10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth,

And the knees smite together,

and anguish is in all loins,

and the faces of them all are waxed pale.

30

35

Where is the den of the lions,

and the feeding place of the young lions,

Where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp,

and none made them afraid?

The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps,

40

and strangled for his lionesses,

And filled his caves with prey,

and his dens with ravin.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts,
and the sword shall devour thy young lions:

And I will cut off thy prey from the earth,

and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

31 Woe to the bloody city!

it is all full of lies and rapine;

The prey departeth not.

The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of

wheels;

and pransing horses, and jumping chariots;

45

50

The horseman mounting, and the flashing sword,

55

and the glittering spear;

And a multitude of slain,

and a great heap of carcases:

And there is none end of the corpses;

they stumble upon their corpses:

Because of the multitude of the whoredoms

of the well favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts,
That selleth nations through her whoredoms,
and families through her witchcrafts.

1 For the glory . . . furniture read the wealth of all pleasant things.

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

1

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts,
and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face; 1
And I will shew the nations thy nakedness,
and the kingdoms thy shame.

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee,

and make thee vile,2 and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say,

Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?

whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Her

young children also were dashed in pieces
at the top of all the streets :

And they cast lots for her honourable men,
and all her great men were bound in chains.
Thou also shalt be drunken,

thou shalt be hid.6

Thou also shalt seek a strong hold
because of the enemy.

All thy fortresses shall be like fig trees
with the firstripe figs :

If they be shaken, they fall

into the mouth of the eater.

Behold, thy people in the midst of thee

are women;

The gates of thy land are set wide open:
the fire hath devoured thy bars.

1 For discover... face read strip thee bare to shame thy face.

2 For make thee vile read disgrace thee.

3 For the rivers read the streams of the Nile.

4 For the sea read the waters.

5 For thy read her.

6 For be hid read faint.

14 Draw thee water for the siege,

strengthen thy fortresses:

Go into the clay, and tread the mortar,

make strong the brickkiln.1 There shall the fire devour thee;

the sword shall cut thee off:

Make thyself many as the cankerworm,
make thyself many as the locust.
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants

above the stars of heaven.

Thy crowned are as the locusts,

and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, Which camp in the hedges 2

in the cold day,

But when the sun ariseth they flee away,

and their place is not known where they are.

Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria:

thy worthies are at rest:

Thy people are scattered upon the mountains,
and there is none to gather them.
There is no assuaging of thy hurt;

thy wound is grievous:

All that hear the bruit of thee

clap the hands over thee;

For upon whom hath not thy wickedness

passed continually?

1 For make strong the brickkiln read lay hold of the brickmould (R).

2 For hedges read walls (R).

5

LESSON LXXIII

JEREMIAH AND JEHOIAKIM

Jehoahaz, after a few months, is deposed by Neco. Jehoiakim's evil reign. Some prophecies of Jeremiah, which were

delivered during the reign of Jehoiakim.

2 KINGS XXIII. 30-XXIV. 7; JEREMIAH XXVI., XXXVI., XLVI., XLVII., XXII.

23 30 And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there. And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to 10 Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-necoh.

15

24 1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar1 king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians,2 and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, 20 which he spake by the hand of his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and the LORD would

1 For Nebuchadnezzar read Nebuchadrezzar.

2 For Syrians read Edomites.

not pardon. So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers:

and 25

Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

[Jer.] 26 1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son 30 of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; keep not back a word. It may be they will hearken, and turn every 35 man from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I 40 send unto you, even rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. And 45 it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall 50 be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered unto Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

10 And when the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house. Then 55 spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and 60 against this city all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hand do with me as is good and right in your eyes. 65 Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye shall bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and