JeremiahChapter 50

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¹This is the message the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. It is about Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans. ²"Tell the nations. Make it known.
Lift up a banner and announce it.
Hold nothing back. Say this:
'Babylon is captured.
Bel is put to shame.
Marduk is smashed.
Her images are put to shame.
Her idols are broken to pieces.'a ³A nation from the north will come against her.
It will make her land an empty ruin.
No one will live in it.
Both people and animals will run away." ⁴"In those days, at that time," says the LORD,
"the people of Israel and the people of Judah will come together.
They will weep as they come.
They will look for the LORD their God. ⁵They will ask the way to Zion.
They will turn their faces toward it.
They will come and join themselves to the LORD.
It will be in a covenant that lasts forever.
It will never be forgotten. ⁶My people are lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them the wrong way.
They made them roam on the mountains.
They have wandered from mountain to hill.
They have forgotten their own resting place. ⁷Everyone who found them ate them up.
Their enemies said, 'We are not guilty.
They have sinned against the LORD.
He is their true pasture.
The LORD was the hope of their fathers.' ⁸Run away from the middle of Babylon!
Leave the land of the Chaldeans!
Be like the male goats that lead the flock. ⁹Look! I will stir up a group of great nations.
I will bring them from the land of the north against Babylon.
They will line up for battle against her.
She will be captured from the north.
Their arrows will be like skilled warriors.
They do not come back empty-handed. ¹⁰Chaldea will be robbed.
All who rob her will take all they want,"
says the LORD. ¹¹"Because you are glad and you cheer,
you who robbed the people who belong to me,
because you jump around like a young cow stomping grain
and neigh like strong horses, ¹²your mother will be very ashamed.
The one who gave birth to you will be put to shame.
Look! She will be the least of the nations.
She will be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. ¹³Because of the LORD's anger, no one will live in her.
She will be completely empty and ruined.
All who pass by Babylon will be shocked.
They will hiss at all her wounds. ¹⁴Line up for battle around Babylon,
all of you who shoot the bow!
Shoot at her! Don't save any arrows!
For she has sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵Shout a battle cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands and given up.
Her towers have fallen.
Her walls are torn down.
This is the LORD paying her back.
So pay her back yourselves!
Do to her what she has done to others. ¹⁶Cut off the one who plants seed in Babylon.
Cut off the one who swings the sickle at harvest time.
The cruel enemy's sword is coming.
So each one will turn back to his own people.
Each one will run to his own land. ¹⁷Israel is a flock of sheep scattered by lions.
The king of Assyria was the first to eat him up.
The last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon." ¹⁸So this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
"I will punish the king of Babylon and his land.
I will punish them as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹I will bring Israel back to his own pasture.
He will graze on Carmel and Bashan.
He will eat until he is full
on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. ²⁰In those days, at that time," says the LORD,
"people will search for Israel's guilt.
But there will be none.
They will search for Judah's sins.
But none will be found.
For I will forgive the few people I keep alive. ²¹Attack the land of Merathaim.
Attack the people who live in Pekod.
Kill them and destroy them completely.
Do all that I have told you,"
says the LORD.b ²²"The noise of battle is in the land.
It is the noise of great ruin. ²³The hammer of the whole earth
lies broken and smashed!
Babylon has become a horror among the nations! ²⁴I set a trap for you, Babylon.
You were caught before you knew it.
You were found and captured
because you fought against the LORD. ²⁵The LORD has opened the room where he keeps his weapons.
He has brought out the weapons of his anger.
For the Lord GOD of Hosts has work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶Come against her from the farthest edges.
Break open the buildings where she stores grain.
Pile her up like heaps of grain.
Destroy her completely.
Leave no one alive. ²⁷Kill all her young bulls.
Let them go down to be killed.
How terrible for them!
Their day has come.
It is the time for them to be punished. ²⁸Listen to the people running away!
They have escaped from the land of Babylon.
In Zion they tell how the LORD our God is paying Babylon back.
He is paying her back for what she did to his temple. ²⁹Call the archers to fight Babylon,
all who string the bow.
Set up camp all around her.
Let no one escape.
Pay her back for what she has done.
Do to her what she has done to others.
For she has been proud against the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰So her young men will fall in the streets.
All her soldiers will be silenced on that day,"
says the LORD. ³¹"Look! I am against you, you proud one,"
says the Lord GOD of Hosts.
"Your day has come.
It is the time when I will punish you. ³²The proud one will trip and fall.
No one will help him up.
I will start a fire in his cities.
It will burn up everything around him." ³³This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"The people of Israel are being treated cruelly.
So are the people of Judah.
All who captured them hold on to them tightly.
They will not let them go. ³⁴But the one who will rescue them is strong.
The LORD of Hosts is his name.
He will strongly argue their case,
so that he may bring rest to the earth.
But he will bring trouble to those who live in Babylon.c ³⁵A sword is against the Chaldeans," says the LORD.
"It is against those who live in Babylon.
It is against her leaders and wise men. ³⁶A sword is against her false prophets.
They will become fools.
A sword is against her soldiers.
They will be filled with terror. ³⁷A sword is against her horses and chariots.
It is against all the foreigners living in her.
They will become weak like women.
A sword is against her treasures.
They will be stolen. ³⁸A drought is coming on her waters.
They will dry up.
For it is a land of carved idols.
The people go crazy over their idols. ³⁹So desert animals and hyenas will live there.
Ostriches will make their home there.
No one will ever live there again.
It will stay empty for all time to come. ⁴⁰God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and the towns near them," says the LORD.
"In the same way, no one will live there.
No person will stay there. ⁴¹Look! An army is coming from the north.
A great nation and many kings
are being stirred up from the ends of the earth. ⁴²They hold the bow and spear.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea.
They ride on horses.
They line up like soldiers ready for battle
against you, Daughter of Babylon. ⁴³The king of Babylon has heard the news about them.
His hands hang weak.
Great pain has gripped him,
pain like a woman giving birth. ⁴⁴Look! Someone will come up like a lion
from the thick bushes by the Jordan
to the green pasture.
For in a moment I will chase Babylon from her land.
Who is the chosen one I will pick for this?
For who is like me?
Who can challenge me?
What shepherd can stand against me?" ⁴⁵So hear the plans the LORD has made against Babylon.
Hear what he plans against the land of the Chaldeans.
The little ones of the flock will surely be dragged away.
Their pasture will surely be ruined because of them. ⁴⁶At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth will shake.
A cry will be heard among the nations.