Jeremiah 50
50
A Message about Babylon
1The Lord gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.#50:1 Or Chaldeans; also in 50:8, 25, 35, 45. 2This is what the Lord says:
“Tell the whole world,
and keep nothing back.
Raise a signal flag
to tell everyone that Babylon will fall!
Her images and idols#50:2 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung. will be shattered.
Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced.
3For a nation will attack her from the north
and bring such destruction that no one will live there again.
Everything will be gone;
both people and animals will flee.
Hope for Israel and Judah
4“In those coming days,”
says the Lord,
“the people of Israel will return home
together with the people of Judah.
They will come weeping
and seeking the Lord their God.
5They will ask the way to Jerusalem#50:5 Hebrew Zion; also in 50:28.
and will start back home again.
They will bind themselves to the Lord
with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.
6“My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray
and turned them loose in the mountains.
They have lost their way
and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.
7All who found them devoured them.
Their enemies said,
‘We did nothing wrong in attacking them,
for they sinned against the Lord,
their true place of rest,
and the hope of their ancestors.’
8“But now, flee from Babylon!
Leave the land of the Babylonians.
Like male goats at the head of the flock,
lead my people home again.
9For I am raising up an army
of great nations from the north.
They will join forces to attack Babylon,
and she will be captured.
The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark;
they will not miss!
10Babylonia#50:10 Or Chaldea. will be looted
until the attackers are glutted with loot.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Babylon’s Sure Fall
11“You rejoice and are glad,
you who plundered my chosen people.
You frisk about like a calf in a meadow
and neigh like a stallion.
12But your homeland#50:12 Hebrew your mother. will be overwhelmed
with shame and disgrace.
You will become the least of nations—
a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.
13Because of the Lord’s anger,
Babylon will become a deserted wasteland.
All who pass by will be horrified
and will gasp at the destruction they see there.
14“Yes, prepare to attack Babylon,
all you surrounding nations.
Let your archers shoot at her; spare no arrows.
For she has sinned against the Lord.
15Shout war cries against her from every side.
Look! She surrenders!
Her walls have fallen.
It is the Lord’s vengeance,
so take vengeance on her.
Do to her as she has done to others!
16Take from Babylon all those who plant crops;
send all the harvesters away.
Because of the sword of the enemy,
everyone will run away and rush back to their own lands.
Hope for God’s People
17“The Israelites are like sheep
that have been scattered by lions.
First the king of Assyria ate them up.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar#50:17 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar. of Babylon cracked their bones.”
18Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
the God of Israel, says:
“Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19And I will bring Israel home again to its own land,
to feed in the fields of Carmel and Bashan,
and to be satisfied once more
in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.
20In those days,” says the Lord,
“no sin will be found in Israel or in Judah,
for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.
The Lord’s Judgment on Babylon
21“Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim
and against the people of Pekod.
Pursue, kill, and completely destroy#50:21 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. them,
as I have commanded you,” says the Lord.
22“Let the battle cry be heard in the land,
a shout of great destruction.
23Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth,
lies broken and shattered.
Babylon is desolate among the nations!
24Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you.
You are caught, for you have fought against the Lord.
25The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out weapons to vent his fury.
The terror that falls upon the Babylonians
will be the work of the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
26Yes, come against her from distant lands.
Break open her granaries.
Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble.
Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!
27Destroy even her young bulls—
it will be terrible for them, too!
Slaughter them all!
For Babylon’s day of reckoning has come.
28Listen to the people who have escaped from Babylon,
as they tell in Jerusalem
how the Lord our God has taken vengeance
against those who destroyed his Temple.
29“Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon.
Surround the city so none can escape.
Do to her as she has done to others,
for she has defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
30Her young men will fall in the streets and die.
Her soldiers will all be killed,”
says the Lord.
31“See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,”
says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“Your day of reckoning has arrived—
the day when I will punish you.
32O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall,
and no one will raise you up.
For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylon
that will burn up everything around them.”
33This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged.
Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.
34But the one who redeems them is strong.
His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
He will defend them
and give them rest again in Israel.
But for the people of Babylon
there will be no rest!
35“The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,”
says the Lord.
“It will strike the people of Babylon—
her officials and wise men, too.
36The sword will strike her wise counselors,
and they will become fools.
The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,
and panic will seize them.
37The sword will strike her horses and chariots
and her allies from other lands,
and they will all become like women.
The sword will strike her treasures,
and they all will be plundered.
38A drought#50:38 Or sword; the Hebrew words for drought and sword are very similar. will strike her water supply,
causing it to dry up.
And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols,
and the people are madly in love with them.
39“Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas.
It will be a home for owls.
Never again will people live there;
it will lie desolate forever.
40I will destroy it as I#50:40 Hebrew as God. destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns,” says the Lord.
“No one will live there;
no one will inhabit it.
41“Look! A great army is coming from the north.
A great nation and many kings
are rising against you from far-off lands.
42They are armed with bows and spears.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
As they ride forward on horses,
they sound like a roaring sea.
They are coming in battle formation,
planning to destroy you, Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard reports about the enemy,
and he is weak with fright.
Pangs of anguish have gripped him,
like those of a woman in labor.
44“I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan,
leaping on the sheep in the pasture.
I will chase Babylon from its land,
and I will appoint the leader of my choice.
For who is like me, and who can challenge me?
What ruler can oppose my will?”
45Listen to the Lord’s plans against Babylon
and the land of the Babylonians.
Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep,
and their homes will be destroyed.
46The earth will shake with the shout, “Babylon has been taken!”
and its cry of despair will be heard around the world.
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Jeremiah 50: NLT
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Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 50
50
1The word that יהוה spoke concerning Baḇel, concerning the land of the Kasdim by Yirmeyahu the prophet.
2“Declare among the nations, and let it be heard. And lift up a banner, let it be heard, and do not conceal it. Say, ‘Baḇel shall be taken, Bĕl shall be put to shame, Meroḏaḵ shall be broken, her images shall be put to shame, her idols shall be broken.’
3For a nation shall come up against her from the north, which shall make her land waste, and none shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall go, both man and beast.
4“In those days and at that time,” declares יהוה, “the children of Yisra’ĕl shall come, they and the children of Yehuḏah together, weeping as they come, and seek יהוה their Elohim.
5“They shall ask the way to Tsiyon, their faces toward it, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to יהוה, in an everlasting covenant, never to be forgotten.’
6“My people have been wandering#Or lost, or straying, or perishing. sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.
7“All who found them have devoured them. And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against יהוה, the Home of righteousness, and the Expectation of their fathers: יהוה.’
8“Flee from the midst of Baḇel, come out#See Rev 18:4 of the land of the Kasdim. And be as rams before a flock.
9“For look, I am stirring up and bringing up against Baḇel an assembly of great nations from a land of the north, and they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be captured – their arrows are like those of a mighty skilled man, not returning empty-handed.
10“And Chaldea shall become plunder, all who plunder her shall satisfy themselves,” declares יהוה.
11“Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you who plunder My inheritance, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and you neigh like stallions,
12your mother shall be greatly ashamed. She who bore you shall be humiliated. Look, the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
13“Because of the wrath of יהוה she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be deserted – all of it. Everyone passing by Baḇel shall be astonished and whistle at all her plagues.
14“Set yourselves in array against Baḇel all around, all you who bend the bow. Shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against יהוה.
15“Shout against her all around. She has given her hand, her foundations have fallen, her walls are thrown down, for it is the vengeance of יהוה. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her.
16“Cut off the sower from Baḇel, and him who handles the sickle at harvest time. From before the sword of the oppressor each one turns to his own people, and each one flees to his own land.
17“Yisra’ĕl is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away. First the sovereign of Ashshur devoured him, and now, at last, this Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel has broken his bones.”
18Therefore thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “See, I am punishing the sovereign of Baḇel and his land, as I have punished the sovereign of Ashshur.
19“And I shall bring back Yisra’ĕl to his pasture, and he shall feed on Karmel and Bashan. And his being shall be satisfied on Mount Ephrayim and Gil‛aḏ.
20“In those days and at that time,” declares יהוה, “the crookedness of Yisra’ĕl shall be searched for, but there shall be none; and the sin of Yehuḏah, but none shall be found. For I shall pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
21“Go up against the land of Merathayim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Peqoḏ. Slay and put them under the ban,” declares יהוה, “and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22“There is a sound of battle in the land, and of great destruction.
23“How the hammer of all the earth has been cut off and broken! How Baḇel has become a ruin among the nations!
24“I have laid a snare for you, and you were captured, O Baḇel, and you yourself did not know! You have been found and also caught, because you strove against יהוה.”
25יהוה has opened His armoury, and has brought out the weapons of His displeasure, for the Master Elohim of hosts has a work to do in the land of the Kasdim.
26Come against her from every quarter, open her storehouses, pile her up as heaps of ruins, and put her under the ban. Let her have no remnant.
27Slay all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.
28Listen! They flee and escape from the land of Baḇel, to declare in Tsiyon the vengeance of יהוה our Elohim, the vengeance of His Hĕḵal.
29“Summon archers against Baḇel. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around, let no one escape. Repay her according to her work, do to her according to all she has done. For she has been proud against יהוה, against the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl.
30“Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of battle shall perish in that day,” declares יהוה.
31“See, I am against you, O proud one!” declares the Master יהוה of hosts, “for your day has come, the time for your punishment.
32“And the proud one shall stumble, and he shall fall, with no one to raise him up. And I shall kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all around him.”
33Thus said יהוה of hosts, “The children of Yisra’ĕl were oppressed, along with the children of Yehuḏah. And all who took them captive have held them fast, they refused to let them go.
34“Their Redeemer is strong, יהוה of hosts is His Name. He shall strongly plead their case, so as to give rest to the land, but unrest to the inhabitants of Baḇel.
35“A sword is upon the Kasdim,” declares יהוה, “and it is upon the inhabitants of Baḇel, and upon her heads and upon her wise men.
36“A sword is upon the liars, and they shall be fools. A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be broken down.
37“A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mixed peoples who are in her midst, and they shall become like women. A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be plundered.
38“A sword is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up. For it is a land of carved images, and they boast about their idols.
39“Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell with the jackals, and the ostriches dwell in it. And it shall never again be inhabited, nor dwelt in, unto all generations.
40“As Elohim overthrew Seḏom and Amorah and their neighbouring cities,” declares יהוה, “so no one would dwell there, nor would son of man sojourn in it.
41“See, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation and many sovereigns stirred up from the ends of the earth.
42“They strengthen their bow and spear, they are cruel and they show no compassion. They sound like the roaring sea, and ride on horses, set in array, like a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Baḇel.
43“The sovereign of Baḇel has heard the report about them, and his hands became weak. Distress has taken hold of him, pain like that of a woman in labour.
44“See, he comes up like a lion from the Yardĕn jungle, against the enduring pasture. But in an instant I shall make them run away from her. And who is the Chosen One whom I appoint against her? For who is like Me? Who summons Me? And who is that Shepherd who stands before Me?”
45Therefore hear the counsel of יהוה which He has counselled concerning Baḇel, and His purposes He has purposed concerning the land of the Kasdim: the least of the flock shall drag them away! He shall make their pasture a waste before them!
46At the sound of Baḇel’s capture the earth shall be shaken, and the outcry shall be heard among the nations.
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