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.

¹ Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.

² He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching,

³ "Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow,

⁴ and it happened, as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it.

⁵ Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil.

⁶ When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷ Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸ Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some brought forth thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much."

⁹ He said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹⁰ When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹ He said to them, "To you is given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,

¹² that 'seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.'"

¹³ He said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?

¹⁴ The farmer sows the word.

¹⁵ The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

¹⁶ These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷ They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.

¹⁸ Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word,

¹⁹ and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰ Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times."

²¹ He said to them, "Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn't it put on a stand?

²² For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.

²³ If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."

²⁴ He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.

²⁵ For whoever has, to him will more be given, and he who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away from him."

²⁶ He said, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,

²⁷ and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn't know how.

²⁸ For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹ But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come."

³⁰ He said, "How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?

³¹ It's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,

³² yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow."

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

³⁴ Without a parable he didn't speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let's go over to the other side."

³⁶ Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him.

³⁷ A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled.

³⁸ He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, "Teacher, don't you care that we are dying?"

³⁹ He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰ He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?"

⁴¹ They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"