Jeremiah 50
50
1This is the Lord's message that he told Jeremiah the prophet to give about Babylon and the country of Babylonia.#50:1. “The country of Babylonia”: literally, “the land of the Chaldeans.”
2Tell everyone the news! Hold up a sign and shout it out, don't hold back! Tell them, Babylon has fallen! Her#50:2. Since here and in Revelation the city of Babylon is identified with the female pronoun, the allusion is maintained here. god Bel is humiliated; the power of her god Marduk is broken; all Babylon's idols are humiliated and their power is broken.
3A northern nation will come and attack her and turn the country into a wasteland. No one will live there—both people and animals will desert it. 4That's the time when the people of Israel and Judah will join together, weeping as they go to worship the Lord their God, declares the Lord. 5They will ask the way to Zion, and start going in that direction. They will arrive and commit themselves to the Lord in an everlasting agreement that won't ever be forgotten.
6My people are sheep that are lost, led astray by their shepherds, making them wander aimlessly in the mountains. They go from place to place in the mountains and hills, forgetting where they used to rest. 7All those who came across them attacked them. Their enemies declared, “We're not to blame! They're the ones who sinned against the Lord, their true resting place; the Lord who was the hope of their forefathers.” 8Run away from the city of Babylon; get away from the country of Babylonia! Lead the way like the male goats that lead the flock.
9Look! I'm assembling a coalition of strong northern nations who will come and attack Babylon. They will line up in battle against her; she will be conquered from the north. Their arrows will be like the best warriors—they don't miss! 10Babylonia will be plundered—everyone who plunders her will have plenty of loot, declares the Lord.
11Though for now you Babylonians celebrate and sing triumphantly as you plunder my special people, though for now you jump around like a frisky young cow treading out the grain, and neigh like stallions, 12you are going to bring shame on your mother, you are going to disgrace the one who gave birth to you. Watch as she becomes the least important of all the nations, a wilderness, a dry desert land. 13Because of Lord's angry punishment, she will be deserted, completely desolate. Everyone who passes by will be horrified at what has happened to Babylon, and sneer at all her wounds.
14All you archers, line up ready for battle around Babylon. Shoot at her! Don't save your arrows, because she has sinned against the Lord. 15Shout war cries against her from every side! She holds up her hands in surrender. Her towers have collapsed; her walls are demolished. This is the Lord paying her back, so you too can pay her back—do the same to her as she did to others. 16Stop the sower from sowing in the country of Babylon, and stop the harvester swinging the sickle to reap the grain. Under the threat of the enemies' swords, everyone runs home to their own people, they go back to where they came from.
17The Israelites are a flock that's been chased and scattered by lions. The first on the attack was the king of Assyria; then lastly Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon crushed their bones.
18So this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I'm going to punish the king of Babylon and his country just like I punished the king of Assyria. 19I will lead the Israelites back to their pasturelands, to feed on Carmel and Bashan, to satisfy their appetites on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. 20This will be when the guilt and the sins of Israel and Judah will be looked for, but none will be found, because I will forgive those people who remain that I'm looking after, declares the Lord.
21Go and attack the land of Merathaim, and the people living in Pekod.#50:21. These are not actual place names. They mean “double rebellion” and “punishment.” However, they are similar in sound to two locations in Babylonia. Kill them with swords, set them apart for destruction,#50:21. “Set apart for destruction”: a special term that described a dedication to the Lord, indicating that what was promised was to be given over to the Lord and not retained. along with everything they leave behind. Make sure you do everything I have ordered you to do, declares the Lord.
22The noise of battle is heard in the country, the noise of terrible destruction. 23See how the hammer of the whole earth is lying broken in pieces in the ground! The nations look with horror on what Babylon has become! 24Babylon, I set a trap for you, and you were caught before you realized it. You were hunted down and captured because you fought against the Lord. 25In his anger the Lord opened his armory to bring out his weapons, for this is what the Lord God Almighty is doing in the country of Babylonia.
26Come and attack her from every side! Open her granaries; collect the loot you take from her like piles of grain. Set her apart for destruction; don't leave any survivors. 27Kill all her young bulls#50:27. “Bulls”: referring to the young men serving as soldiers for Babylon. with the sword; let them be slaughtered. What a disaster for them, because their time has come when they're punished.
28(Listen to the refugees and survivors who have returned from Babylonia, announcing in Zion, “The Lord our God is paying them back for what happened to his Temple.”)
29Call up the archers to attack Babylon, yes, all of them! Completely surround her—don't let anyone escape. Pay her back for what she's done, because in her pride she defied the Lord, Israel's Holy One. 30As a result her young men will be killed in the streets; all her soldiers will die that day, declares the Lord. 31Watch out, because I'm against you, you arrogant people! declares the Lord God Almighty. Your time has come when I will punish you. 32You arrogant people will trip and fall. Nobody will be there to pick you up. I'm going to set fire to your towns and burn up everything around you.
33This is what the Lord Almighty says: The people of Israel and Judah are being mistreated. All who captured them are holding onto them, refusing to let them go. 34But the one who rescues them is powerful; the Lord Almighty is his name. He will defend them and their cause, so he may bring peace on earth, but trouble to the people of Babylon.
35A sword is raised to attack the Babylonians, declares the Lord, ready to attack those who live in Babylon, and her officials and wise men. 36A sword is raised to attack her false prophets, and they will become fools. A sword is raised to attack her soldiers, and they will be terrified. 37A sword is raised to attack her horses and chariots, along with all the foreign soldiers with her, and they will become like frightened women. A sword is raised to attack her stores of treasure, and they will be plundered. 38A drought has hit her rivers, and they will dry up. For it's a country full of pagan images. These horrible idols drive their worshipers mad. 39Consequently desert animals and hyenas will live there, and it will be a home for owls. It will be uninhabited forever—it won't be lived in from one generation to the next. 40In the same way that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, declares the Lord, no one will live there, no one will stay there.
41Look! An army is advancing from the north. A great nation and many kings are coming against you from the distant lands. 42They're carrying bows and javelins. They are cruel and merciless. When they shout it's like the sea roaring. They ride on horses and attack in formation against you, people of Babylon. 43The king of Babylon has heard the news and he's terrified. He's overcome with fear, in pain like a woman in labor.
44Watch out!#50:44. The following passage parallels that given against Edom in 49:19-21. I'm going to come like a lion from the tangled undergrowth beside the Jordan to attack the animals grazing#50:44. “Attack the animals grazing”: supplied for clarity. the green pasture. In fact I'm going to chase the Babylonians from their land very quickly.
Who will I choose to conquer them? Who is like me? Who can challenge me? Which leader#50:44. “Leader”: literally, “shepherd.” could oppose me? 45So listen to what the Lord has planned to do to Babylon and the country of Babylonia: Their children will be dragged away like lambs from the flock, and because of them their pasture will become a wasteland. 46The sound of Babylon's capture will make the earth shake; their cries will be heard throughout the nations.
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Jeremiah 50: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Jeremiah 50
50
Prophecies against Babylon
1The word the Lord spoke about Babylon, # Is 13:1 the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag; # Ps 60:4; Is 5:26; 18:3
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say: Babylon is captured;
Bel # Is 46:1; Jr 51:44 is put to shame;
Marduk is devastated;
her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3For a nation from the north will come against her; # Is 41:25; Jr 1:13-15; 6:1,22; 47:2; 50:9,41; 51:48
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it —
both man and beast will escape. # Lit escape; they will walk # Ps 135:8; Jr 7:20; 21:6; 32:43; 33:10,12; 36:29; 51:62
4In those days and at that time —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
the Israelites and Judeans will come together, # Is 11:12-13; Jr 3:18; Ezk 37:15-22; Hs 11:1
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God. # 2Ch 11:16; 15:4; Hs 3:5
5They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves # LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant # Gn 9:16; 17:7,13,19; Is 55:3; 61:8; Jr 32:40; Ezk 16:60; 37:26 that will never be forgotten.
6My people are lost sheep; # Is 53:6
their shepherds have led them astray, # Jr 23:2,13
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains. # Ezk 34:6
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
7All who found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land, # Jr 31:23; 40:2-3
the hope of their ancestors, # Jr 14:8; 17:13 the Lord.”
8Escape from Babylon; # Jr 51:6; Rv 18:4
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon # Jr 51:1,11,29,35
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her; # Jr 6:23; 50:14,42; 51:27
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled # Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11Because you rejoice,
because you sing in triumph —
you who plundered My inheritance —
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions, # Jdg 5:22; Jr 8:16; 47:3
12your mother # Jr 2:31; 51:47; Hs 2:4-5 will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all # Lit Look! The last of the nations —
a dry land, a wilderness, # Jr 51:43 an Arabah.
13Because of the Lord’s wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be horrified
and scoff because of all her wounds. # Dt 28:37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jr 5:30; 18:16; 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 42:18; 44:12,22; 49:17; Mc 6:16; Zph 2:15
14Line up in battle formation around Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished. # Jr 51:58
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance, # Jr 46:10
take out your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
16Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor’s sword, # Jr 46:16
each will turn to his own people, # Is 13:14
each will flee to his own land.
The Return of God’s People
17Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions. # Jr 2:15; 4:7
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last one who crushed his bones
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. # 2Kg 24:10-12; 25:1-7
18Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to punish the king of Babylon # Is 10:12 and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19I will return Israel to his grazing land, # Jr 22:6; 23:3; 33:12; Ezk 34:14
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead. # Is 33:9; Mc 7:14; Nah 1:4
20In those days and at that time —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
one will search for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive # Nm 14:20; Jr 31:34; 36:3 those I leave as a remnant. # Jr 39:10; 52:16; Zph 3:12
The Invasion of Babylon
21“Go against the land of Merathaim,
and against those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
do everything I have commanded you. # 1Kg 9:4; 2Kg 21:8; 2Ch 7:17
22The sound of war is in the land # Jr 51:54-56 —
a great destruction.
23How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations! # Jr 51:41
24Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught, # Jr 51:31; Dn 5:30-31
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you fought against the Lord.
25The Lord opened His armory
and brought out His weapons of wrath, # Is 13:5
because it is a task of the Lord God of Hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26Come against her from the most distant places. # Lit from the end
Open her granaries;
pile her up like mounds of grain
and completely destroy her.
Leave her no survivors.
27Put all her young bulls to the sword;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, because their day has come,
the time of their punishment. # Is 10:3; Jr 46:21; Ezk 21:25,29; Hs 5:9; Mc 7:4; 2Pt 2:9
The Humiliation of Babylon
28“There is a voice of fugitives and those who escape
from the land of Babylon
announcing in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance for His temple. # 2Kg 18:16; 23:4; 24:13; Jr 51:11
29Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds; # Ps 28:4; Pr 24:12,29; Jr 25:14; 50:29; 51:24; Lm 3:64
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel. # Ps 71:22; Is 1:4; 37:23; Jr 51:5
30Therefore, her young men will fall
in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the Lord’s declaration. # Jr 49:26
31Look, I am against you, you arrogant one —
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Hosts —
because your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32The arrogant will stumble and fall # Ps 27:2; Pr 24:16-17; Is 3:8; 8:15; 31:3
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.” # Jr 21:14
The Desolation of Babylon
33This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast; # 2Ch 28:11; 30:9; Is 14:17; 61:1; Jr 13:17
they refuse to release them.
34Their Redeemer is strong;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case # 1Sm 24:15; Pr 23:11; Is 47:4; Jr 51:36
so that He might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon. # Mc 4:10
35A sword is over the Chaldeans —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her sages.
36A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
37A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them, # Ex 12:38; Neh 13:1-3; Jr 25:20
and they will be like women. # Jr 51:30
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
38A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things. # Or of dreaded gods # Ex 15:16; 23:27; Jb 20:25
39Therefore, desert creatures # Or desert demons will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations. # Is 13:20-21; 34:13-14
40Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns # Gn 19:24-25 —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
so no one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it
as a temporary resident. # Jr 49:18-21,33
The Conquest of Babylon
41Look! A people comes from the north. # Jr 6:22-24; 49:24
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth. # Jr 6:22; 25:32; 31:8
42They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea, # Is 5:30; 17:12
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands fall helpless.
Distress has seized him —
pain, like a woman in labor. # Ps 48:6; Is 13:8; 21:3; 42:14; Jr 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 49:24; Mc 4:9-10; 1Th 5:3
44“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets # Lit pride # Ps 10:9; 17:12; Is 5:29; Jr 2:15; 5:6; 12:5; 25:38; 50:17; Zch 11:3 of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon # Lit them away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me? ”
45Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: # Jr 51:29 Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them. 46At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations. # Jr 49:19-21
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