Jeremiah 50:1-4, 14-20

This is the message the LORD spoke to Babylon and the Babylonian people through Jeremiah the prophet. “Announce this to the nations. Lift up a banner and tell them. Speak the whole message and say: ‘Babylon will be captured. The god Bel will be put to shame, and the god Marduk will be afraid. Babylon’s gods will be put to shame, and her idols will be afraid!’ A nation from the north will attack Babylon and make it like an empty desert. No one will live there; both people and animals will run away.” The LORD says, “At that time the people of Israel and Judah will come together. They will cry and look for the LORD their God.

“Take your positions for war against Babylon, all you soldiers with bows. Shoot your arrows at Babylon! Do not save any of them, because Babylon has sinned against the LORD. Soldiers around Babylon, shout the war cry! Babylon has surrendered, her towers have fallen, and her walls have been torn down. The LORD is giving her people the punishment they deserve. You nations should give her what she deserves; do to her what she has done to others. Don’t let the people from Babylon plant their crops or gather the harvest. The soldiers treated their captives cruelly. Now, let everyone go back home. Let everyone run to his own country. “The people of Israel are like a flock of sheep that are scattered from being chased by lions. The first lion to eat them up was the king of Assyria. The last lion to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” So this is what the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his country as I punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring the people of Israel back to their own pasture. They will eat on Mount Carmel and in Bashan. They will eat and be full on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.” The LORD says, “At that time people will try to find Israel’s guilt, but there will be no guilt. People will try to find Judah’s sins, but no sins will be found, because I will leave a few people alive from Israel and Judah, and I will forgive their sins.