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Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.

Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

How gracious was the LORD, in thus giving intimation of his designs, that his faithful people might escape, and not be involved in the ruin of Babylon! From this circumstance it evidently appears, that their being sent into captivity was a mercy, and that his chastisements of them differed from judgments, as being designed to amend and not to destroy*. In this manner God still continues to act towards his servants, correcting them like a tender father, only to make them fit objects of his mercy and loving-kindness.

SECTION LIV.

PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE FALL OF BABYLON.

From Jer. Chap. 1, li-Isaiah, xy. xlvii.

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

saiah xxvii. 7, &c

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

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

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

And the most proud shall stumble, and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in the cities, and it shall devour all round about it.

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.

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

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

and

upon

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

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.

A drought 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.

Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands 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.

As GoD overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD: so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

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

They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy; their voice shail 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.

The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion, from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her? and wha 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?

Therefore hear ye the council 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.

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

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

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And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldee's excellency, shall be as when GoD overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah..

I was wrath with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever; so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

Therefore hear now this, that thou art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart I and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.

am,

But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted thee: and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me.

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth: if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn

them;

them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with caterpillars; 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 hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.

When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

Every man is brutish by his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his moltes image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

And I will render unto Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion, in your sight, saith the LORD.

Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

And

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