Jeremiah 49:20–50:45

²⁰Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken concerning Edom: and his thoughts which he hath thought concerning the inhabitants of Theman: surely the little ones of the flock shall cast them down, of a truth they shall destroy them with their habitation.

²¹The earth is moved at the noise of their fall: the cry of their voice is heard in the Red Sea.

²²Behold he shall come up as an eagle, and fly: and he shall spread his wings over Bosra: and in that day the heart of the valiant ones of Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in labour.

²³Against Damascus. Emath is confounded and Arphad: for they have heard very bad tidings, they are troubled as in the sea: through care they could not rest.

²⁴Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour.

²⁵How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy!

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.

²⁷And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strong holds of Benadad.

²⁸Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise, and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east.

²⁹They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about.

³⁰Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you.

³¹Arise, and go up to a nation that is at ease, and that dwelleth securely, saith the Lord: they have neither gates, nor bars: they dwell alone.

³²And their camels shall be for a spoil and the multitude of their cattle for a booty, and I will scatter into every wind them that have their hair cut round, and I will bring destruction upon them from all their confines, saith the Lord.

³³And Asor shall be a habitation for dragons, desolate for ever: no man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it.

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, saying:

³⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will break the bow of Elam, and their chief strength.

³⁶And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there shall be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come.

³⁷And I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and in the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, my fierce wrath, saith the Lord: and I will send the sword after them, till I consume them.

³⁸And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy kings and princes from thence, saith the Lord.

³⁹But in the latter days I will cause the captives of Elam, to return, saith the Lord.

Chapter 50

The word that the Lord hath spoken against Babylon, and against the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

²Declare ye among the nations, and publish it, lift up a standard: proclaim, and conceal it not: say: Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is overthrown, their graven things are confounded, their idols are overthrown.

³For a nation is come up against her out of the north, which shall make her land desolate: and there shall be none to dwell therein, from man even to beast: yea they are removed, and gone away.

⁴In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together: going and weeping they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God.

⁵They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hitherward. They shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an everlasting covenant, which shall never be forgotten.

⁶My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

⁷All that found them, have devoured them: and their enemies said: We have not sinned in so doing: because they have sinned against the Lord the beauty of justice, and against the Lord the hope of their fathers.

⁸Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock.

⁹For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain.

¹⁰And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be filled, saith the Lord.

¹¹Because you rejoice, and speak great things, pillaging my inheritance: because you are spread abroad as calves upon the grass, and have bellowed as bulls.

¹²Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the nations, a wilderness unpassable, and dry.

¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly desolate: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴Prepare yourselves against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow: fight against her, spare not arrows: because she hath sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵Shout against her, she hath every where given her hand, her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down, for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, so do to her.

¹⁶Destroy the sower out of Babylon, and him that holdeth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the sword of the dove every man shall return to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him: and last this Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

¹⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, as I have visited the king of Assyria.

¹⁹And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: and he shall feed on Carmel, and Bason, and his soul shall be satisfied in mount Ephraim, and Galaad.

²⁰In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sin of Juda, and there shall none be found: for I will be merciful to them, whom I shall leave.

²¹Go up against the land of the rulers, and punish the inhabitants thereof, waste, and destroy all behind them, saith the Lord: and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

²²A noise of war in the land, and a great destruction.

²³How is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed! how is Babylon turned into a desert among the nations!

²⁴I have caused thee to fall into a snare, and thou art taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware of it: thou art found and caught, because thou hast provoked the Lord.

²⁵The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath: for the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be done in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come ye against her from the uttermost borders: open that they may go forth that shall tread her down: take the stones out of the way, and make heaps, and destroy her: and let nothing of her be left.

²⁷Destroy all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

²⁸The voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of Babylon: to declare in Sion the revenge of the Lord our God, the revenge of his temple.

²⁹Declare to many against Babylon, to all that bend the bow: stand together against her round about, and let none escape; pay her according to her work: according to all that she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath lifted up herself against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her men of war shall hold their peace in that day, saith the Lord.

³¹Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation.

³²And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall down, and there shall be none to lift him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

³³Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel, and the children of Juda are oppressed together: all that have taken them captives, hold them fast, they will not let them go.

³⁴Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name: he will defend their cause in judgment, to terrify the land, and to disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

³⁶A sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish: a sword upon her valiant ones, and they shall be dismayed.

³⁷A sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the people that are in the midst of her: and they shall become as women: a sword upon her treasures, and they shall be made a spoil.

³⁸A drought upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: because it is a land of idols, and they glory in monstrous things.

³⁹Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and ostriches shall dwell therein, and it shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation.

⁴⁰As the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and their neighbour cities, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, neither shall the son of man inhabit it.

⁴¹Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall rise from the…