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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Jeremiah 50: HCSB
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Jeremiah 50
50
A Message Concerning Babylon
1The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
2“Declare among the nations and proclaim,
and lift up a banner.
Proclaim, you must not conceal it.
Say, ‘Babylon is captured,
Bel is ashamed,
Merodach is filled with terror,
her idols are ashamed,
her idols are filled with terror.
3For a nation will come up against her from the north.
It will make her land as a horror,
and an inhabitant will not be in her.
From humans#Hebrew “human” to animals#Hebrew “animal” they all will wander off.
They will go away.
4In those days and in that time,’ ” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“the people#Or “sons/children” of Israel will come,
they and the people#Or “sons/children” of Judah together.
Weeping as they go,#Literally “They shall go and weeping” they will go,
and Yahweh their God they will seek.
5They will ask the way to Zion,
turning their faces there.
They will come and join themselves to Yahweh
by an everlasting covenant#Literally “a covenant of eternity” that will not be forgotten.
6My people have become lost sheep,
their shepherds have caused them to go astray.
They led them away to the mountains.
From mountain to hill they have gone,
they have forgotten their resting place.
7All those who found them have devoured them.
And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty,
because#Literally “under that” they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture,#Literally “settlement of righteousness”
even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’#Or “fathers”
8Flee from the midst of Babylon,
and from the land of the Chaldeans.
Go out and be like he-goats
before#Literally “to the face of” the flock.
9For look, I am going to stir up,
and I am going to bring against Babylon
a contingent of great nations
from the land of the north.
And they will draw up a battle formation against her,
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success,
he does not return without success.
10And Chaldea will be as booty,
all those who plunder her will be satisfied,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
11“Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my inheritance,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass,
and you neigh like the powerful stallions,
12your mother will be very ashamed.
She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.#Or “ashamed”
Look, she will be the least of the nations,
a desert,#Or “wilderness” dry land, and wilderness.#Or “Arabah”
13Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited,
but she will be a wasteland, all of her.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled
and will hiss because of all her wounds.
14Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around,
all those who bend the bow, shoot at her.
You must not spare arrows,#Hebrew “arrow”
for she has sinned against Yahweh.
15Raise a war cry against her on all sides.
She has surrendered.#Literally “She has given her hand”
Her towers have fallen,
her walls are ruined.
For this is the vengeance of Yahweh.
Take revenge on her.
As she has done to others,
so do to her.
16Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest.
Because of#Literally “From the face of” the sword of the oppressor
each one will turn to their people,
and each one will flee to their land.
17Israel is a sheep scattered,
lions drove them away.
The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria,
and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones.”
18Therefore#Literally “To thus” thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Look, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land
just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19And I will restore Israel to its pasture,
and it will feed on Carmel, and in Bashan,
and on the hills#Hebrew “hill” of Ephraim, and in Gilead
its hunger will be satisfied.
20In those days and at that time,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none,
and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found,
for I will forgive those I left behind.
21To the land of Merathaim,
go up against her,
and against the inhabitants of Pekod,
massacre and destroy them,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22The sound of battle is in the land,
and great destruction.
23How the blacksmith’s hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!
24I laid a bird snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon.
But you yourself did not know.
You were discovered and seized,
because with Yahweh you measured yourself.
25Yahweh has opened his armory,
and he has brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for it is a word for my Lord Yahweh of hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26Come against her from the end,
open her granaries.
Pile her up like heaps and destroy her.
Let there be no remnant for her.
27Massacre all her bulls,
let them go down to the slaughtering.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.
28There is the sound of fugitives and survivors
from the land of Babylon,
to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God,
the vengeance for his temple.
29Summon archers against Babylon,
all those who bend the bow.
Encamp all around her,
there must not be for her an escape.
Take revenge on her according to her deeds.
According to all that she has done, so do to her.
For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently,
against the Holy One of Israel.
30Therefore#Literally “To thus” her young men will fall in her public squares,
and all her soldiers#Literally “her the men of war” will perish on that day,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
31“Look, I am against you, O arrogant one,”
declares#Literally “a declaration of” Lord Yahweh of hosts,
“for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32And the arrogant one will stumble and fall,
and there is no one who raises him up.
And I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour everything around him.”
33Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“The people#Or “sons/children” of Israel are oppressed,
and the people#Or “sons/children” of Judah likewise,
for#Literally “and” all their captors have seized them,
they refuse to let them go free.
34Their redeemer is strong,
his name is Yahweh of hosts.
Surely he will plead their case,
in order to make peace for the earth,
but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against her officials,
and against her wise men.
36A sword against the oracle priests,
and they will become foolish.
A sword against her warriors,
and they will be filled with terror.
37A sword against his horses,
and against his chariots,#Hebrew “chariot”
and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her,
so that they may become as women.
A sword against her treasures,
so that they may be plundered.
38A drought will come against her waters,
and they will dry up,
for it is a land of images,
and because of the frightful objects, they act like madmen.
39Therefore#Literally “To thus” desert creatures will live there#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation with jackals,
and daughters of ostriches#Hebrew “ostrich” will inhabit her.
And she will not be inhabited again forever,#Literally “to eternity”
and she will not be dwelt in for all generations.#Literally “until generation and generation”
40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighbors,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“no one will live there,
and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in her.
41Look, a people is about to come
from the north,
and a great nation and many kings are woken up
from the remotest part of the earth.
42They keep hold of bow and short sword.
They are cruel and they have no mercy.
Their sound is like the sea, it roars,
and upon horses they ride.
Drawn up for battle as a man for the battle,
against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43The king of Babylon heard their report
and his hands grew slack.
Anxiety has seized him,
fear and pain like the woman who gives birth.
44Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets#Hebrew “thicket” of the Jordan
against a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream,#Literally “a pasture of ever-flowing”
so I will chase them away quickly#Literally “I will do in an instant I will cause them to run” from her,
and I will appoint whoever is chosen over her.
For who is like me, and who can summon me,
and who is this shepherd who can stand before me?#Literally “to the face of me”
45Therefore#Literally “To thus” hear the plan of Yahweh
that he has planned against Babylon,
and his plans
that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans.
Surely#Literally “If not” they will drag them away,
the little ones of the flock.
Surely#Literally “If not” he will cause their grazing place
to be desolate over them.
46At the sound, ‘Babylon has been captured,’
the earth will quake,
and a cry for help among the nations
will be heard.”
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