Jeremiah 46:10The Message“But it’s not your day. It’s the Master’s, me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies— the day when I have it out with my enemies, The day when Sword puts an end to my enemies, when Sword exacts vengeance. I, the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will pile them on an altar—a huge sacrifice!— In the great north country, along the mighty Euphrates. See the chapter |
25 Cross References
“But if Judgment Day isn’t hidden from the Almighty, why are we kept in the dark? There are people out there getting by with murder— stealing and lying and cheating. They rip off the poor and exploit the unfortunate, Push the helpless into the ditch, bully the weak so that they fear for their lives. The poor, like stray dogs and cats, scavenge for food in back alleys. They sort through the garbage of the rich, eke out survival on handouts. Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street; they’ve no place to lay their heads. Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen, they huddle in makeshift shelters. Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them; the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold. They go about patched and threadbare; even the hard workers go hungry. No matter how backbreaking their labor, they can never make ends meet. People are dying right and left, groaning in torment. The wretched cry out for help and God does nothing, acts like nothing’s wrong!
“Assyrians will fall dead, killed by a sword-thrust but not by a soldier, laid low by a sword not swung by a mortal. Assyrians will run from that sword, run for their lives, and their prize young men made slaves. Terrorized, that rock-solid people will fall to pieces, their leaders scatter hysterically.” God’s Decree on Assyria. His fire blazes in Zion, his furnace burns hot in Jerusalem.
“The barbarians will invade, swarm over hills and plains. The judgment sword of God will take its toll from one end of the land to the other. Nothing living will be safe. They will plant wheat and reap weeds. Nothing they do will work out. They will look at their meager crops and wring their hands. All this the result of God’s fierce anger!” * * *
The Message to Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the time it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon while camped at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah: “‘Present arms! March to the front! Harness the horses! Up in the saddles! Battle formation! Helmets on, spears sharpened, armor in place!’ But what’s this I see? They’re scared out of their wits! They break ranks and run for cover. Their soldiers panic. They run this way and that, stampeding blindly. It’s total chaos, total confusion, danger everywhere!” God’s Decree.
And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, has to say: “Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land, the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria. But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures. He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan, On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead. He will eat to his heart’s content. In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree— “they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing; Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing. These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate. * * *
“Get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Run for your lives! Save your necks! Don’t linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her as I pay her back for her sins. Babylon was a fancy gold chalice held in my hand, Filled with the wine of my anger to make the whole world drunk. The nations drank the wine and they’ve all gone crazy. Babylon herself will stagger and crash, senseless in a drunken stupor—tragic! Get anointing balm for her wound. Maybe she can be cured.” * * *
“But, son of man, your job is to prophesy. Tell them, ‘This is the Message from God, the Master, against the Ammonites and against their cruel taunts: “‘A sword! A sword! Bared to kill, Sharp as a razor, flashing like lightning. Despite false sword propaganda circulated in Ammon, The sword will sever Ammonite necks, for whom it’s punishment payday. Return the sword to the sheath! I’ll judge you in your home country, in the land where you grew up. I’ll empty out my wrath on you, breathe hot anger down your neck. I’ll give you to vicious men skilled in torture. You’ll end up as stove-wood. Corpses will litter your land. Not so much as a memory will be left of you. I, God, have said so.’”
What a day! Doomsday! God’s Judgment Day has come. The Strong God has arrived. This is serious business! Food is just a memory at our tables, as are joy and singing from God’s Sanctuary. The seeds in the field are dead, barns deserted, Grain silos abandoned. Who needs them? The crops have failed! The farm animals groan—oh, how they groan! The cattle mill around. There’s nothing for them to eat. Not even the sheep find anything.
Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! Trumpet the alarm on my holy mountain! Shake the country up! God’s Judgment’s on its way—the Day’s almost here! A black day! A Doomsday! Clouds with no silver lining! Like dawn light moving over the mountains, a huge army is coming. There’s never been anything like it and never will be again. Wildfire burns everything before this army and fire licks up everything in its wake. Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden. When it leaves, it is Death Valley. Nothing escapes unscathed.
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