¹ The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

² Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

³ For out of the north there cometh a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell in it, they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

⁴ In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces towards it, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

⁶ My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.

⁷ All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

⁸ Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.

⁹ For lo, I will raise and cause to come against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

¹¹ Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of my heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

¹² Your mother shall be greatly confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

¹³ Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴ Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵ Shout against her on every side; she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do to her.

¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

¹⁷ Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰ In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

²² A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

²⁴ I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.

²⁵ The LORD hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of The LORD GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ Come against her from the utmost border, open her store-houses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

²⁷ Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

²⁸ The voice of them that flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

²⁹ Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, encamp against it on every side; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do to her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰ Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.

³¹ Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

³² And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all around him.

³³ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵ A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

³⁶ A sword is upon the liars; and they shall be sottish: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

³⁷ A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

³⁸ A drouth is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

³⁹ Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the isles, shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

⁴¹ Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the borders of the earth.

⁴² They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³ The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands became feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

⁴⁴ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

⁴⁵ Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

⁴⁶ At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

²⁷ That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

¹ And when he had called to him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease.

² Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

³ Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus;

⁴ Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and enter ye not into any city of the Samaritans.

⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

⁷ And as ye go, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

⁸ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely ye have received, freely give.

⁹ Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses;

¹⁰ Nor bag for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor a staff: for the workman is worthy of his food.

¹¹ And into whatever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till ye go thence.

¹² And when ye come into a house, salute it.

¹³ And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

¹⁴ And whoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart from that house, or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

¹⁵ Verily, I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for that city.

¹⁶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

¹⁷ But beware of men: for they will deliver you to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.

¹⁸ And ye will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given to you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

²⁰ For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

²¹ And the brother will deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children will rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

²² And ye will be hated by all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

²³ But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say to you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man shall have come.

²⁴ The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord.

²⁵ It is enough for the disciple that he should be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord: if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call them of his household?

²⁶ Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

²⁷ What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that publish ye upon the house-tops.

²⁸ And fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father.

³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

³¹ Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

³² Whoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

³³ But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

³⁴ Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

³⁵ For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

³⁶ And a man's foes will be they of his own household.

³⁷ He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

³⁸ And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me.

³⁹ He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it.

⁴⁰ He that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

⁴¹ He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.

⁴² And whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily, I say to you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.