Jeremiah 49:20–50:45

²⁰ⁱTherefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Edom,

And His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman:

Surely the least of the flock shall ⁸draw them out;

Surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them.

^21jThe earth shakes at the noise of their fall;

At the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea.

²²Behold, ^kHe shall come up and fly like the eagle,

And spread His wings over Bozrah;

The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be

Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

Judgment on Damascus

^23lAgainst Damascus.

^m“Hamath and Arpad are shamed,

For they have heard bad news.

They are fainthearted;

ⁿThere is ⁹trouble on the sea;

It cannot be quiet.

²⁴Damascus has grown feeble;

She turns to flee,

And fear has seized her.

^oAnguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in ¹labor.

²⁵Why is ^pthe city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?

^26qTherefore her young men shall fall in her streets,

And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.

²⁷“I ^rwill kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,

And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

^28sAgainst Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike.

Thus says the Lord:

“Arise, go up to Kedar,

And devastate ^tthe men of the East!

²⁹Their ^utents and their flocks they shall take away.

They shall take for themselves their curtains,

All their vessels and their camels;

And they shall cry out to them,

^v‘Fear is on every side!’

³⁰“Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor!” says the Lord.

“For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you,

And has conceived a plan against you.

³¹“Arise, go up to ^wthe wealthy nation that dwells securely,” says the Lord,

“Which has neither gates nor bars,

^xDwelling alone.

³²Their camels shall be for booty,

And the multitude of their cattle for plunder.

I will ^yscatter to all winds those ²in the farthest corners,

And I will bring their calamity from all its sides,” says the Lord.

³³“Hazor ^zshall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever;

No one shall reside there,

Nor son of man dwell in it.”

Judgment on Elam

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against ^aElam, in the ^bbeginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, ³⁵“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Behold, I will break ^cthe ³bow of Elam,

The foremost of their might.

³⁶Against Elam I will bring the four winds

From the four quarters of heaven,

And scatter them toward all those winds;

There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.

³⁷For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies

And before those who seek their life.

^dI will bring disaster upon them,

My fierce anger,’ says the Lord;

‘And I will send the sword after them

Until I have consumed them.

³⁸I will ^eset My throne in Elam,

And will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the Lord.

³⁹‘But it shall come to pass ^fin the latter days:

I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the Lord.”

Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

50The word that the Lord spoke ^aagainst Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

²“Declare among the nations,

Proclaim, and ¹set up a standard;

Proclaim—do not conceal it—

Say, ‘Babylon is ^btaken, ^cBel is shamed.

²Merodach is broken in pieces;

^dHer idols are humiliated,

Her images are broken in pieces.’

^3eFor out of the north ^fa nation comes up against her,

Which shall make her land desolate,

And no one shall dwell therein.

They shall ³move, they shall depart,

Both man and beast.

⁴“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,

“The children of Israel shall come,

^gThey and the children of Judah together;

^hWith continual weeping they shall come,

ⁱAnd seek the Lord their God.

⁵They shall ask the way to Zion,

With their faces toward it, saying,

‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord

In ^ja perpetual covenant

That will not be forgotten.’

⁶“My people have been ^klost sheep.

Their shepherds have led them ^lastray;

They have turned them away on ^mthe mountains.

They have gone from mountain to hill;

They have forgotten their resting place.

⁷All who found them have ⁿdevoured them;

And ^otheir adversaries said, ^p‘We have not offended,

Because they have sinned against the Lord, ^qthe habitation of justice,

The Lord, ^rthe hope of their fathers.’

⁸“Move ^sfrom the midst of Babylon,

Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;

And be like the ⁴rams before the flocks.

^9tFor behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the north country,

And they shall array themselves against her;

From there she shall be captured.

Their arrows shall be like those of ⁵an expert warrior;

^uNone shall return in vain.

¹⁰And Chaldea shall become plunder;

^vAll who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

¹¹“Because ^wyou were glad, because you rejoiced,

You destroyers of My heritage,

Because you have grown fat ^xlike a heifer threshing grain,

And you ⁶bellow like bulls,

¹²Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;

She who bore you shall be ashamed.

Behold, the least of the nations shall be a ^ywilderness,

A dry land and a desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord

She shall not be inhabited,

^zBut she shall be wholly desolate.

^aEveryone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified

And hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴“Put ^byourselves 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.

¹⁵Shout against her all around;

She has ^cgiven her hand,

Her foundations have fallen,

^dHer walls are thrown down;

For ^eit is the vengeance of the Lord.

Take vengeance on her.

As she has done, so do to her.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.

For fear of the oppressing sword

^fEveryone shall turn to his own people,

And everyone shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is like ^gscattered sheep;

^hThe lions have driven him away.

First ⁱthe king of Assyria devoured him;

Now at last this ^jNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,

As I have punished the king of ^kAssyria.

^19lBut I will bring back Israel to his home,

And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;

His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,

^m“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;

And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;

For I will pardon those ⁿwhom I preserve.

²¹“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,

And against the inhabitants of ^oPekod.

⁷Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,

“And do ^paccording to all that I have commanded you.

^22qA sound of battle is in the land,

And of great destruction.

²³How ^rthe hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!

How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

I have laid a snare for you;

²⁴You have indeed been ^strapped, O Babylon,

And you were not aware;

You have been found and also caught,

Because you have ^tcontended against the Lord.

²⁵The Lord has opened His armory,

And has brought out ^uthe weapons of His indignation;

For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come against her from the farthest border;

Open her storehouses;

Cast her up as heaps of ruins,

And destroy her utterly;

Let nothing of her be left.

²⁷Slay all her ^vbulls,

Let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them!

For their day has come, the time of ^wtheir punishment.

²⁸The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon

^xDeclares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

The vengeance of His temple.

²⁹“Call together the archers against Babylon.

All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;

Let none of them ⁸escape.

^yRepay her according to her work;

According to all she has done, do to her;

^zFor she has been proud against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

^30aTherefore her young men shall fall in the streets,

And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.

³¹“Behold, I am against you,

O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;

“For your day has come,

⁹The time that I will punish you.

³²The most ^bproud shall stumble and fall,

And no one will raise him up;

^cI will kindle a fire in his cities,

And it will devour all around him.”

³³Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The children of Israel were oppressed,

Along with the children of Judah;

All who took them captive have held them fast;

They have refused to let them go.

^34dTheir Redeemer is strong;

^eThe Lord of hosts is His name.

He will thoroughly plead their ^fcase,

That He may give rest to the land,

And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵“A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,

“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,

And ^gagainst her princes and ^hher wise men.

³⁶A sword is ⁱagainst the soothsayers, and they will be fools.

A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

³⁷A sword is against their horses,

Against their chariots,

And against all ^jthe mixed peoples who are in her midst;

And ^kthey will become like women.

A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.

^38lA ¹drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.

For it is the land of carved images,

And they are insane with their idols.

³⁹“Therefore ^mthe wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,

And the ostriches shall dwell in it.

ⁿIt shall be inhabited no more forever,

Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

^40oAs God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

And their neighbors,” says the Lord,

“So no one shall reside there,

Nor son of man ^pdwell in it.

⁴¹“Behold, ^qa people shall come from the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.

^42rThey shall hold the bow and the lance;

^sThey are cruel and shall not show mercy.

^tTheir voice shall roar like the sea;

They shall ride on horses,

Set in array, like a man for the battle,

Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³“The king of Babylon has ^uheard the report about them,

And his hands grow feeble;

Anguish has taken hold of…