Jeremiah 50
50
Babylon Will Be Captured
1 #
Is 13.1—14.23; 47.1-15. The Lord told me to say:
Announce what will happen
and don't leave anything out.
2Raise the signal flags;
shout so all nations can hear—
Babylon will be captured!
Marduk,#50.2 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 in the mountains
by their shepherds.
You don't even remember
your resting place.
7I am your true pastureland,
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.
8 #
Rev 18.4. Escape from Babylonia,
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 that 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 b.c., conquered most of the northern kingdom, and surrounded its capital city Samaria; or Sargon II, who ruled 721–705 b.c. 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 Tigris and Euphrates rivers or to the Persian Gulf, but in Hebrew it means “Twice as Rebellious.” Pekod referred to a tribe of southeastern 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.
29 #
Rev 18.6. Attack Babylon, enemy archers;
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 advisors.
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 of this will happen,
because your land
is full of idols,
and they have made fools
of you.
39 #
Rev 18.2. Never again will people live
in your land—
only desert animals, jackals,#50.39 jackals: See the note at 9.11.
and unclean birds.
40 #
Gn 19.24,25. I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
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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Jeremiah 50: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 50
50
Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia
1The word that the Lord spoke #Gen. 10:10; 11:9; 2 Kin. 17:24; Is. 13:1; 47:1; Dan. 1:1; Rev. 14:8against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2“Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is #Is. 21:9taken, #Is. 46:1; Jer. 51:44Bel is shamed.
Merodach is broken in pieces;
#Jer. 43:12, 13Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
3#Jer. 51:48; Dan. 5:30, 31For out of the north #Is. 13:17, 18, 20a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall move, they shall depart,
Both man and beast.
4“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The children of Israel shall come,
#Ezra 2:1; Is. 11:12, 13; Jer. 3:18; 31:31; 33:7; Hos. 1:11They and the children of Judah together;
#Ezra 3:12, 13; (Ps. 126:5); Jer. 31:9; (Zech. 12:10)With continual weeping they shall come,
#Hos. 3:5And seek the Lord their God.
5They shall ask the way to Zion,
With their faces toward it, saying,
‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
In #Jer. 31:31a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’
6“My people have been #Is. 53:6; (Ezek. 34:15, 16); Matt. 9:36; 10:6; 1 Pet. 2:25lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them #Jer. 23:1; Ezek. 34:2astray;
They have turned them away on #(Jer. 2:20; 3:6, 23)the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
7All who found them have #Ps. 79:7devoured them;
And #Jer. 40:2, 3; Zech. 11:5their adversaries said, #Jer. 2:3; Dan. 9:16‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, #(Ps. 90:1; 91:1)the habitation of justice,
The Lord, #Ps. 22:4; Jer. 14:8; 17:13the hope of their fathers.’
8“Move#Is. 48:20; Jer. 51:6, 45; Zech. 2:6, 7; (Rev. 18:4) from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the rams before the flocks.
9#Jer. 15:14; 51:27For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior;
#2 Sam. 1:22None shall return in vain.
10And Chaldea shall become plunder;
#(Rev. 17:16)All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.
11“Because#Is. 47:6 you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat #Hos. 10:11like a heifer threshing grain,
And you bellow like bulls,
12Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a #Jer. 51:43wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
13Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
#Jer. 25:12But she shall be wholly desolate.
#Jer. 49:17Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.
14“Put#Jer. 51:2 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.
15Shout against her all around;
She has #1 Chr. 29:24; 2 Chr. 30:8; Lam. 5:6; Ezek. 17:18given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
#Jer. 51:58Her walls are thrown down;
For #Jer. 51:6, 11it is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her.
As she has done, so do to her.
16Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
#Is. 13:14; Jer. 51:9Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.
17“Israel is like #2 Kin. 24:10, 14scattered sheep;
#Jer. 2:15The lions have driven him away.
First #2 Kin. 15:29; 17:6; 18:9–13the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this #2 Kin. 24:10–14; 25:1–7Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
18Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
As I have punished the king of #Is. 10:12; Ezek. 31:3, 11, 12; Nah. 3:7, 18, 19Assyria.
19#Is. 65:10; Jer. 33:12; Ezek. 34:13But I will bring back Israel to his home,
And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
#Num. 23:21; Is. 43:25; (Jer. 31:34; Mic. 7:19)“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;
For I will pardon those #Is. 1:9whom I preserve.
21“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of #Ezek. 23:23Pekod.
Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do #2 Sam. 16:11; 2 Kin. 18:25; 2 Chr. 36:23; Is. 10:6; 44:28; 48:14according to all that I have commanded you.
22#Jer. 51:54A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
23How #Is. 14:6; Jer. 51:20–24the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
24I have laid a snare for you;
You have indeed been #Jer. 51:8, 31; Dan. 5:30trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have #(Is. 45:9)contended against the Lord.
25The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out #Is. 13:5the weapons of His indignation;
For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26Come against her from the farthest border;
Open her storehouses;
Cast her up as heaps of ruins,
And destroy her utterly;
Let nothing of her be left.
27Slay all her #Ps. 22:12; Is. 34:7; Jer. 46:21bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of #Ps. 37:13; Jer. 48:44; Ezek. 7:7their punishment.
28The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
#Ps. 149:6–9; Jer. 51:10Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
The vengeance of His temple.
29“Call together the archers against Babylon.
All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;
Let none of them escape.
#Ps. 137:8; Jer. 51:56; (2 Thess. 1:6); Rev. 18:6Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
#(Is. 47:10)For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30#Is. 13:18; Jer. 49:26; 51:4Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,
And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
31“Behold, I am against you,
O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;
“For your day has come,
The time that I will punish you.
32The most #Is. 26:5; Mal. 4:1proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
#Jer. 21:14I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”
33Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
34#Prov. 23:11; Is. 43:14; Jer. 15:21; 31:11; Rev. 18:8Their Redeemer is strong;
#Is. 47:4The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their #Jer. 51:36; Mic. 7:9case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35“A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,
“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,
And #Dan. 5:30against her princes and #Is. 47:13; Jer. 51:57her wise men.
36A sword is #Is. 44:25; Jer. 48:30against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.
A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
37A sword is against their horses,
Against their chariots,
And against all #Jer. 25:20; Ezek. 30:5the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And #Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
38#Is. 44:27; Jer. 51:36; Rev. 16:12A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.
For it is the land of carved images,
And they are insane with their idols.
39“Therefore#Is. 13:21, 22; 34:14; Jer. 51:37; Rev. 18:2 the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
#Is. 13:20; Jer. 25:12It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40#Gen. 19:24, 25; Is. 13:19; Jer. 49:18; (Luke 17:28–30); 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man #Is. 13:20dwell in it.
41“Behold,#Is. 13:2–5; Jer. 6:22; 25:14; 51:27 a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42#Jer. 6:23They shall hold the bow and the lance;
#Is. 13:18They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
#Is. 5:30Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43“The king of Babylon has #Jer. 51:31heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in #Jer. 6:24childbirth.
44“Behold,#Jer. 49:19–21 he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will make them suddenly run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And #Job 41:10; Jer. 49:19who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”
45Therefore hear #(Ps. 33:11; Is. 14:24); Jer. 51:10, 11the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His #Jer. 51:29purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
#Jer. 49:19, 20Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
46#Rev. 18:9At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.