prevail against her: her hands are weakened, her bulwarks are fallen, and her wall is broken down: for it is vengeance from God: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her. ¹⁶ Utterly destroy seed out of Babylon, and him that holds a sickle in time of harvest: for fear of the Grecian sword, they shall return every one to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷ Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king of Assyria first devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. ¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will take vengeance on the king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ And I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and on mount Ephraim and in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied. ²⁰ In those days, and at that time, they shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and there shall be none; and for the sins of Juda, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful to them that are left ²¹ on the land, saith the Lord.

Go up against it roughly, and against them that dwell on it: avenge, O sword, and destroy utterly, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I command thee. ²² A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans! ²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! ²⁴ They shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know it, Babylon, that thou wilt even be taken captive: thou art found and taken, because thou didst resist the Lord.

²⁵ The Lord has opened his treasury, and brought forth the weapons of his anger: for the Lord God has a work in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ For her times are come: open ye her storehouses: search her as a cave, and utterly destroy her: let there be no remnant of her. ²⁷ Dry ye up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution. ²⁸ A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to declare to Sion the vengeance that comes from the Lord our God.

²⁹ Summon many against Babylon, even every one that bends the bow: camp against her round about; let no one of her people escape: render to her according to her works; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has resisted the Lord, the Holy God of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

³¹ Behold, I am against thee the haughty one, saith the Lord: for thy day is come, and the time of thy retribution. ³² And thy pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set it up again: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her.

³³ Thus saith the Lord; The children of Israel and the children of Juda have been oppressed: all they that have taken them captive have oppressed them together; for they would not let them go. ³⁴ But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name: he will enter into judgment with his adversaries, that he may destroy the earth; ³⁵ and he will sharpen a sword against the Chaldeans, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her nobles and upon her wise men; ³⁶ a sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened: a sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots: ³⁷ a sword upon their warriors, and upon the mixed people in the midst of her; and they shall be as women: a sword upon the treasures, and they shall be scattered upon her water, ³⁸ and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven images; and in the islands, where they boasted. ³⁹ Therefore shall idols dwell in the islands, and the young of monsters shall dwell in it: it shall not be inhabited any more for ever. ⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities bordering upon them, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn there.

⁴¹ Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the end of the earth; holding bow and dagger: ⁴² the people is fierce, and will have no mercy: their voices shall sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. ⁴³ The king of Babylon heard the sound of them, and his hands were enfeebled: anguish overcame him, pangs as of a woman in travail. ⁴⁴ Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gæthan; for I will speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her: for who is like me? and who will resist me? and who is this shepherd who will stand before me?

⁴⁵ Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he has taken against Babylon; and his devices, which he has devised upon the Chaldeans inhabiting it: surely lambs of their flock shall be destroyed: surely pasture shall be cut off from them. ⁴⁶ For at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.

Jeremiah 28

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).

¹ And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke unto me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

— since Zedekiah ruled for 12 years, his fourth could still be rendered the beginning of his reign, which would be around 594 BC;

— or; it was the fourth of Zedekiah’s reign, the same year in which he paid a visit to the king of Babylon, Jeremiah 51:59; there in Babylon, Zedekiah had his kingdom was confirmed to him, and was even enlarged, and was made king over five neighbouring kings; and so this, though the fourth of his reign over Judah, was the first of his enlarged dominions.

— Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet; the false prophet from Gibeon, as the Targum calls him; spoke unto him in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests, and of all the people; he came to the Temple where Jeremiah was to confront him; the priests and all the people being present;

— the land Gibeon was allocated to the tribe of Benjamin; but Gibeonite may not even be Israelites, but one of the Canaanites who deceived Joshua into making a covenant with them so they may live, and not wiped out; when Joshua found out he condemned them to be hewers of wood and a drawers of water (Joshua 9:21, 23).

² “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. — thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; pretending on using the language of the true prophets,

³ Within two full years will I bring back into this place all the vessels of the Lord’S house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried them to Babylon. — within two full years; or as the Targum says, “In the span of two years,” or, at the end of two years;

— what the false prophets before had said would be done in a very little time; a very short time; in comparison of the seventy years that Jeremiah had spoken of, Jeremiah 25:11;

— will God bring again into this place all the vessels of the Temple that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place; where he was; namely, all such vessels as before this time had been taken by him, both in Jehoiakim’s reign and at the captivity of Jeconiah.

⁴ And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went into Babylon,’ saith the Lord; ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

— and God will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah; this he knew would please the people, who looked upon Zedekiah only as a vessel to the king of Babylon, and not properly their king;

— with all the captives of Judah that went into Babylon, saith the Lord; the princes, officers and others that should be living at the time: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon; weaken his power over other nations, and particularly deliver the king of Judah from his bondage.

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord,

⁶ even the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen. The Lord do so. The Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord’S house and all that is carried away captive from Babylon into this place.

— even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen; or “so be it”- he wished it might be so as Hananiah had said, if it was the will of God; as a prophet he knew it could not be;

— to bring again the vessels of the Lord’s house from Babylon into this place, Jerusalem; as a priest, this must be very desirable to Jeremiah, and the Jews; being a priest, he should eat of the holy things; when Hananiah, being a Gibeonite, would be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water to him (Joshua 9:21, 23).

⁷ Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears and in the ears of all the people:

⁸ The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence.

— the prophets that have been before me and before thee, such as Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and others: these prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms; as Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Ethiopia and Moab as Isaiah did.

⁹ The prophet who prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it. — the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck; which he wore as a symbol of the subjection of Judea and other nations to the king of Babylon;

— but now he took the prophet’s yoke from his neck; and broke it; being made of wood, as it afterwards appears and so might easily be broken.

¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

— thus saith the Lord where the Lord has not spoken; hence taking his name in vain; even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations, within the space of two years; the time he had fixed for the bringing back of the vessels of the sanctuary, Jeremiah 28:3;

— and Jeremiah went his way; showing his dissent from him, and his detestation of his lies and blasphemies; and prudently withdrawing to prevent riots and tumults; returning no answer till he had received one from the Lord himself.

¹² Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet (after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah), saying,

¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. — thou hast broken the yokes of wood: or “bonds” or “the thongs” with which the yokes of wood were bound and fastened;

¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; and I have given him the beasts of the field also.’”

— that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; directly contrary to what Hananiah had prophesied, and I have given him the beasts of the field also;

— as God had said he would, Jeremiah 27:6; and which is repeated, to show that the whole would be punctually fulfilled; that not only those nations, the men, the inhabitants of them, would be delivered to him; but even the very cattle, and all that belonged to them.

¹⁵ Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth. This year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.’” — behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth; with the utmost indignation and abhorrence,

— as not worthy to live upon it: it signifies that he should die, and that not a natural, but violent death, by the immediate hand of God, by some judgement upon him; and so be by force taken off the earth and buried in it and be no more seen on it;

— this year thou shalt die; within the same year, reckoning from this time; so that, had he died any time within twelve months from hence, it would have been sufficient to have verified the prophecy:

— because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord; to despise his word by his prophet Jeremiah; to contradict his will; to refuse subjection to the king of Babylon; to neglect his instructions, directions and exhortations; and to believe a lie.

¹⁷ So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. — in the seventh month: it was two months after he had prophesied; for it was in the fifth month that he prophesied and in the seventh he died.

The Septuagint of this chapter 28 is very different; I’ll have it below for a seperate study:

¹ Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I stir up against Babylon, and against the Chaldeans dwelling therein, a deadly burning wind. ² And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall spoil her, and shall ravage her land. Woe to Babylon round about her in the day of her affliction. ³ Let the archer bend his bow, and him that has armour put it on: and spare ye not her young men, but destroy ye all her host. ⁴ And slain men shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and men pierced through shall fall without it.

⁵ For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken of their God, of the Lord Almighty; whereas their land was filled with iniquity against the holy things of Israel. ⁶ Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every one his soul: and be not overthrown in her iniquity; for it is the time of her retribution from the Lord; he is rendering to her a recompence. ⁷ Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, causing all the earth to be drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore they were shaken. ⁸ And Babylon is fallen suddenly, and is broken to pieces: lament for her; take balm for her deadly wound, if by any means she may be healed. ⁹ We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed: let us forsake her, and depart every one to his own country: for her judgment has reached to the heaven, it has mounted up to the stars. ¹⁰ The Lord has brought forth his judgment: come, and let us declare in Sion the works of the Lord our God.

¹¹ Prepare the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes: for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy it utterly; for it is the Lord’s vengeance, it is the vengeance of his people. ¹² Lift up a standard on the walls of Babylon, prepare the quivers, rouse the guards, prepare the weapons: for the Lord has taken the work in hand, and will execute what he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon, ¹³ dwelling on many waters, and amidst the abundance of her treasures; thine end is come verily into thy bowels. ¹⁴ For the Lord has sworn by his arm, saying, I will fill thee with men as with locusts; and they that come down shall cry against thee.

¹⁵ The Lord made the earth by his power, preparing the world by his wisdom, by his understanding he stretched out the heaven. ¹⁶ At his voice he makes a sound of water in the heaven, and brings up clouds from the extremity of the earth; he makes lightnings for rain, and brings light out of his treasures. ¹⁷ Every man has completely lost understanding; every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images: for they have cast false gods, there is no breath in them. ¹⁸ They are vain works, objects of scorn; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁹ Not such is Jacob’s portion; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.

²⁰ Thou scatterest for me the weapons of war: and I will scatter nations by thee, and will destroy kings by means of thee. ²¹ And by thee I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by thee I will scatter chariots and them that ride in them. ²² And by thee I will scatter youth and maid; and by thee I will scatter man and woman. ²³ And by thee I will scatter the shepherd and his flock; and by thee I will scatter the husbandman and his husbandry; and by thee I will scatter leaders and the captains. ²⁴ And I will recompense to Babylon and to all the Chaldeans that dwell there all their mischiefs that they have done to Sion before your eyes, saith the Lord.

²⁵ Behold, I am against thee, the ruined mountain, that destroys the whole earth; and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will roll thee down upon the rocks, and will make thee as a burnt mountain. ²⁶ And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation: for thou shalt be a desolation for ever, saith the Lord.

²⁷ Lift up a standard in the land, sound the trumpet among the nations, consecrate the nations against her, raise up kings against her by me, and that for the people of Achanaz; set against her engines of war; bring up against her horses as a multitude of locusts. ²⁸ Bring up nations against her, even the king of the Medes and of the whole earth, his rulers, and all his captains. ²⁹ The earth has quaked and been troubled, because the purpose of the Lord has risen up against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, and uninhabitable.

³⁰ The warrior of Babylon has failed to fight; they shall sit there in the siege; their power is broken; they are become like women; her tabernacles have been set on fire; her bars are broken. ³¹ One shall rush, running to meet another runner, and one shall go with tidings to meet another with tidings, to bring tidings to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken. ³² At the end of his passages they were taken, and his cisterns they have burnt with fire, and his warriors are going forth.

³³ For thus saith the Lord, The houses of the king of Babylon shall be threshed as a floor in the season; yet a little while, and her harvest shall come.

³⁴ He has devoured me, he has torn me asunder, airy darkness has come upon me; Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon has swallowed me up, as a dragon has he filled his belly with my delicacies. ³⁵ My troubles and my distresses have driven me out into Babylon, shall she that dwells in Sion say; and my blood shall be upon the Chaldeans dwelling there, shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will judge thine adversary, and I will execute vengeance for thee; and I will waste her sea, and dry up her fountain. ³⁷ And Babylon shall be a desolation, and shall not be inhabited. ³⁸ For they rose up together as lions, and as lions’ whelps. ³⁹ In their heat I will give them a draught, and make them drunk, that they may be stupified, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and not awake, saith the Lord. ⁴⁰ And bring thou them down as lambs to the slaughter, and rams with kids.

⁴¹ How has the beast of all the earth been taken and caught in a snare! how has Babylon become a desolation among the nations! ⁴² The sea has come up upon Babylon with the sound of its waves, and she is covered. ⁴³ Her cities are become like a dry and trackless land; not so much as one man shall dwell in it, neither shall a son of man lodge in it. ⁴⁴ And I will take vengeance on Babylon, and bring forth out of her mouth what she has swallowed down, and the nations shall no more be gathered to her: ⁴⁹ and in Babylon the slain men of all the earth shall fall. ⁵⁰ Go forth of the land, ye that escape, and stay not; ye that are afar off, remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. ⁵¹ We are ashamed, because we have heard our reproach; disgrace has covered our face; aliens are come into our sanctuary, even into the house of the Lord.

⁵² Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will take vengeance upon her graven images: and slain men shall fall in all her land. ⁵³ For though Babylon should go up as the heaven, and though she should strengthen her walls with her power, from me shall come they that shall destroy her, saith the Lord. ⁵⁴ A sound of a cry in Babylon, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans: ⁵⁵ for the Lord has utterly destroyed Babylon, and cut off from her the great voice sounding as many waters: he has consigned her voice to destruction. ⁵⁶ For distress has come upon Babylon, her warriors are taken, their bows are useless: for God recompenses them. ⁵⁷ The Lord recompenses, and will make her leaders and her wise men and her captains completely drunk, saith the King, the Lord Almighty is his name.

⁵⁸ Thus saith the Lord, The wall of Babylon was made broad, but it shall be completely broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire; and the peoples shall not labour in vain, nor the nations fail in their rule.

⁵⁹ The Word which the Lord commanded the Prophet Jeremias to say to Saræas son of Nerias, son of Maasæas, when he went from Sedekias king of Juda to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. And Saræas was over the bounties. ⁶⁰ And Jeremias wrote in a book all the evils which should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. ⁶¹ And Jeremias said to Saræas, When thou art come to Babylon, and shalt see and read all these words; ⁶² then thou shalt say, O Lord God, thou hast spoken against this place, to destroy it, and that there should be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast; for it shall be a desolation for ever. ⁶³ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt cease from reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone upon it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; ⁶⁴ and shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise, because of the evils which I bring upon it.

~ by Joel on October 18, 2025.

Posted in Jeremiah