Jeremiah 50–51

Chapter 50

Prophecy against Babylon

¹The word which the Lord spoke concerning ^aBabylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

²“^aDeclare and proclaim among the nations.

Proclaim it and ^blift up a standard.

Do not conceal it but say,

‘^cBabylon has been captured,

^dBel has been put to shame, ¹Marduk has been ²shattered;

Her ^eimages have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’

³“For a nation has come up against her out of the ^anorth; it will make her land ^ban object of horror, and there will be ^cno inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!

⁴“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah ^aas well; they will go along ^bweeping as they go, and it will be ^cthe Lord their God they will seek.

⁵“They will ^aask for the way to Zion, turning their faces ¹in its direction; ²they ³will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an ^beverlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

⁶“My people have become ^alost sheep;

^bTheir shepherds have led them astray.

They have made them turn aside on the ^cmountains;

They have gone along from mountain to hill

And have forgotten their ^dresting place.

⁷“All who came upon them have devoured them;

And their adversaries have said, ‘^aWe are not guilty,

Inasmuch as they have sinned against the Lord who is the ^bhabitation of righteousness,

Even the Lord, the ^chope of their fathers.’

⁸“Wander away from the ^amidst of Babylon

And ¹go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;

Be also like male goats ²at the head of the flock.

⁹“For behold, I am going to ^aarouse and bring up against Babylon

A horde of great nations from the land of the north,

And they will draw up their battle lines against her;

From there she will be taken captive.

Their arrows will be like ¹an expert warrior

Who does not return empty-handed.

¹⁰“^1aChaldea will become plunder;

All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.

¹¹“Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,

O you who ^apillage My heritage,

Because you skip about ¹like a threshing ^bheifer

And neigh like ²stallions,

¹²Your ^amother ¹will be greatly ashamed,

She who gave you birth will be humiliated.

Behold, she will be the least of the nations,

A ^bwilderness, a parched land and a desert.

¹³“Because of the indignation of the Lord she will ^anot be inhabited,

But she will be ^bcompletely desolate;

Everyone who passes by Babylon ^cwill be horrified

And will hiss because of all her wounds.

¹⁴“Draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side,

All you who ¹bend the bow;

Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,

For she has ^asinned against the Lord.

¹⁵“Raise your battle cry against her on every side!

She has ^agiven ¹herself up, her pillars have fallen,

Her ^bwalls have been torn down.

For this is the ^cvengeance of the Lord:

Take vengeance on her;

^dAs she has done to others, so do to her.

¹⁶“Cut off the ^asower from Babylon

And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;

From before ¹the ^bsword of the oppressor

^cThey will each turn back to his own people

And they will each flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is a ^ascattered ¹flock, the ^blions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the ^cking of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is ^dNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

¹⁸“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I ^apunished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹‘And I will ^abring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his ¹desire will be satisfied in the ^bhill country of Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰‘In those days and at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but ^athere will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those ^bwhom I leave as a remnant.’

²¹“Against the land of ¹Merathaim, go up against it,

And against the inhabitants of ^2aPekod.

Slay and ³utterly destroy them,” declares the Lord,

“And do according to all that I have commanded you.

²²“The ^anoise of battle is in the land,

And great destruction.

²³“How the ^ahammer of the whole earth

Has been cut off and broken!

How Babylon has become

An object of horror among the nations!

²⁴“I ^aset a snare for you and you were also ^bcaught, O Babylon,

While you yourself were not aware;

You have been found and also seized

Because you have engaged in ^cconflict with the Lord.”

²⁵The Lord has opened His armory

And has brought forth the ^aweapons of His indignation,

For it is a ^bwork of the Lord ¹God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come to her from the ¹farthest border;

^aOpen up her barns,

Pile her up like heaps

And ^2butterly destroy her,

Let nothing be left to her.

^27aPut all her young bulls to the sword;

Let them ^bgo down to the slaughter!

Woe be upon them, for their ^cday has come,

The time of their punishment.

²⁸There is a ^asound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,

To declare in Zion the ^bvengeance of the Lord our God,

Vengeance for His ^ctemple.

²⁹“Summon ¹many against Babylon,

All those who ²bend the bow:

Encamp against her on every side,

Let there be no escape³.

Repay her according to her work;

^aAccording to all that she has done, so do to her;

For she has become ^barrogant against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰“Therefore her ^ayoung men will fall in her streets,

And all her men of war will be ^1bsilenced in that day,” declares the Lord.

³¹“Behold, ^aI am against you, O ¹arrogant one,”

Declares the Lord ²God of hosts,

“For your day has come,

The time ³when I will punish you.

³²“The ^1aarrogant one will stumble and fall

With no one to raise him up;

And I will ^bset fire to his cities

And it will devour all his environs.”

³³Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“The sons of Israel are oppressed,

And the sons of Judah as well;

And ^aall who took them captive have held them fast,

They have refused to let them go.

³⁴“Their ^aRedeemer is strong, ^bthe Lord of hosts is His name;

He will vigorously ^cplead their case

So that He may ^dbring rest to ¹the earth,

But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵“A ^asword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,

“And against the inhabitants of Babylon

And against her ^bofficials and her ^cwise men!

³⁶“A sword against the ^aoracle priests, and they will become fools!

A sword against her ^bmighty men, and they will be ^1cshattered!

³⁷“A sword against ¹their ^ahorses and against their chariots

And against all the ^2bforeigners who are in the midst of her,

And they will become ^cwomen!

A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

³⁸“A ^1adrought on her waters, and they will be dried up!

For it is a land of ^bidols,

And they are mad over fearsome idols.

³⁹“Therefore the ^adesert creatures will live there along with the jackals;

The ostriches also will live in it,

And it will ^bnever again be inhabited

Or dwelt in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰“As when God overthrew ^aSodom

And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,

“No man will live there,

Nor will any son of man reside in it.

⁴¹“Behold, a people is coming ^afrom the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

⁴²“They ^aseize their bow and javelin;

They are ^bcruel and have no mercy.

Their ^cvoice roars like the sea;

And they ride on ^dhorses,

^eMarshalled like a man for the battle

Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³“The ^aking of Babylon has heard the report about them,

And his hands hang limp;

^bDistress has gripped him,

Agony like a woman in childbirth.

⁴⁴“^aBehold, one will come up like a lion from the ¹thicket of the Jordan to ²a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will make them run away from it, and whoever is ^bchosen I will appoint over it. For who is ^clike Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can ^dstand before Me?”

⁴⁵Therefore hear the ^aplan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: ^bsurely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their ¹pasture desolate because of them.

⁴⁶At the ¹shout, “Babylon has been seized!” the ^aearth is shaken, and an ^boutcry is heard among the nations.

Chapter 51

Babylon Judged for Sins against Israel

¹Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I am going to arouse against Babylon

And against the inhabitants of ¹Leb-kamai

²The ^aspirit of a destroyer.

²“I will dispatch ¹foreigners to Babylon that they may ^awinnow her

And may devastate her land;

For on every side they will be opposed to her

In the day of her calamity.

³“¹Let not ²him who ^3abends his bow bend it,

Nor let him rise up in his ^bscale-armor;

So do not spare her young men;

Devote all her army to destruction.

⁴“They will fall down ¹slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

And ^apierced through in their streets.”

⁵For ^aneither Israel nor Judah has been ¹forsaken

By his God, the Lord of hosts,

Although their land is ^bfull of guilt

²Before the Holy One of Israel.

^6aFlee from the midst of Babylon,

And each of you save his life!

Do not be ^1bdestroyed in her ²punishment,

For this is the ^cLord’s time of vengeance;

He is going to ^drender recompense to her.

⁷Babylon has been a golden ^acup in the hand of the Lord,

Intoxicating all the earth.

The ^bnations have drunk of her wine;

Therefore the nations are ^cgoing mad.

⁸Suddenly ^aBabylon has fallen and been broken;

^bWail over her!

^cBring ¹balm for her pain;

Perhaps she may be healed.

⁹We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;

Forsake her and ^alet us each go to his own country,

For her judgment has ^breached to heaven

And ¹towers up to the very skies.

¹⁰The Lord has ^abrought ¹about our vindication;

Come and let us ^brecount in Zion

The work of the Lord our God!

^11aSharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!

The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes,

Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it;

For it is the ^bvengeance…