Jeremiah 50
50
A Message to Babylon
1This is the message the Lord spoke to Babylon and the Babylonian people through Jeremiah the prophet.
2“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!’
3A 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.”
4The Lord says, “At that time
the people of Israel and Judah will come together.
They will cry and look for the Lord their God.
5Those people will ask how to go to Jerusalem
and will start in that direction.
They will come and join themselves to the Lord.
They will make an agreement with him that will last forever,
an agreement that will never be forgotten.
6“My people have been like lost sheep.
Their leaders have led them in the wrong way
and made them wander around in the mountains and hills.
They forgot where their resting place was.
7Whoever saw my people hurt them.
And those enemies said, ‘We did nothing wrong.
Those people sinned against the Lord, their true resting place,
the God their fathers trusted.’
8“Run away from Babylon,
and leave the land of the Babylonians.
Be like the goats that lead the flock.
9I will soon bring against Babylon
many great nations from the north.
They will take their places for war against it,
and it will be captured by people from the north.
Their arrows are like trained soldiers
who do not return from war with empty hands.
10The enemy will take all the wealth from the Babylonians.
Those enemy soldiers will get all they want,” says the Lord.
11“Babylon, you are excited and happy,
because you took my land.
You dance around like a young cow in the grain.
Your laughter is like the neighing of male horses.
12Your mother will be very ashamed;
the woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced.
Soon Babylonia will be the least important of all the nations.
She will be an empty, dry desert.
13Because of the Lord’s anger,
no one will live there.
She will be completely empty.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be shocked.
They will shake their heads when they see all her injuries.
14“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.
15Soldiers 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.
16Don’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.
17“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.”
18So 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.
19But 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.”
20The 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.
21“Attack the land of Merathaim.
Attack the people who live in Pekod.
Chase them, kill them, and completely destroy them.
Do everything I commanded you!” says the Lord.
22“The noise of battle can be heard all over the country;
it is the noise of much destruction.
23Babylon was the hammer of the whole earth,
but how broken and shattered that hammer is now.
It is truly the most ruined
of all the nations.
24Babylon, I set a trap for you,
and you were caught before you knew it.
You fought against the Lord,
so you were found and taken prisoner.
25The Lord has opened up his storeroom
and brought out the weapons of his anger,
because the Lord God All-Powerful has work to do
in the land of the Babylonians.
26Come against Babylon from far away.
Break open her storehouses of grain.
Pile up her dead bodies like heaps of grain.
Completely destroy Babylon
and do not leave anyone alive.
27Kill all the young men in Babylon;
let them be killed like animals.
How terrible it will be for them, because the time has come for their defeat;
it is time for them to be punished.
28Listen to the people running to escape the country of Babylon!
They are telling Jerusalem
how the Lord our God is punishing Babylon as it deserves
for destroying his Temple.
29“Call for the archers
to come against Babylon.
Tell them to surround the city,
and let no one escape.
Pay her back for what she has done;
do to her what she has done to other nations.
Babylon acted with pride against the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
30So her young men will be killed in her streets.
All her soldiers will die on that day,” says the Lord.
31“Babylon, you are too proud, and I am against you,”
says the Lord God All-Powerful.
“The time has come
for you to be punished.
32Proud Babylon will stumble and fall,
and no one will help her get up.
I will start a fire in her towns,
and it will burn up everything around her.”
33This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“The people of Israel
and Judah are slaves.
The enemy took them as prisoners
and won’t let them go.
34But God is strong and will buy them back.
His name is the Lord All-Powerful.
He will surely defend them with power
so he can give rest to their land.
But he will not give rest to those living in Babylon.”
35The Lord says,
“Let a sword kill the people living in Babylon
and her officers and wise men!
36Let a sword kill her false prophets,
and they will become fools.
Let a sword kill her warriors,
and they will be full of terror.
37Let a sword kill her horses and chariots
and all the soldiers hired from other countries!
Then they will be like frightened women.
Let a sword attack her treasures,
so they will be taken away.
38Let a sword attack her waters
so they will be dried up.
She is a land of idols,
and the people go crazy with fear over them.
39“Desert animals and hyenas will live there,
and owls will live there,
but no people will ever live there again.
She will never be filled with people again.
40God completely destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the towns around them,” says the Lord.
“In the same way no people will live in Babylon,
and no human being will stay there.
41“Look! An army is coming from the north.
A powerful nation and many kings
are coming together from all around the world.
42Their armies have bows and spears.
The soldiers are cruel and have no mercy.
As the soldiers come riding on their horses,
the sound is loud like the roaring sea.
They stand in their places, ready for battle.
They are ready to attack you, city of Babylon.
43The king of Babylon heard about those armies,
and he became helpless with fear.
Distress has gripped him.
His pain is like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.
44“Like a lion coming up from the thick bushes near the Jordan River
to attack a strong pen for sheep,
I will suddenly chase the people of Babylon from their land.
Who is the one I have chosen to do this?
There is no one like me,
no one who can take me to court.
None of their leaders can stand up against me.”
45So listen to what the Lord has planned to do against Babylon.
Listen to what he has decided to do to the people in the city of Babylon.
He will surely drag away the young ones of Babylon.
Their hometowns will surely be shocked at what happens to them.
46At the sound of Babylon’s capture, the earth will shake.
People in all nations will hear Babylon’s cry of distress.
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Jeremiah 50: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 50
50
Babylon will be captured
1-2The LORD told me to say:#Is 13.1—14.23; 47.1-15.
Announce what will happen
and don't leave anything out.
Raise the signal flags;
shout so all nations can hear—
Babylon will be captured!
Marduk,#50.1,2 Marduk: The Hebrew text has “Bel” and “Marduk”, two names for the same god. Babylon's god,
will be ashamed and terrified,
and his idols broken.
3The attack on the Babylonians
will come from the north;
they and their animals will run,
leaving the land empty.
Israel and Judah will return to their land
4The LORD said:
People of Israel and Judah,
when these things happen
you will weep, and together
you will return to your land
and worship me,
the LORD your God.
5You will ask the way to Zion
and then come and join with me
in making an agreement
you won't break or forget.
6My people, you are lost sheep
abandoned by their shepherds
in the mountains.
You don't even remember
your resting place.
7I am your true pasture land,
the one who gave hope
to your ancestors.
But you abandoned me,
so when your enemies found you,
they felt no guilt
as they gobbled you up.
8Escape from Babylonia,#Rev 18.4.
my people.
Get out of that country!
Don't wait for anyone else.
9In the north I am bringing
great nations together.
They will attack Babylon
and capture it.
The arrows they shoot
are like the best soldiers,#50.9 the best soldiers: Some Hebrew manuscripts and two ancient translations; most Hebrew manuscripts “soldiers who kill children”.
always finding their target.
10Babylonia will be conquered,
and its enemies will carry off
everything they want.
Babylon will be disgraced
The LORD said:
11People of Babylonia,
you were glad
to rob my people.
You had a good time,
making more noise
than horses
and jumping around
like calves threshing grain.#50.11 threshing grain: Hebrew; two ancient translations “in a pasture”.
12The city of Babylon
was like a mother to you.
But it will be disgraced
and become nothing
but a barren desert.
13My anger will destroy Babylon,
and no one will live there.
Everyone who passes by
will be shocked to see
what has happened.
14Babylon has rebelled against me.
Archers, take your places.
Shoot all your arrows at Babylon.
15Attack from every side!
Babylon surrenders!
The enemy tears down
its walls and towers.
I am taking my revenge
by doing to Babylon what it did
to other cities.
16There is no one in Babylonia
to plant or harvest crops.
Even foreigners who lived there
have left for their homelands,
afraid of the enemy armies.
17Israel is a flock of sheep
scattered by hungry lions.
The king of Assyria#50.17 king of Assyria: Either Shalmaneser V, who ruled 726-722 BC, conquered most of the northern kingdom, and surrounded its capital city Samaria; or Sargon II, who ruled 721-705 BC and took thousands of prisoners back to Assyria.
first gobbled Israel up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar,#50.17 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
king of Babylonia,
crunched on Israel's bones.
18I, the LORD All-Powerful,
the God of Israel,
punished the king of Assyria,
and I will also punish
the king of Babylonia.
19But I will bring Israel
back to its own land.
The people will be like sheep
eating their fill
on Mount Carmel
and in Bashan,
in the hill country of Ephraim
and in Gilead.
20I will rescue a few people
from Israel and Judah.
I will forgive them so completely
that their sin and guilt
will disappear,
never to be found.
The LORD's commands to the enemies of Babylonia
21The LORD said:
I have told
the enemies of Babylonia,
“Attack the people of Merathaim
and Pekod.#50.21 Merathaim…Pekod: Hebrew forms of two Babylonian names that refer to the land of Babylonia. Merathaim probably referred to lagoons near the mouth of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates or to the Persian Gulf, but in Hebrew it means “Twice as Rebellious”. Pekod referred to a tribe of south-eastern Babylonia, but in Hebrew it means “Punishment”.
Kill them all!
Destroy their possessions!”
22Sounds of war
and the noise of destruction
can be heard.
23Babylonia was a hammer
pounding every country,
but now it lies broken.
What a shock to the nations
of the world!
24Babylonia challenged me,
the LORD God All-Powerful,
but that nation doesn't know
it is caught in a trap
that I set.
25I've brought out my weapons,
and with them I will put a curse
on Babylonia.
26Come from far away,
you enemies of Babylon!
Pile up the grain
from its storehouses,
and destroy it completely,
along with everything else.
27Kill the soldiers of Babylonia,
because the time has come
for them to be punished.
28The Babylonian army
destroyed my temple,
but soon I will take revenge.
Then refugees from Babylon
will tell about it in Zion.
29Attack Babylon, enemy archers;#Rev 18.6.
set up camp around the city,
and don't let anyone escape.
It challenged me, the holy God,
so do to it
what it did to other cities.
Proud Babylon will fall
30People of Babylon,
I, the LORD, promise
that even your best soldiers
will lie dead in the streets.
31Babylon, you should be named,
“The Proud One”.
But the time has come when I,
the LORD All-Powerful,
will punish you.
32You are proud,
but you will stumble and fall,
and no one will help you up.
I will set your villages on fire,
and everything around you
will go up in flames.
33You Babylonians were cruel
to Israel and Judah.
You took them captive, and now
you refuse to let them go.
34But I, the LORD All-Powerful,
will rescue and protect them.
I will bring peace to their land
and trouble to yours.
35I have declared war on you,
your officials, and advisers.
36This war will prove
that your prophets
are liars and fools.
And it will frighten
your warriors.
37Then your chariot horses
and the foreigners in your army
will refuse to go into battle,
and the enemy will carry away
everything you treasure.
38Your rivers and canals
will dry up.
All this will happen,
because your land
is full of idols,
and they have made fools
of you.
39Never again will people live#Rev 18.2.
in your land—
only desert animals, jackals,#50.39 jackals: See the note at 9.11.
and unclean birds.
40I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah#Gn 19.24,25.
and the nearby towns,
and I will destroy Babylon
just as completely.
No one will live there again.
Babylonia is invaded
The LORD said:
41Far to the north,
a nation and its allies
have been awakened.
They are powerful
and ready for war.
42Bows and arrows and swords
are in their hands.
The soldiers are cruel
and show no pity.
The hoofbeats of their horses
echo like ocean waves
crashing against the shore.
The army has lined up for battle
and is coming to attack you,
people of Babylonia!
43Ever since your king heard
about this army,
he has been weak with fear;
he twists and turns in pain
like a woman giving birth.
44Babylonia, I will attack you
like a lion from the forest,
attacking sheep in a meadow
along the Jordan.
In a moment the flock runs,
and the land is empty.
Who will I choose to attack you?
I will do it myself!
No one can force me to fight
or chase me away.
45Listen to my plans for you,
people of Babylonia.
Your children will be dragged off,
and your country destroyed.
46The sounds of your destruction
will be heard among the nations,
and the earth will shake.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012