bend his bow, and let him not lift himself
up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye
utterly all her host. And they shall fall down slain in the land of
the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.'

"For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of the Lord of
hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of
Israel. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life;
be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of the Lord's
vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense. Babylon hath been a
golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the
nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon
is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her
pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but
she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own
country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even
to the skies.

"The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us
declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. Make sharp the arrows;
hold firm the shields: {338} the Lord hath stirred up the spirit of
the kings of the Medes; because his device is against Babylon, to
destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his
temple. Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch
strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both
devised and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of
Babylon. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,
thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness. The Lord of hosts
hath sworn by himself, saying, 'Surely I will fill thee with men, as
with the cankerworm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.'

"He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by
his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the
heavens: when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in
the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the
earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind
out of his treasuries. Every man is become brutish and is without
knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image: for
his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They
are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they
shall perish. The portion