Jeremiah 50
50
A Prophecy against Babylon
1This is the message that the Lord spoke about Babylon and the land of the Babylonians through the prophet Jeremiah.
2“Announce this among the nations, and spread the news.
Raise a flag, and announce it.
Don’t hide anything.
Say, ‘Babylon will be captured.
Bel will be put to shame.
Marduk will be filled with terror.
Babylon’s statues will be put to shame.
Its idols will be filled with terror.’
3A nation from the north will attack Babylon
and destroy its land so that no one will live in it.
People and animals will run away.
4“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord,
“the people of Israel and Judah will cry as they go together
to seek the Lord their God.
5They will ask which road goes to Zion and turn in that direction.
They will go there to make a permanent agreement with the Lord.
It will not be forgotten.
6My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They wander around on the mountains.
They go from mountains to hills.
They have forgotten their resting place.
7Everyone who finds them eats them.
Their enemies say, ‘We’re not guilty.
They have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture.
They have sinned against the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’
8“Run away from Babylon.
Leave the land of the Babylonians.
Be like the male goats that lead the flock.
9I am going to stir up an alliance of strong nations from the north
and bring it against Babylon.
Those nations will take up positions against Babylon.
Babylon will be captured from the north.
Its enemy’s arrows will be like skilled soldiers
who don’t come back empty-handed.
10The Babylonians will become the prize.
All who loot them will get everything they want,”
declares the Lord.
11“You are happy and excited.
You have looted the people who belong to me.
You dance around like calves on the grass
and neigh like stallions.
12But your mother will be greatly ashamed.
The woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced.
Babylon, you will be the least important nation.
You will become a parched desert.
13No one will live in Babylon because of the Lord’s anger.
It will be completely abandoned.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified
and hiss at all its wounds.
14“Take up your positions around Babylon, all you archers with bows.
Shoot at it; don’t save any arrows,
because the people of Babylon have sinned against the Lord.
15Shout a war cry against them on every side.
They’ll surrender.
Their towers will fall and their walls will be torn down.
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance, take revenge against them.
Do to them what they did to others.
16Don’t allow anyone in Babylon to plant or harvest.
Everyone will turn to his own people and flee to his own homeland
because of the enemies’ swords.
17“The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased.
The first to devour them was the king of Assyria.
The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
18“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land
as I punished the king of Assyria.
19I will bring the people of Israel back to their pastures.
They will eat on Mount Carmel and Mount Bashan.
They will eat until they are full
on the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead.
20In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord,
“people will look for Israel’s crimes, but they will find none.
They will look for Judah’s sins, but none will be found.
I will forgive the faithful few whom I have spared.
21Attack the land of Merathaim
and the people who live in Pekod.
Claim them for me by killing them with a sword,”
declares the Lord.
“Do everything I commanded you.
22The noise of battle and great destruction fills the land.
23The hammer of the whole earth is broken and shattered.
See how desolate Babylon is of all the nations!
24I will set traps for you, Babylon.
You will be caught, but you won’t know it.
You will be found and captured
because you have opposed the Lord.
25The Lord will open his armory
and bring out the weapons of his fury,
because the Almighty Lord of Armies
has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians.
26Attack them from a distance,
open their storehouses,
pile up their corpses like piles of grain,
claim them for me by destroying them,
and don’t leave anyone behind.
27Kill all their young bulls.
Let them go to be slaughtered.
How horrible it will be for them when their time has come,
the time for them to be punished.
28Listen! Fugitives and refugees from Babylon
are coming to Zion to tell about
the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance for his temple.
29“Call together the archers, the soldiers with bows, against Babylon.
Set up blockades around it. Don’t let anyone escape.
Pay the people of Babylon back for what they have done.
Do to them what they did to others.
They have disobeyed the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
30That is why their young men will die in the streets,
and all their soldiers will be silenced that day,”
declares the Lord.
31“I’m against you, you arrogant city,”
declares the Almighty Lord of Armies.
“Your day has come, the time when I will punish you.
32Those arrogant people will stumble and fall,
and there will be no one to help them get up.
I will light a fire in their cities
that will burn up everything around them.”
33This is what the Lord of Armies says:
All the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed.
All their enemies have captured them.
They refuse to let them go.
34Their defender is strong.
His name is the Lord of Armies.
He will certainly take up their cause
in order to bring rest to the land of Israel
and unrest to the people who live in Babylon.
35“A sword will kill the Babylonians and everyone who lives in Babylon,”
declares the Lord.
“A sword will kill their officials and their wise men.
36A sword will kill the false prophets.
They will become fools.
A sword will kill their soldiers and defeat them.
37A sword will kill their horses, their chariots,
and all the foreigners within their ranks.
They will become women.
A sword will destroy their treasures, and they will be looted.
38A drought will diminish their water supply, and it will dry up.
Babylon is a land of idols, statues that will go crazy with fear.
39That is why desert animals will live with hyenas.
Desert owls will also live there.
It will no longer be inhabited or lived in for generations.
40Babylon will be like Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighboring cities
when I, God, destroyed them.
No one will live there.
No human will stay there,” declares the Lord.
41“People are going to come from the north.
A great nation and many kings will rise from the ends of the earth.
42They will take hold of bows and spears.
They will be cruel and have no compassion.
They will sound like the sea when it roars.
They will ride horses.
They are ready for war, ready to attack you, people of Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and he loses courage.
Anguish will grip him as pain grips a woman in labor.
44I will suddenly chase them from their places
like a lion coming out of the jungle
along the Jordan River into pastureland.
I will appoint over Babylon whomever I choose.
Who is like me? Who can challenge me?
Is there any leader who can stand up to me?
45Listen to the plans that the Lord is making against Babylon
and the things he intends to do to the land of the Babylonians.
He will surely drag away the little ones of the flock.
He will surely destroy the pasture because of the Babylonians.
46The earth will quake at the news that Babylon has been captured.
Its cry will be heard among the nations.”
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 50
50
The Prophecy concerning Babylon
1 #
Isa 13.1—14.23; 47.1-15. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chalde´ans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Mer´odach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 3For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
4In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. 5They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
6My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. 7All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.
8 #
Rev 18.4. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chalde´ans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. 9For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. 10And Chalde´a shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.
11Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; 12your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. 13Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 14Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the Lord. 15Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. 16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
17Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrez´zar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. 18Therefore thus saith 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 Assyria. 19And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount E´phra-im and Gil´e-ad. 20In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
21Go up against the land of Meratha´im,#50.21 That is, Of the rebels. even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod:#50.21 That is, Visitation. waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. 22A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. 23How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 24I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord. 25The Lord hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chalde´ans. 26Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. 27Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. 28The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 #
Rev 18.6. Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. 30Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord. 31Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. 32And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34Their Redeemer is strong; The Lord of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35A sword is upon the Chalde´ans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. 36A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. 37A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. 38A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. 39#Rev 18.2. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 40#Gen 19.24,25. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomor´rah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 42They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. 44Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation 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? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? 45Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chalde´ans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. 46At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.