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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Jeremiah 50: MSG
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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.
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.