6 Bible Verses About Iraq (ESV)

16 Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be appalled at you.

51:1   Thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
    against Babylon,
    against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,
2   and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
    and they shall winnow her,
  and they shall empty her land,
    when they come against her from every side
    on the day of trouble.
3   Let not the archer bend his bow,
    and let him not stand up in his armor.
  Spare not her young men;
    devote to destruction all her army.
4   They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
    and wounded in her streets.
5   For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
    by their God, the LORD of hosts,
  but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt
    against the Holy One of Israel.
6   “Flee from the midst of Babylon;
    let every one save his life!
  Be not cut off in her punishment,
    for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance,
    the repayment he is rendering her.
7   Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,
    making all the earth drunken;
  the nations drank of her wine;
    therefore the nations went mad.
8   Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
    wail for her!
  Take balm for her pain;
    perhaps she may be healed.
9   We would have healed Babylon,
    but she was not healed.
  Forsake her, and let us go
    each to his own country,
  for her judgment has reached up to heaven
    and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10   The LORD has brought about our vindication;
    come, let us declare in Zion
    the work of the LORD our God.
11   “Sharpen the arrows!
    Take up the shields!

The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

12   “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    make the watch strong;
  set up watchmen;
    prepare the ambushes;
  for the LORD has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13   O you who dwell by many waters,
    rich in treasures,
  your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.
14   The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:
  Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,
    and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
15   “It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom,
  and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
16   When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
  He makes lightning for the rain,
    and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17   Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
  for his images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.
18   They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19   Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
  and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the LORD of hosts is his name.
20   “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
  with you I break nations in pieces;
    with you I destroy kingdoms;
21   with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
    with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22   with you I break in pieces man and woman;
    with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;
  with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
23     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
  with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
    with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

24 “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD.

25   “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
      declares the LORD,
    which destroys the whole earth;
  I will stretch out my hand against you,
    and roll you down from the crags,
    and make you a burnt mountain.
26   No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
  but you shall be a perpetual waste,
    declares the LORD.
27   “Set up a standard on the earth;
    blow the trumpet among the nations;
  prepare the nations for war against her;
    summon against her the kingdoms,
    Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
  appoint a marshal against her;
    bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28   Prepare the nations for war against her,
    the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
    and every land under their dominion.
29   The land trembles and writhes in pain,
    for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand,
  to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.
30   The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
  their strength has failed;
    they have become women;
  her dwellings are on fire;
    her bars are broken.
31   One runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
  to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken on every side;
32   the fords have been seized,
    the marshes are burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.
33   For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
  The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
  yet a little while
    and the time of her harvest will come.”
34   “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
  he has made me an empty vessel;
    he has swallowed me like a monster;
  he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.
35   The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
    let the inhabitant of Zion say.
  “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    let Jerusalem say.
36   Therefore thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
  I will dry up her sea
    and make her fountain dry,
37   and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
    the haunt of jackals,
  a horror and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.
38   “They shall roar together like lions;
    they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
39   While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
    and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
  then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and not wake, declares the LORD.
40   I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and male goats.
41   “How Babylon is taken,
    the praise of the whole earth seized!
  How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
42   The sea has come up on Babylon;
    she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43   Her cities have become a horror,
    a land of drought and a desert,
  a land in which no one dwells,
    and through which no son of man passes.
44   And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
    and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
  The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45   “Go out of the midst of her, my people!
    Let every one save his life
    from the fierce anger of the LORD!
46   Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
    at the report heard in the land,
  when a report comes in one year
    and afterward a report in another year,
  and violence is in the land,
    and ruler is against ruler.
47   “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
    when I will punish the images of Babylon;
  her whole land shall be put to shame,
    and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48   Then the heavens and the earth,
    and all that is in them,
  shall sing for joy over Babylon,
    for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
      declares the LORD.
49   Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50   “You who have escaped from the sword,
    go, do not stand still!
  Remember the LORD from far away,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51   ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
    dishonor has covered our face,
  for foreigners have come
    into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’
52   “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,
    when I will execute judgment upon her images,
  and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.
53   Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
    and though she should fortify her strong height,
  yet destroyers would come from me against her,
    declares the LORD.
54   “A voice! A cry from Babylon!
    The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55   For the LORD is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her mighty voice.
  Their waves roar like many waters;
    the noise of their voice is raised,
56   for a destroyer has come upon her,
    upon Babylon;
  her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken in pieces,
  for the LORD is a God of recompense;
    he will surely repay.
57   I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
    her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
  they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
    declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58   “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
  The broad wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
  and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
  The peoples labor for nothing,
    and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

50:1 The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:

2   “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
    set up a banner and proclaim,
    conceal it not, and say:
  ‘Babylon is taken,
    Bel is put to shame,
    Merodach is dismayed.
  Her images are put to shame,
    her idols are dismayed.’

3 “For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

4 “In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. 7 All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

8 “Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock. 9 For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. 10 Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the LORD.

11   “Though you rejoice, though you exult,
    O plunderers of my heritage,
  though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
    and neigh like stallions,
12   your mother shall be utterly shamed,
    and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
  Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
    a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13   Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited
    but shall be an utter desolation;
  everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
    and hiss because of all her wounds.
14   Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
    all you who bend the bow;
  shoot at her, spare no arrows,
    for she has sinned against the LORD.
15   Raise a shout against her all around;
    she has surrendered;
  her bulwarks have fallen;
    her walls are thrown down.
  For this is the vengeance of the LORD:
    take vengeance on her;
    do to her as she has done.
16   Cut off from Babylon the sower,
    and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
  because of the sword of the oppressor,
    every one shall turn to his own people,
    and every one shall flee to his own land.

17 “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. 18 Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. 19 I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20 In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

21   “Go up against the land of Merathaim,
    and against the inhabitants of Pekod.
  Kill, and devote them to destruction,
      declares the LORD,
    and do all that I have commanded you.
22   The noise of battle is in the land,
    and great destruction!
23   How the hammer of the whole earth
    is cut down and broken!
  How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
24   I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
    and you did not know it;
  you were found and caught,
    because you opposed the LORD.
25   The LORD has opened his armory
    and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
  for the Lord GOD of hosts has a work to do
    in the land of the Chaldeans.
26   Come against her from every quarter;
    open her granaries;
  pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
    let nothing be left of her.
27   Kill all her bulls;
    let them go down to the slaughter.
  Woe to them, for their day has come,
    the time of their punishment.

28 “A voice! They flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.

29 “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the LORD.

31   “Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
    declares the Lord GOD of hosts,
  for your day has come,
    the time when I will punish you.
32   The proud one shall stumble and fall,
    with none to raise him up,
  and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
    and it will devour all that is around him.

33 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35   “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the LORD,
    and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
    and against her officials and her wise men!
36   A sword against the diviners,
    that they may become fools!
  A sword against her warriors,
    that they may be destroyed!
37   A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
    and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
    that they may become women!
  A sword against all her treasures,
    that they may be plundered!
38   A drought against her waters,
    that they may be dried up!
  For it is a land of images,
    and they are mad over idols.

39 “Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the LORD, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

41   “Behold, a people comes from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
42   They lay hold of bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
  The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
    they ride on horses,
  arrayed as a man for battle
    against you, O daughter of Babylon!
43   “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
    and his hands fell helpless;
  anguish seized him,
    pain as of a woman in labor.

44 “Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 45 Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”

13:1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2   On a bare hill raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
  wave the hand for them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.
3   I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
    my proudly exulting ones.
4   The sound of a tumult is on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
  The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
  The LORD of hosts is mustering
    a host for battle.
5   They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
  the LORD and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole land.
6   Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
    as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
7   Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart will melt.
8   They will be dismayed:
    pangs and agony will seize them;
    they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
  They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.
9   Behold, the day of the LORD comes,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
  to make the land a desolation
    and to destroy its sinners from it.
10   For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
  the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.
11   I will punish the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
  I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12   I will make people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13   Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
    and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
  at the wrath of the LORD of hosts
    in the day of his fierce anger.
14   And like a hunted gazelle,
    or like sheep with none to gather them,
  each will turn to his own people,
    and each will flee to his own land.
15   Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16   Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
  their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.
17   Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.
18   Their bows will slaughter the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.
19   And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
  will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.
20   It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
  no Arab will pitch his tent there;
    no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21   But wild animals will lie down there,
    and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
  there ostriches will dwell,
    and there wild goats will dance.
22   Hyenas will cry in its towers,
    and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
  its time is close at hand
    and its days will not be prolonged.

2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

38:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.

7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

10 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

17 “Thus says the Lord GOD: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? 18 But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, my wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. 23 So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.