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| 1 Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am stirring up against Babylon, And the inhabitants of Leb My withstanders, A destroying wind, |
Against Babylon – Mystic Babylon, Christendom. D26; HG64:1
And against them – All in sympathy with Babylon. D39
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| 2 And I have sent to Babylon fanners, And they have fanned it, and they empty its land, For they have been against it, Round about in the day of evil. |
The day of trouble – Rendered "evil" in "I create evil." (Isa. 45:7) A125
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| 3 Let not the treader tread his bow, Nor lift himself up in his coat of mail, Nor have ye pity on her young men, Devote ye to destruction all her host. |
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| 4 And fallen have the wounded in the land of the Chaldeans, And the pierced-through in her streets. |
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| 5 For, not forsaken is Israel and Judah, By its God by Jehovah of Hosts, For their land hath been full of guilt, Against the Holy One of Israel. |
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| 6 Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, And deliver ye each his soul, Be not cut off in its iniquity, For a time of vengeance it [is] to Jehovah, Recompence He is rendering to her. |
Flee – No one is responsible to flee unless he sees that it is Babylon, but the very suggestion that it is Babylon means that one should make a thorough investigation to see if it is so. Q65:T
Present Truth will guide us into closer fellowship with God and separateness of mind, heart and service from Babylon. SM127:2
For those who obey this command there is but one place of refuge, "The secret place of the Most High" (Psa. 91:1)--the place or condition of complete consecration. D43
Out of the midst – "Come out of her, my people." (Rev. 18:4) D43; R436:5, R2538:1
The Lord's people are not to look back at the things that are to be destroyed. R5456:4
With a full renunciation of the things of the present time. R5456:5
And deliver – This call must be heard and heeded before the disaster comes; for it will come suddenly, as in an hour. SM411:2
Whoever shall seek to save his life must lose it. Whoever shall lose his life will thereby be preserving it. (Luke 9:24) R5456:5
LORD'S vengeance – A part of the work of the second advent will be the overthrow of antitypical Babylon. R5092:3; D39
A recompence – In the time of trouble God will repay his enemies according to their deeds. D39
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| 7 A golden cup [is] Babylon in the hand of Jehovah, Making drunk all the earth, Of its wine drunk have nations, Therefore boast themselves do nations. |
A golden cup – Representing the Bible, the Divine Standard or authority. SM407:1
"Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations." (Rev. 17:4) C156
The cup suggests that the unfaithful church had once been the receptacle of divine truth. R5092:1
Made all the earth drunken – Not that every doctrine presented by Papacy was false and intoxicating; but that a stupefying potion was put into the wine already in the cup. SM407:2
So strong is the power of this intoxication that its inconsistencies are not discerned by those intoxicated. SM408:1
Nations have drunken – As heathen philosophies were joined with Christianity a poisonous draught was mixed and poured into the "golden cup" of truth, making all nations drunk. R5910:6
"She made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." (Rev. 14:8) C156
Wine – False doctrine. R5092:1
The nations are mad – Intoxicated with her errors. C156
As error spread, the spirit of ambition superseded the spirit of humility. R5910:6
The pagan doctrine of the immortality of the soul, combined with that of the torture of the wicked, resulted in the doctrine of eternal torture. R5911:1
During the Dark Ages millions were tortured, exiled, and murdered in multitudinous ways. R5911:2
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| 8 Suddenly hath Babylon fallen, Yea, it is broken, howl ye for it, Take balm for her pain, if so be it may be healed. |
Is suddenly fallen – Both literal and symbolic Babylon. R2498:3
"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." (Rev. 18:2) C156
She has been spewed out of his mouth, and the Almighty now calls upon his true people to "come out of her." (Rev. 18:4) R5478:2
And destroyed – And broken. C156
Howl for her – "And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, Alas, that great city." (Rev. 18:19) C156
"The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her." (Rev. 18:11) R1371:6
Take balm – Human remedies. D469
For her pain – Her wound. C156
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| 9 We healed Babylon, and she was not healed, Forsake her, and we go, each to his land, For come unto the heavens hath its judgment, And it hath been lifted up unto the clouds. |
Babylon – The chief empire of earth in Jeremiah's day; an illustration of a prophecy which has had one literal fulfillment, and is about to have its second or higher fulfillment. R436:5[R436]
Is not healed – Illustrated by preparations for war among nations which confess allegiance to the Prince of Peace. R4411:6*[R4411*]
The protests and warnings of the righteous are steadily ignored by the world. D542[D542]
There is no balm in Gilead, and no physician there. (Jer. 8:22) D469[D469]
Forsake her – "Come out of her, my people." (Rev. 18:4) D543[D542]
Get out from under her influence; stand free from this bondage to error and worldliness. R5696:6[R5696]
His own country – To the true Church, or to the world, as the case may be, according as each is thus proved to be of the wheat or the tares. C156[C156]
Her judgment – Her punishment. C156[C156]
Reacheth unto heaven – "Her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Rev. 18:5) R1371:6[R1371]
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| 10 Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousnesses, Come, and we recount in Zion the work of Jehovah our God. |
Declare in Zion – There is a nominal spiritual Zion, and a nominal fleshly Zion. D23; A297; T33
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| 11 Cleanse ye the arrows, fill the shields, Stirred up hath Jehovah the spirit of the kings of Madia, For against Babylon His device [is] to destroy it, For the vengeance of Jehovah it [is], The vengeance of His temple. |
The kings – Of Christ's Kingdom, the Royal Priesthood. R2498:4
Of his temple – The Christ. T70
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| 12 Unto the walls of Babylon lift up an ensign, Strengthen the watch, Establish the watchers, prepare the ambush, For Jehovah hath both devised and done that which He spake, Concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. |
The walls – Civil power. D40
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| 13 O dweller on many waters, abundant in treasures, Come in hath thine end, the measure of thy dishonest gain. |
Upon many waters – "The waters that thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." (Rev. 17:15) R1371:6, R5846:2
The literal was built on the river Euphrates and derived wealth and splendor from that source; the symbolic is seated upon many waters--peoples, nations, from which it derives its support. R45:1
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| 14 Sworn hath Jehovah of Hosts by Himself, That, Surely I have filled thee [with] men as the cankerworm, And they have cried against thee shouting. |
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| 15 The maker of earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who by His understanding stretched out the heavens, |
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| 16 At the voice He giveth forth, A multitude of waters [are] in the heavens, And He causeth vapours to come up from the end of the earth, Lightnings for rain He hath made, And He bringeth out wind from His treasures. |
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| 17 Brutish hath been every man by knowledge, Put to shame hath been every refiner by a graven image, For false [is] his molten image, And there is no breath in them. |
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| 18 Vanity [are] they work of errors, In the time of their inspection they perish. |
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| 19 Not like these [is] the portion of Jacob, For He [is] former of all things, And [Israel is] the rod of His inheritance, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name. |
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| 20 An axe [art] thou to me weapons of war, And I have broken in pieces by thee nations, And I have destroyed by thee kingdoms, |
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| 21 And I have broken in pieces by thee horse and its rider, And I have broken in pieces by thee chariot and its charioteer, |
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| 22 And I have broken in pieces by thee man and woman, And I have broken in pieces by thee old and young, And I have broken in pieces by thee young man and virgin, |
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| 23 And I have broken in pieces by thee shepherd and his drove, And I have broken in pieces by thee husbandman and his team, And I have broken in pieces by thee governors and prefects. |
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| 24 And I have recompensed to Babylon, And to all inhabitants of Chaldea, All the evil that they have done in Zion, Before your eyes an affirmation of Jehovah. |
Babylon – Christendom, the nominal Christian church, especially the Papacy. D26, D39
Of Chaldea – Babylonia, Christendom, all the nations of the so-called Christian world. D39
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| 25 Lo, I [am] against thee, O destroying mount, An affirmation of Jehovah, That is destroying all the earth, And I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I have rolled thee from the rocks, And given thee for a burnt mountain. |
Mountain – Kingdom. A318
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| 26 And they take not out of thee a stone for a corner, And a stone for foundations, For desolations age-during art thou, An affirmation of Jehovah. |
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| 27 Lift ye up an ensign in the land, Blow a trumpet among nations, Sanctify against it nations, Summon against it the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, Appoint against it an infant head, Cause the horse to ascend as the rough cankerworm. |
Set ye up a standard – The standard of the truth. D40
Blow the trumpet – The seventh trumpet, the last trump, the trump of God, the trump of knowledge and liberty. B148
Not metallic trumpets. The angelic movements under the seventh trumpet are as noiseless as they have been under the other six. HG26:1
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| 28 Sanctify against it the nations with the kings of Media, Its governors and all its prefects, And all the land of its dominion. |
The kings – Of Christ's Kingdom, the Royal Priesthood. R2498:4
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| 29 And shake doth the land, and it is pained, For stood against Babylon have the purposes of Jehovah, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. |
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| 30 Ceased have the mighty of Babylon to fight, They have remained in strongholds, Failed hath their might, they have become woman, They have burnt her tabernacles, Broken have been her bars. |
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| 31 Runner to meet runner doth run, And announcer to meet announcer, To announce to the king of Babylon, For, captured hath been his city at the extremity. |
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| 32 And the passages have been captured, And the reeds they have burnt with fire, And the men of war have been troubled. |
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| 33 For thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, The daughter of Babylon [is] as a threshing-floor, The time of her threshing yet a little, And come hath the time of her harvest. |
Of her harvest – "Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." (Rev. 14:15) R1371:6
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| 34 Devoured us, crushed us, hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, He hath set us [as] an empty vessel, He hath swallowed us as a dragon, He hath filled his belly with my dainties, He hath driven us away. |
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| 35 My wrong, and [that of] my flesh [is] on Babylon, Say doth the inhabitant of Zion, And my blood [is] on the inhabitants of Chaldea, Say doth Jerusalem. |
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| 36 Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am pleading thy cause, And I have avenged thy vengeance, And dried up its sea, and made its fountains dry. |
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| 37 And Babylon hath been for heaps, A habitation of dragons, An astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. |
For dragons – "An habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Rev. 18:2) R1371:6
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| 38 Together as young lions they roar, They have shaken themselves as lions' whelps. |
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| 39 In their heat I make their banquets, And I have caused them to drink, so that they exult, And have slept a sleep age-during, And awake not an affirmation of Jehovah. |
They – Babylon's great ones, highly esteemed by her subjects, called by various dignified and high sounding titles. R1951:4
Perpetual sleep – As clergy, with high-sounding titles and offices, they shall never awake or exist again as such. R1951:4
Olam, lasting, not endless. R3725:5*
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| 40 I cause them to go down as lambs to slaughter, As rams with he-goats. |
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| 41 How hath Sheshach been captured, Yea, caught is the praise of the whole earth, How hath Babylon been for an astonishment among nations. |
How is Sheshach taken – Representing Babylon. The religious element will be the last to fall. (Jer. 25:26) HG94:1
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| 42 Come up against Babylon hath the sea, With a multitude of its billows it hath been covered. |
The sea – Restless, anarchistic masses of mankind. A318
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| 43 Its cities have been for a desolation, A dry land, and a wilderness, A land none doth dwell in them, Nor pass over into them doth a son of man. |
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| 44 And I have seen after Bel in Babylon, And I have brought forth that which he swallowed from his mouth, And flow no more unto him do nations, Also the wall of Babylon hath fallen. |
Bel in Babylon – The God of Babylon, the Pope. D40
Out of his mouth – He shall repudiate in his extremity the "great swelling words" and blasphemous titles which he has for so long appropriated to himself. D40
The wall of Babylon – The civil power that once defended it and that in a measure does so still. D40
Built of ignorance and superstition, whose great foundations were laid centuries ago. SM409:2
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| 45 Go forth from its midst, O My people, And deliver ye, each his soul, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah, |
Go ye out – "Come out of her, my people." (Rev. 18:4) R1371:6, R2538:1
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| 46 And lest your heart be tender, And ye be afraid of the report that is heard in the land, And come in a year hath the report, And after it in a year the report, And violence [is] in the land, ruler against ruler; |
Rumour that shall be heard – "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars." (Mark 13:7,8; Luke 21:8,9) R5969:2*
Another year – A second year. R5969:2*
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| 47 Therefore, lo, days are coming, And I have seen after the graven images of Babylon. And all its land is ashamed, And all its pierced ones do fall in its midst. |
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| 48 And cried aloud against Babylon Have heavens and earth, and all that [is] in them, For, from the north come to it do the spoilers, An affirmation of Jehovah. |
The heaven – The powers of spiritual control. A318
And the earth – Society. A318
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| 49 Even Babylon [is] to fall, ye pierced of Israel, Even they of Babylon have fallen, Ye pierced of all the earth. |
So at Babylon – Because of her greater responsibility, against her will burn the fierceness of his wrath and indignation. D28
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| 50 Ye escaped of the sword, go on, stand not, Remember ye from afar Jehovah, And let Jerusalem come up on your heart. |
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| 51 We have been ashamed, for we heard reproach, Covered hath shame our faces, For come in have strangers, against the sanctuaries of the house of Jehovah. |
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| 52 Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have seen after its graven images, And in all its land groan doth the wounded. |
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| 53 Because Babylon goeth up to the heavens, And because it fenceth the high place of its strength, From Me come into it do spoilers, An affirmation of Jehovah. |
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| 54 A voice of a cry [is] from Babylon, And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldean. |
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| 55 For Jehovah is spoiling Babylon, And hath destroyed out of it a great voice, And sounded have its billows as many waters, Given forth a noise hath their voice. |
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| 56 For come in against it against Babylon hath a spoiler, And captured have been its mighty ones, Broken have been their bows, For the God of recompences Jehovah doth certainly repay. |
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| 57 And I have caused its princes to drink, And its wise men, its governors, And its prefects, and its mighty ones, And they have slept a sleep age-during, And they awake not an affirmation of the king, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name. |
Made drunk – An intoxication of error, false doctrines and theories. R4287:3
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| 58 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, the wall of Babylon The broad one is utterly made bare, And her high gates with fire are burnt, And peoples labour in vain, And nations in fire, and have been weary! |
Her high gates – Representing mystic Babylon's worldly wisdom, human ingenuity and dexterity of organization to maintain control of the symbolic waters. SM409:2
Be burned with fire – Be destroyed. D40
The same symbol of fire is used by St. Peter in referring to the same trouble and destruction. SM424:3
Shall labour in vain – To prop and save the walls of Babylon. D40
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| 59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet hath commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, in his going with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign and Seraiah [is] a quiet prince; |
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| 60 and Jeremiah writeth all the evil that cometh unto Babylon on one book all these words that are written concerning Babylon. |
Jeremiah wrote in a book – The prophets did not confine themselves to oral teachings. R1145:3
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| 61 And Jeremiah saith unto Seraiah, 'When thou dost enter Babylon, then thou hast seen, and hast read all these words,
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| 62 and hast said: Jehovah, Thou, Thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that there is none dwelling in it, from man even unto cattle, for it is a desolation age-during. |
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| 63 And it hath come to pass, when thou dost finish reading this book, thou dost bind to it a stone, and hast cast it into the midst of Phrat, |
Midst of Euphrates – Peoples, nations. B209
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| 64 and said, Thus sink doth Babylon, and it doth not arise, because of the evil that I am bringing in against it, and they have been weary.' Hitherto [are] words of Jeremiah. |
Shall Babylon sink – Into the restless sea of ungovernable peoples. D111
Showing that her destruction will be sudden, violent and complete. D37
And shall not rise – "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all." (Rev. 18:21) R1371:6, R5478:2
The "sea" of anarchy will swallow up the false systems. R5478:2
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