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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Jeremiah 50: GW
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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
Get Out of Babylon as Fast as You Can
1-3The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:
“Get the word out to the nations! Preach it!
Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide:
Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame,
god-Marduk exposed as a fraud.
All her god-idols shuffling in shame,
all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.
For a nation will come out of the north to attack her,
reduce her cities to rubble.
Empty of life—no animals, no people—
not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.
4-5“In those days, at that time”—God’s Decree—
“the people of Israel will come,
And the people of Judah with them.
Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their God.
They’ll ask directions to Zion
and set their faces toward Zion.
They’ll come and hold tight to God,
bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget.
6-7“My people were lost sheep.
Their shepherds led them astray.
They abandoned them in the mountains
where they wandered aimless through the hills.
They lost track of home,
couldn’t remember where they came from.
Everyone who met them took advantage of them.
Their enemies had no qualms:
‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on God.
They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’
8-10“But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
Be rid of that Babylonian country.
On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don’t you be led.
Lead the way home!
Do you see what I’m doing?
I’m rallying a host of nations against Babylon.
They’ll come out of the north,
attack and take her.
Oh, they know how to fight, these armies.
They never come home empty-handed.
Babylon is ripe for picking!
All her plunderers will fill their bellies!” God’s Decree.
11-16“You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you?
You lived it up, exploiting and using my people,
Frisky calves romping in lush pastures,
wild stallions out having a good time!
Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you.
The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased.
Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation!
Rubble and garbage and weeds!
Emptied of life by my holy anger,
a desert of death and emptiness.
Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled,
shaking their heads at such a comedown.
Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down!
Throw everything you have against her.
Hold nothing back. Knock her flat.
She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me!
Shout battle cries from every direction.
All the fight has gone out of her.
Her defenses have been flattened,
her walls smashed.
‘Operation God’s Vengeance.’
Pile on the vengeance!
Do to her as she has done.
Give her a good dose of her own medicine!
Destroy her farms and farmers,
ravage her fields, empty her barns.
And you captives, while the destruction rages,
get out while the getting’s good,
get out fast and run for home.
* * *
17“Israel is a scattered flock,
hunted down by lions.
The king of Assyria started the carnage.
The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
Has completed the job,
gnawing the bones clean.”
18-20And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
the God of Israel, has to say:
“Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land,
the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.
But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures.
He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan,
On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead.
He will eat to his heart’s content.
In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree—
“they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing;
Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing.
These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate.
* * *
21“Attack Merathaim, land of rebels!
Go after Pekod, country of doom!
Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep.” God’s Decree.
“These are my orders. Do what I tell you.
22-24“The thunderclap of battle
shakes the foundations!
The Hammer has been hammered,
smashed and splintered,
Babylon pummeled
beyond recognition.
I set out a trap and you were caught in it.
O Babylon, you never knew what hit you,
Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap!
That’s what you get for taking on God.
25-28“I, God, opened my arsenal.
I brought out my weapons of wrath.
The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
has a job to do in Babylon.
Come at her from all sides!
Break into her granaries!
Shovel her into piles and burn her up.
Leave nothing! Leave no one!
Kill all her young turks.
Send them to their doom!
Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday!
The clock has finally run out on them.
And here’s a surprise:
Runaways and escapees from Babylon
Show up in Zion reporting the news of God’s vengeance,
taking vengeance for my own Temple.
29-30“Call in the troops against Babylon,
anyone who can shoot straight!
Tighten the noose!
Leave no loopholes!
Give her back as good as she gave,
a dose of her own medicine!
Her brazen insolence is an outrage
against God, The Holy of Israel.
And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets,
her soldiers dead, silent forever.” God’s Decree.
31-32“Do you get it, Mister Pride? I’m your enemy!”
Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Time’s run out on you:
That’s right: It’s Doomsday.
Mister Pride will fall flat on his face.
No one will offer him a hand.
I’ll set his towns on fire.
The fire will spread wild through the country.”
* * *
33-34And here’s more from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“The people of Israel are beaten down,
the people of Judah along with them.
Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel.
They won’t let go.
But the Rescuer is strong:
God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Yes, I will take their side,
I’ll come to their rescue.
I’ll soothe their land,
but rough up the people of Babylon.
35-40“It’s all-out war in Babylon”—God’s Decree—
“total war against people, leaders, and the wise!
War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all!
War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!
War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders!
War to the death on her banks—looted!
War to the death on her water supply—drained dry!
A land of make-believe gods gone crazy—hobgoblins!
The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions,
night-owls and vampire bats.
No one will ever live there again.
The land will reek with the stench of death.
It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
the cities I did away with.” God’s Decree.
“No one will live there again.
No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.
* * *
41-43“And now, watch this! People pouring
out of the north, hordes of people,
A mob of kings stirred up
from far-off places.
Flourishing deadly weapons,
barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless.
Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers,
they come riding fierce stallions,
In battle formation, ready to fight
you, Daughter Babylon!
Babylon’s king hears them coming.
He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag.
Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight,
like a woman giving birth to a baby.
44“And now watch this: Like a lion coming up
from the thick jungle of the Jordan,
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
I’ll take over and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me.”
45-46So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for dealing with Chaldea:
Believe it or not, the young,
the vulnerable—mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.
When the shout goes up, “Babylon’s down!”
the very earth will shudder at the sound.
The news will be heard all over the world.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.