13 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

LESSON CXLV.

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.

2 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.

3 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

4 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgement reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

5 The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

6 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.

7 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

8 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.

9 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

10 The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

11 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.

12 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.

13 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 caterpillars.

14 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.

15 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.

16 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling-places; her bars are broken.

17 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,

18 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

19 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.

20 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

LESSON CXLVI. How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

2 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

3 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.

4 Therefore, behold, the days come that I will do judgement upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

5 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.

6 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

7 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still : remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

8 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.

9 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

10 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:

11 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.

12 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.

13 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.

14 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

15 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

16 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

17 And the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her day shall not be prolonged.

LESSON CXLVII.

How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

2 The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

3 Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of

her gods hath the Lord broken to the ground!

4 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

5 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

6 Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

:

7 Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

8 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

9 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

¶10 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cat down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

11 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.

12 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.

13 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

14 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?

15 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners?

16 All the kings of the nations, even all of them lie in glory, every one in his own .house.

17 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch; and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. 18 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.

19 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

20 For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon, the name and remnant, and son and nephew, saith the Lord.

21 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

LESSON CXLVIII.

Destruction of Tyre.

THE burden of Tyre.

2 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

3 Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

4 And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

5 Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.

6 As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

7 Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

8 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

9 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

10 The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

11 Pass through thy land as

12 He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

LESSON CXLIX.

THE word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¶2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

3 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.

5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.

6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

7 For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses

8 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.

9 And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horse- . men, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.

11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

12 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be. a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more : for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God.