Jeremiah 50
50
A Message About Babylon
1This is the message the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon and its people.
2“Announce this to all nations!
Lift up a flag and announce the message!
Speak the whole message and say,
‘The nation of Babylon will be captured.
The god Bel will be put to shame.
The god Marduk will be very afraid.
Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.
Her gods will be filled with terror.’
3A nation from the north will attack Babylon.
That nation will make Babylon like an empty desert.
No one will live there.
Both men and animals will run away.”
4The Lord says, “At that time
the people of Israel and the people of Judah will be together.
They will cry and cry together,
and together, they will go look for the Lord their God.
5They will ask how to go to Zion.
They will start to go in that direction.
They will say, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord.
Let’s make an agreement that will last forever.
Let’s make an agreement that we will never forget.’
6“My people have been like lost sheep.
Their shepherds led them the wrong way
and caused them to wander away into the mountains and hills.
They forgot where their resting place was.
7They were attacked by all who saw them.
And their attackers said,
‘We were not wrong to attack them
because they sinned against the Lord.
They should have stayed close to him, their true resting place.
The Lord is the one their fathers trusted in.’
8“Run away from Babylon.
Leave the land of the Babylonians.
Be like the goats that lead the flock.
9I will bring many nations together from the north.
This group of nations will get ready for war against Babylon.
Babylon will be captured by people from the north.
Those nations will shoot many arrows at Babylon.
Their arrows will be like soldiers
who don’t come back from war with their hands empty.
10The enemy will take all the wealth from the Chaldeans.
The soldiers will take all they want.”
This is what the Lord said.
11“Babylon, you are excited and happy.
You took my land.
You dance around like a young cow
that got into the grain.
Your laughter is like the happy sounds
that horses make.
12Now your mother will be very ashamed.
The woman who gave you birth will be embarrassed.
Babylon will be the least important of all the nations.
She will be an empty, dry desert.
13The Lord will show his anger,
so no one will live there.
Babylon will be completely empty.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be afraid.
They will shake their heads when they see how badly it has been destroyed.
14“Prepare for war against Babylon.
All you soldiers with bows, shoot your arrows at Babylon.
Don’t save any of your arrows.
Babylon has sinned against the Lord.
15Soldiers around Babylon, shout the cry of victory!
Babylon has surrendered!
Her walls and towers have been pulled down!
The Lord is giving her people the punishment they deserve.
You nations should give Babylon the punishment she deserves.
Do to her what she has done to other nations.
16Don’t let the people from Babylon plant their crops.
Don’t let them gather the harvest.
The soldiers of Babylon brought many prisoners to their city.
Now the enemy soldiers have come,
so the prisoners are going back home.
They are running back to their own countries.
17“Israel is like a flock of sheep that was scattered all over the country.
Israel is like sheep that were chased away by lions.
The first lion to attack was the king of Assyria.
The last lion to crush Israel’s bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
18So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says:
‘I will soon punish the king of Babylon and his country
as I punished the king of Assyria.
19“‘I will bring Israel back to his own fields.
He will eat food that grows on Mount Carmel and in the land of Bashan.
He will eat and be full.
He will eat on the hills in the lands of Ephraim and Gilead.’”
20The Lord says, “At that time people will try hard 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.
That is because I am saving a few survivors from Israel and Judah.
And I am forgiving them for all their sins.”
21The Lord says, “Attack the country of Merathaim!
Attack the people living in Pekod!
Attack them!
Kill them and destroy them completely!
Do everything I commanded you!
22“The noise of battle can be heard all over the country.
It is the noise of much destruction.
23Babylon was called
‘The Hammer of the Whole Earth.’
But now the ‘Hammer’ is shattered.
Babylon is the most ruined of 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 captured.
25The Lord has opened up his storeroom
and brought out the weapons of his anger.
The Lord GOD All-Powerful brought out those weapons,
because he has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
26“Come against Babylon from far away.
Break open the storehouses where she keeps her grain.
Destroy Babylon completely.
Don’t leave anyone alive.
Pile up her dead bodies like big piles of grain.
27Kill all the young men in Babylon.
Let them be slaughtered like bulls.
How terrible for them that their day of defeat has come!
It is time for them to be punished.
28People are running out of Babylon.
They are escaping from that country and coming to Zion.
They are telling everyone the good news about what the Lord is doing.
The Lord our God is giving Babylon the punishment it deserves.
The Lord is destroying Babylon,
because it destroyed his Temple!
29“Call for the archers.
Tell them to attack Babylon.
Tell them to surround the city.
Don’t let anyone escape.
Pay her back for the bad things she has done.
Do to her what she has done to other nations.
Babylon did not respect the Lord.
Babylon was very rude to the Holy One of Israel.
So punish Babylon.
30Babylon’s young men will be killed in the streets.
All her soldiers will die on that day.”
This is what the Lord says.
31“Babylon, you are too proud,
and I am against you,”
says the Lord GOD All-Powerful.
“I am against you,
and 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.
That fire will completely burn up everyone around her.”
33This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“The people of Israel and Judah are slaves.
The enemy took them, and the enemy will not let Israel go.
34But God will get them back.
His name is the Lord God All-Powerful.
He will defend them very strongly.
He will argue their case so that he can let their land rest.
But there will be no rest for those living in Babylon.”
35The Lord says,
“Sword, kill the people living in Babylon.
Sword, kill the king’s officials
and the wise men of Babylon.
36Sword, kill the priests of Babylon.
They will be like fools.
Sword, kill the soldiers of Babylon.
They will be full of fear.
37Sword, kill the horses and chariots of Babylon.
Sword, kill all the soldiers hired from other countries.
They will be like frightened women.
Sword, destroy the treasures of Babylon.
Those treasures will be taken away.
38Sword, strike the waters of Babylon.
Those waters will be dried up.
Babylon has many, many idols.
These idols show that the people of Babylon are foolish.
So bad things will happen to them.
39Babylon will never again be filled with people.
Wild dogs, ostriches, and other desert animals will live there.
But no one will live there ever again.
40God completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and the towns around them.
In the same way no one will live in Babylon,
and no one will ever go to live there.”
This is what the Lord says.
41“Look! There are people coming from the north.
They come from a powerful nation.
Many kings are coming together from all around the world.
42Their armies have bows and spears.
The soldiers are cruel.
They have no mercy.
The soldiers come riding on their horses;
the sound is as loud as 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 is paralyzed with fear.
He is overcome with fear and pain,
like a woman giving birth.
44“Sometimes a lion will come
from the thick bushes near the Jordan River.
It will walk into the fields
where people have their animals.
I will be like that lion;
I will chase Babylon from its land.
Who should I choose to do this?
There is no one like me.
There is no one who can challenge me.
No shepherd will come to chase me away.
I will chase away the Babylonians.”
45Listen to what the Lord has planned
to do to Babylon.
Listen to what he has decided
to do to the Babylonians.
“I promise that an enemy will drag away the young kids of Babylon’s flock,
and Babylon will become an empty pasture.
46Babylon will fall,
and that fall will shake the earth.
People in all nations will hear about
the destruction of Babylon.”
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Jeremiah 50: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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