1Here is the message the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. It was about the city of Babylon and the land of Babylon. He said,2‘Announce this message among the nations. Lift up a banner. Let the nations hear the message. Do not keep anything back. Say, “Babylon will be captured. The god named Bel will be put to shame. The god named Marduk will be filled with terror. Babylon’s gods will be put to shame. The gods its people made will be filled with terror.”3A nation from the north will attack it. That nation will destroy Babylon. No one will live there. People and animals alike will run away.4‘The days are coming,’ announces the LORD. ‘At that time the people of Israel and Judah will gather together. They will come in tears to me. I am the LORD their God.5They will ask how to get to Zion. Then they will turn their faces towards it. They will come and join themselves to me. They will enter into the covenant I make with them. It will last for ever. It will never be forgotten.6‘My people have been like lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray. They have caused them to wander in the mountains. They have wandered over mountains and hills. They have forgotten that I am their true resting place.7Everyone who found them destroyed them. Their enemies said, “We aren’t guilty. They sinned against the LORD. He gave them everything they needed. He has always been Israel’s hope.”8‘People of Judah, run away from Babylon. Leave the land of Babylon. Be like the goats that lead the flock.9I will stir up great nations that will join forces against Babylon. I will bring them from the land of the north. They will take up their battle positions against Babylon. They will come from the north and capture it. Their arrows will be like skilled soldiers. They will not miss their mark.10So the riches of Babylon will be taken away. All those who steal from it will have more than enough,’ announces the LORD.11‘People of Babylon, you have stolen what belongs to me. That has made you glad and full of joy. You dance around like a young cow on a threshing-floor. You neigh like stallions.12Because of that, you will bring great shame on your land. Your whole nation will be dishonoured. It will become the least important of the nations. It will become a dry and empty desert.13Because I am angry with it, no one will live there. It will be completely deserted. All those who pass by Babylon will be shocked. They will make fun of it because of all its wounds.14‘All you who shoot arrows, take up your battle positions around Babylon. Shoot at it! Do not spare any arrows! Its people have sinned against me.15Shout against them on every side! They are giving up. The towers of the city are falling. Its walls are being pulled down. The LORD is paying back its people. So pay them back yourselves. Do to them what they have done to others.16Do not leave anyone in Babylon to plant the fields. Do not leave anyone to harvest the corn. Let each of them return to their own people. Let them run away to their own land. If they don’t, their enemy’s sword will bring them great harm.17‘Israel is like a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first lion that ate them up was the king of Assyria. The last one that broke their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.’18The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘I punished the king of Assyria. In the same way, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land.19But I will bring Israel back to their own grasslands. I will feed them on Mount Carmel and in Bashan. I will satisfy their hunger on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.20The days are coming,’ announces the LORD. ‘At that time people will search for Israel’s guilt. But they will not find any. They will search for Judah’s sins. But they will not find any. That is because I will forgive the people I have spared.21‘Enemies of Babylon, attack their land of Merathaim. Make war against those who live in Pekod. Chase them and kill them. Destroy them completely,’ announces the LORD. ‘Do everything I have commanded you to do.22The noise of battle is heard in the land. It is the noise of a great city being destroyed!23It has been broken to pieces. It was the hammer that broke the whole earth. How empty Babylon is among the nations!24Babylon, I set a trap for you. And you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured. That is because you opposed me.25I have opened up my storeroom. I have brought out the weapons I use when I am angry. I am the LORD and King who rules over all. I have work to do in the land of the Babylonians.26So come against it from far away. Open up its storerooms. Pile everything up like piles of corn. Completely destroy that country. Do not leave anyone alive there.27Kill all Babylon’s strongest warriors. Let them die in battle. How terrible it will be for them! Their time to be judged has come. Now they will be punished.28Listen to those who have escaped. Listen to those who have returned from Babylon. They are announcing in Zion how I have paid Babylon back. I have paid it back for destroying my temple.29‘Send for men armed with bows and arrows. Send them against Babylon. Set up camp all around it. Do not let anyone escape. Pay it back for what its people have done. Do to them what they have done to others. They have dared to disobey me. I am the Holy One of Israel.30You can be sure its young men will fall dead in the streets. All its soldiers will be put to death at that time,’ announces the LORD.31‘Proud Babylonians, I am against you,’ announces the Lord. The LORD who rules over all says, ‘Your day to be judged has come. It is time for you to be punished.32You proud people will trip and fall. No one will help you up. I will start a fire in your towns. It will burn up everyone around you.’33The LORD who rules over all says, ‘The people of Israel are being treated badly. So are the people of Judah. Those who have captured them are holding them. They refuse to let them go.34But I am strong and will save them. My name is the LORD Who Rules Over All. I will stand up for them. I will bring peace and rest to their land. But I will bring trouble to those who live in Babylon.35‘A sword is coming against the Babylonians!’ announces the LORD. ‘It is coming against those who live in Babylon. It is coming against their officials and wise men.36A sword is coming against their prophets. But they are not really prophets at all! So they will look foolish. A sword is coming against their soldiers! They will be filled with terror.37A sword is coming against their horses and chariots! It is coming against all the hired soldiers in their armies. They will become weak. A sword is coming against their treasures! They will be stolen.38There will not be any rain for their rivers. So they will dry up. Those things will happen because their land is full of statues of gods. Those gods will go crazy with terror.39‘Desert creatures and hyenas will live in Babylon. And so will owls. People will never live there again. It will not be lived in for all time to come.40I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. I also destroyed the towns that were near them,’ announces the LORD. ‘Babylon will be just like them. No one will live there. No human beings will stay there.41‘Look! An army is coming from the north. I am stirring up a great nation and many kings. They are coming from a land that is very far away.42Their soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are mean. They do not show any mercy at all. They come riding in on their horses. They sound like the roaring ocean. They are lined up for battle. They are coming to attack you, city of Babylon.43The king of Babylon has heard reports about them. His hands can’t help him. He is in great pain. It is like the pain of a woman having a baby.44I will be like a lion coming up from the bushes by the River Jordan. I will hunt in rich grasslands. I will chase the people of Babylon from their land in an instant. What nation will I choose to do this? Which one will I appoint? Is anyone like me? Who would dare to argue with me? What leader can stand against me?’45So listen to what the LORD has planned against Babylon. Hear what he has planned against the land of the Babylonians. Their young people will be dragged away. Their grasslands will be shocked at their fate.46At the news of Babylon’s capture, the earth will shake. The people’s cries will be heard among the nations.
Jeremiah 50
English Standard Version
Judgment on Babylon
1The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet: (Isa 13:1; Isa 21:1; Jer 51:59)2“Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say: ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.’ (Isa 21:9; Isa 46:1)3“For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away. (Ps 135:8; Jer 1:14; Jer 50:13; Jer 50:23; Jer 51:29; Jer 51:62)4“In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God. (Ezr 8:21; Ps 126:6; Jer 3:18; Jer 31:9; Jer 31:18; Ho 3:5)5They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’ (Isa 2:3; Jer 31:21; Jer 32:40)6“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. (Isa 53:6; Jer 50:17; Eze 34:1; Zec 10:2; Mt 18:12; Lu 15:4)7All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their habitation of righteousness, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’ (Jer 14:8; Jer 31:23; Jer 40:2; Jer 50:14)8“Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock. (Isa 48:20; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45)9For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. (Jer 25:14)10Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the Lord. (Jer 25:12)11“Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my heritage, though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture, and neigh like stallions, (La 4:21)12your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore you shall be disgraced. Behold, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. (Jer 51:43)13Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited but shall be an utter desolation; everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled, and hiss because of all her wounds. (Jer 18:16; Jer 50:39)14Set 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. (Isa 21:2; Jer 50:7; Jer 50:9; Jer 50:29; Jer 51:3; Jer 51:11)15Raise a shout against her all around; she has surrendered; her bulwarks have fallen; her walls are thrown down. For this is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done. (Jos 6:16; Jer 46:10; Jer 50:29; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:11; Jer 51:56; Jer 51:58)16Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest; because of the sword of the oppressor, every one shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land. (Isa 13:14; Jer 46:16; Jer 51:9)17“Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. (2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:13; 2Ki 24:10; 2Ki 24:14; 2Ki 25:1; Isa 5:29; Jer 2:15; Jer 4:7; Jer 50:6; Jer 51:34)18Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. (Ps 76:12; Isa 10:12; Isa 14:24; Isa 24:21)19I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. (Eze 34:13; Mic 7:14)20In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. (Isa 33:24; Isa 40:2; Jer 31:34)21“Go up against the land of Merathaim,[1] and against the inhabitants of Pekod.[2] Kill, and devote them to destruction,[3] declares the Lord, and do all that I have commanded you. (Jer 50:26; Jer 51:3)22The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction! (Jer 51:54)23How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! (Isa 14:6; Jer 50:3; Jer 50:13; Re 18:19; Re 18:21)24I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and caught, because you opposed the Lord. (Ps 141:9; Jer 51:31; Da 5:30)25The Lord has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. (Isa 13:5)26Come against her from every quarter; open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction; let nothing be left of her. (Ne 4:2)27Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment. (Ps 22:12; Isa 34:7; Jer 46:21)28“A voice! They flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for his temple. (Ps 64:9; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:10; Jer 51:11; Jer 52:13; Da 5:3; Da 5:23)29“Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. (Job 16:13; Isa 47:10; Jer 25:14; Jer 50:14)30Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord. (Jer 49:26)31“Behold, I am against you, O proud one, declares the Lord God of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will punish you. (Jer 49:8; Jer 50:27; Jer 50:29)32The proud one shall stumble and fall, with none to raise him up, and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all that is around him. (Jer 17:27; Jer 50:29)33“Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. (Isa 14:17; Jer 50:17)34Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon. (Isa 43:14; Isa 51:22; Jer 10:16; Jer 51:36)35“A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials and her wise men! (Jer 51:57; Da 4:6; Da 5:30)36A sword against the diviners, that they may become fools! A sword against her warriors, that they may be destroyed! (Jer 51:57)37A sword against her horses and against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst, that they may become women! A sword against all her treasures, that they may be plundered! (Isa 45:3; Jer 25:20; Jer 51:30)38A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols. (Isa 44:27; Jer 50:2; Jer 51:36; Jer 51:47; Jer 51:52)39“Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon,[4] and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. (Isa 13:21)40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her. (Ge 19:25; Isa 13:19; Jer 51:43)41“Behold, a people comes from the north; a mighty nation and many kings are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. (Jer 6:22)42They lay hold of bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy. The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea; they ride on horses, arrayed as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Babylon!43“The king of Babylon heard the report of them, and his hands fell helpless; anguish seized him, pain as of a woman in labor.44“Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? (Job 41:10; Jer 49:19)45Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. (Isa 14:24; Jer 49:20; Jer 51:11; Jer 51:29)46At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.” (Jer 49:21)