Jeremiah 4:7Easy To Read VersionA lion has come out of his cave.\par A destroyer of nations has begun to march.\par He has left his home\par to destroy your land.\par Your towns will be destroyed.\par There will be no people left to live in them.\par See the chapter |
So Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and all his army came to fight against Jerusalem. This happened on the 10th day of the tenth month of Zedekiah’s ninth year as king. Nebuchadnezzar put his army around Jerusalem {to stop people from going in and out of the city}. Then he built a wall of dirt around the city.
So I will soon send for all the family groups of the north. {\cf2\super [202]} ” This message is from the Lord. “I will soon send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He is my servant. I will bring those people against the land of Judah and against the people of Judah. I will bring them against all the nations around you too. I will destroy all of those countries. I will make those lands like an empty desert forever. People will see those countries, and whistle at how badly they were destroyed.
“‘But now, some nations or kingdoms might refuse to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They might refuse to put his yoke {\cf2\super [212]} on their necks. If that happens, this is what I will do: I will punish that nation with sword, hunger, and terrible sickness.’” This message is from the Lord. “I will do that until I destroy that nation. I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the nation that fights against him.
But I will give the order,’ this message is from the Lord, ‘to bring the Babylonian army back to Jerusalem. That army will fight against Jerusalem. They will capture it and set it on fire and burn it down. And I will destroy the cities in the land of Judah. Those cities will become empty deserts. No people will live there.’”
The people of Judah will hear the sound\par of the horse soldiers and the archers, {\cf2\super [30]} \par and the people will run away!\par Some of the people will hide in caves, {\cf2\super [31]} \par some people will hide in the bushes,\par some people will climb up into the rocks.\par All of the cities of Judah will be empty.\par No person will live in them.\par
“Sometimes a lion will come from the thick bushes near the Jordan River. And that lion will go into the fields where people put their sheep and cattle. I am like that lion. I will go to Edom. And I will scare those people. I will make them run away. None of their young men will stop me. No one is like me. No one will challenge me. None of their shepherds (leaders) will stand up against me.”
They turned against God,\par so a lion from the forest will attack them.\par A wolf from the desert will kill them.\par A leopard is hiding near their cities.\par The leopard will tear to pieces\par any person that comes out of the city.\par This will happen because the people\par of Judah have sinned again and again.\par They have wandered away from the Lord\par many times.\par
\{The Lord says,\}\par “Sometimes a lion will come from\par the thick bushes near the Jordan River.\par That lion will walk into the fields\par where people have their animals.\par \{and the animals will all run away.\}\par I will be like that lion,\par I will chase Babylon from its land.\par Who should I choose to do this?\par There is no person like me.\par There is no person that can challenge me.\par \{So I will do it.\}\par No shepherd will come to chase me away.\par I will chase away the people of Babylon.”\par
From the land of the family group of Dan,\par we hear the snorting {\cf2\super [71]} \par of the enemy’s horses.\par The ground shakes from the pounding\par of their hooves. {\cf2\super [72]} \par They have come to destroy the land\par and everything in it.\par They have come to destroy the city\par and all the people that live there.\par
People from many nations and people that spoke many languages were very afraid of Nebuchadnezzar. Why? Because the God Most High made him a very important king. If Nebuchadnezzar wanted a person to die, then he killed that person. And if he wanted a person to live, then that person was allowed to live. If he wanted to make people important, then he made those people important. And if he wanted to make people not important, then he made them not important.