Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon
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When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,
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you will take up this u taunt against the king of Babylon:
"How the oppressor has ceased,
v the insolent fury ceased!
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The Lord has broken the w staff of the wicked,
the w scepter of rulers,
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x that struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
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The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
y they break forth into singing.
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z a The cypresses rejoice at you,
b the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
'Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.'
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Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
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c All of them will answer
and say to you:
'You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!'
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Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
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"How d you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, e son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
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You said in your heart,
f 'I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
g I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
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I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.'
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h But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
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Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
'Is this i the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
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who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
j who did not let his prisoners go home?'
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All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
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but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
k clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
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You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
"May l the offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
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Prepare slaughter for his sons
m because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities."
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"I will rise up against them," declares the Lord of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and n remnant, o descendants and posterity," declares the Lord.
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"And I will make it a possession of the p hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the Lord of hosts.
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Cross References
Micah 2:4
In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, "We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields.
Habakkuk 2:6
Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, "Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own - for how long? - and loads himself with pledges!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:13
O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.
Revelation 18:16
Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!
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Cross References
Isaiah 9:4
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
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Cross References
Isaiah 9:4
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 50:23
How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
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Cross References
Isaiah 44:23
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
Isaiah 49:13
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
Isaiah 54:1
Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the Lord.
Isaiah 55:12
For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 31:16
I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below.
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Cross References
Isaiah 37:24
By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.
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Cross References
Isaiah 2:13
Against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:48
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the Lord.
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Cross References
Isaiah 24:21
On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
Isaiah 34:3
Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood.
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Cross References
Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:53
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me against her, declares the Lord.
Amos 9:2
If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
Matthew 11:23
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Luke 10:15
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
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Cross References
Daniel 5:22 - 23
And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this.
2 Thessalonians 2:4
Who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 32:23
Whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.
Matthew 11:23
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Luke 10:15
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 50:23
How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 50:33
Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 32:20
They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword. Egypt is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and all her multitudes.
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Cross References
Job 18:19
He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.
Psalms 21:10
You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.
Psalms 109:13
May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
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Cross References
Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
Matthew 23:35
So that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:50
You who have escaped from the sword, go, do not stand still! Remember the Lord from far away, and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
Jeremiah 51:62
And say, 'O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.
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Cross References
Job 18:19
He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.
Genesis 21:23
Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.
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Cross References
Isaiah 34:11
But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.
Zephaniah 2:14
Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts; even the owl and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals; a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.