Jeremiah 49:20–50:45

²⁰So listen to what the Lord has planned to do against Edom.

Listen to what he has decided to do to the people in the town of Teman.

He will surely drag away the young ones of Edom.

Their hometowns will surely be shocked at what happens to them.

²¹At the sound of Edom’s fall, the earth will shake.

Their cry will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.

²²The Lord is like an eagle swooping down

and spreading its wings over the city of Bozrah.

At that time Edom’s soldiers will become very frightened,

like a woman having a baby.

A Message to Damascus

²³This message is to the city of Damascus:

“The towns of Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,

because they have heard bad news.

They are discouraged.

They are troubled like the tossing sea.

²⁴The city of Damascus has become weak.

The people want to run away;

they are ready to panic.

The people feel pain and suffering,

like a woman giving birth to a baby.

²⁵Damascus was a city of my joy.

Why have the people not left that famous city yet?

²⁶Surely the young men will die in the city squares,

and all her soldiers will be killed at that time,” says the Lord All-Powerful.

²⁷“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus,

and it will completely burn the strong cities of King Ben-Hadad.”

A Message to Kedar and Hazor

²⁸This message is to the tribe of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. This is what the Lord says:

“Go and attack the people of Kedar,

and destroy the people of the East.

²⁹Their tents and flocks will be taken away.

Their belongings will be carried off—

their tents, all their goods, and their camels.

Men will shout to them,

‘Terror on every side!’

³⁰“Run away quickly!

People in Hazor, find a good place to hide!” says the Lord.

“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made plans against you

and wants to defeat you.

³¹“Get up! Attack the nation that is comfortable,

that is sure no one will defeat it,” says the Lord.

“It does not have gates or fences to protect it.

Its people live alone.

³²The enemy will steal their camels

and their large herds of cattle as war prizes.

I will scatter the people who cut their hair short to every part of the earth,

and I will bring disaster on them from everywhere,” says the Lord.

³³“The city of Hazor will become a home for wild dogs;

it will be an empty desert forever.

No one will live there,

and no one will stay in it.”

A Message to Elam

³⁴Soon after Zedekiah became king of Judah, the Lord spoke this word to Jeremiah the prophet. This message is to the nation of Elam.

³⁵This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:

“I will soon break Elam’s bow,

its greatest strength.

³⁶I will bring the four winds against Elam

from the four corners of the skies.

I will scatter its people everywhere the four winds blow;

its captives will go to every nation.

³⁷I will terrify Elam in front of their enemies,

who want to destroy them.

I will bring disaster to Elam

and show them how angry I am!” says the Lord.

“I will send a sword to chase Elam

until I have killed them all.

³⁸I will set up my throne in Elam to show that I am king,

and I will destroy its king and its officers!” says the Lord.

³⁹“But I will make good things happen to Elam again

in the future,” says the Lord.

A Message to Babylon

50This is the message the Lord spoke to Babylon and the Babylonian people through Jeremiah the prophet.

²“Announce this to the nations.

Lift up a banner and tell them.

Speak the whole message and say:

‘Babylon will be captured.

The god Bel will be put to shame,

and the god Marduk will be afraid.

Babylon’s gods will be put to shame,

and her idols will be afraid!’

³A nation from the north will attack Babylon

and make it like an empty desert.

No one will live there;

both people and animals will run away.”

⁴The Lord says, “At that time

the people of Israel and Judah will come together.

They will cry and look for the Lord their God.

⁵Those people will ask how to go to Jerusalem

and will start in that direction.

They will come and join themselves to the Lord.

They will make an agreement with him that will last forever,

an agreement that will never be forgotten.

⁶“My people have been like lost sheep.

Their leaders have led them in the wrong way

and made them wander around in the mountains and hills.

They forgot where their resting place was.

⁷Whoever saw my people hurt them.

And those enemies said, ‘We did nothing wrong.

Those people sinned against the Lord, their true resting place,

the God their fathers trusted.’

⁸“Run away from Babylon,

and leave the land of the Babylonians.

Be like the goats that lead the flock.

⁹I will soon bring against Babylon

many great nations from the north.

They will take their places for war against it,

and it will be captured by people from the north.

Their arrows are like trained soldiers

who do not return from war with empty hands.

¹⁰The enemy will take all the wealth from the Babylonians.

Those enemy soldiers will get all they want,” says the Lord.

¹¹“Babylon, you are excited and happy,

because you took my land.

You dance around like a young cow in the grain.

Your laughter is like the neighing of male horses.

¹²Your mother will be very ashamed;

the woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced.

Soon Babylonia will be the least important of all the nations.

She will be an empty, dry desert.

¹³Because of the Lord’s anger,

no one will live there.

She will be completely empty.

Everyone who passes by Babylon will be shocked.

They will shake their heads when they see all her injuries.

¹⁴“Take your positions for war against Babylon,

all you soldiers with bows.

Shoot your arrows at Babylon! Do not save any of them,

because Babylon has sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵Soldiers around Babylon, shout the war cry!

Babylon has surrendered, her towers have fallen,

and her walls have been torn down.

The Lord is giving her people the punishment they deserve.

You nations should give her what she deserves;

do to her what she has done to others.

¹⁶Don’t let the people from Babylon plant their crops

or gather the harvest.

The soldiers treated their captives cruelly.

Now, let everyone go back home.

Let everyone run to his own country.

¹⁷“The people of Israel are like a flock of sheep that are scattered

from being chased by lions.

The first lion to eat them up

was the king of Assyria.

The last lion to crush their bones

was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

¹⁸So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his country

as I punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹But I will bring the people of Israel back to their own pasture.

They will eat on Mount Carmel and in Bashan.

They will eat and be full

on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.”

²⁰The Lord says,

“At that time people will try to find Israel’s guilt,

but there will be no guilt.

People will try to find Judah’s sins,

but no sins will be found,

because I will leave a few people alive from Israel and Judah,

and I will forgive their sins.

²¹“Attack the land of Merathaim.

Attack the people who live in Pekod.

Chase them, kill them, and completely destroy them.

Do everything I commanded you!” says the Lord.

²²“The noise of battle can be heard all over the country;

it is the noise of much destruction.

²³Babylon was the hammer of the whole earth,

but how broken and shattered that hammer is now.

It is truly the most ruined

of all the nations.

²⁴Babylon, I set a trap for you,

and you were caught before you knew it.

You fought against the Lord,

so you were found and taken prisoner.

²⁵The Lord has opened up his storeroom

and brought out the weapons of his anger,

because the Lord God All-Powerful has work to do

in the land of the Babylonians.

²⁶Come against Babylon from far away.

Break open her storehouses of grain.

Pile up her dead bodies like heaps of grain.

Completely destroy Babylon

and do not leave anyone alive.

²⁷Kill all the young men in Babylon;

let them be killed like animals.

How terrible it will be for them, because the time has come for their defeat;

it is time for them to be punished.

²⁸Listen to the people running to escape the country of Babylon!

They are telling Jerusalem

how the Lord our God is punishing Babylon as it deserves

for destroying his Temple.

²⁹“Call for the archers

to come against Babylon.

Tell them to surround the city,

and let no one escape.

Pay her back for what she has done;

do to her what she has done to other nations.

Babylon acted with pride against the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰So her young men will be killed in her streets.

All her soldiers will die on that day,” says the Lord.

³¹“Babylon, you are too proud, and I am against you,”

says the Lord God All-Powerful.

“The time has come

for you to be punished.

³²Proud Babylon will stumble and fall,

and no one will help her get up.

I will start a fire in her towns,

and it will burn up everything around her.”

³³This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:

“The people of Israel

and Judah are slaves.

The enemy took them as prisoners

and won’t let them go.

³⁴But God is strong and will buy them back.

His name is the Lord All-Powerful.

He will surely defend them with power

so he can give rest to their land.

But he will not give rest to those living in Babylon.”

³⁵The Lord says,

“Let a sword kill the people living in Babylon

and her officers and wise men!

³⁶Let a sword kill her false prophets,

and they will become fools.

Let a sword kill her warriors,

and they will be full of terror.

³⁷Let a sword kill her horses and chariots

and all the soldiers hired from other countries!

Then they will be like frightened women.

Let a sword attack her treasures,

so they will be taken away.

³⁸Let a sword attack her waters

so they will be dried up.

She is a land of idols,

and the people go crazy with fear over them.

³⁹“Desert animals and hyenas will live there,

and owls will live there,

but no people will ever live there again.

She will never be filled with people again.

⁴⁰God completely destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah

and the towns around them,” says the Lord.

“In the same way no people will live in Babylon,

and no human being will stay there.

⁴¹“Look! An army is coming from the north.

A powerful nation and many kings

are coming together from all around the world.

⁴²Their…