Jeremiah 50

1The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:

2Declare among the nations and proclaim; lift up a banner. Proclaim; do not hide it. Say, “Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Merodach is shattered. Her images are put to shame; her idols are shattered.”

3For a nation has come up against her from the north; it will make her land a desolation, and there will be no inhabitant in it. From man to beast, they have fled; they have gone away.

4In those days and at that time, declares Yahweh, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together. Going and weeping, they will go, and they will seek Yahweh their God.

5They will ask the way to Zion, with their faces turned toward it: ‘Come, let us join ourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’

6My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.

7All who found them devoured them, and their adversaries said, “We are not guilty, because they sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, the hope of their fathers—Yahweh.”

8Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out from the land of the Chaldeans; and be like male goats before the flock.

9For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north. They will array themselves against her; from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like those of a skilled warrior; none returns empty-handed.

10And Chaldea will become plunder; all who plunder her will have their fill, declares Yahweh.

11Because you rejoice, because you exult, plunderers of my inheritance, because you frolic like a threshing heifer and neigh like stallions,

12Your mother will be utterly ashamed; she who gave birth to you will be disgraced. Behold, she will be the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13Because of the wrath of Yahweh, it will not be inhabited, but will become a complete desolation. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled and will hiss over all her wounds.

14Draw up against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her; do not spare an arrow, for she has sinned against Yahweh.

15Raise a shout against her all around; she has given her hand; her foundations have fallen, her walls are torn down. For it is the vengeance of Yahweh—take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.

16Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the one who handles the sickle at the time of harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor, each man will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land.

17Israel is a scattered sheep; lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and this last one—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—has gnawed his bones.

18Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.

19And I will bring Israel back to his pasture, and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; and on the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead his appetite will be satisfied.

20In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will forgive those whom I leave as a remnant.

21Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Put them to the sword and devote them to destruction after them, declares Yahweh, and do all that I have commanded you.

22The sound of war is in the land, and great destruction.

23How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

24I set a trap for you, and you also were caught, Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and also seized, because you contended against Yahweh.

25Yahweh has opened his storehouse and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for this is a work of the Lord GOD of Armies in the land of the Chaldeans.

26Come against her from the farthest border; open her storehouses; pile her up like heaps, and devote her to destruction; let no remnant remain to her.

27Slay all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.

28The sound of fugitives and escapees from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance for his temple.

29Summon many against Babylon, all who bend the bow; encamp around her on every side; let there be no escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has acted arrogantly against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.

30Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her warriors will be silenced on that day, declares Yahweh.

31Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.

32And the arrogant one will stumble and fall, with no one to raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will consume all around him.

33Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah alike are oppressed; all their captors hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.

34Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of Armies is his name. He will surely plead their case, so that he may give rest to the earth and bring unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35A sword is against the Chaldeans, declares Yahweh, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials, and against her wise men.

36A sword is against the diviners, and they will become fools; a sword is against her warriors, and they will be dismayed.

37A sword against his horses and against his chariots, and against all the mixed people in her midst, and they will become women. A sword against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.

38A drought is against her waters, and they will dry up, for it is a land of carved idols, and they are mad over terrifying things.

39Therefore desert creatures will dwell there with hyenas, and ostriches will dwell in her; she will never again be inhabited forever, nor will she be lived in from generation to generation.

40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, declares Yahweh, no man will live there, and no son of man will dwell in her.

41Behold, a people is coming from the north, and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.

42They seize bow and javelin; they are cruel and will show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed like a man for battle against you, daughter Babylon.

43The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands have gone limp; distress has seized him, anguish like a woman in labor.

44Look, like a lion he comes up from the thicket of the Jordan against a secure pasture; for in an instant I will make them run from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is chosen. For who is like me, and who can summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?

45Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh that he has planned against Babylon, and his thoughts that he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of the flock will drag them away; surely he will make their pasture desolate.

46At the sound of Babylon being captured, the earth quakes, and a cry is heard among the nations.