Jeremiah 50:1-Jeremiah 51:58 - A Message Concerning Babylon
1 The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the Gentiles, and publish, and set up a banner; publish, and do not conceal: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 3 For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein: they shall leave, they shall depart, both man and beast. 4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping they shall go and seek the LORD their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, unto where they shall turn their faces, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in an eternal covenant that shall never be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their restingplace. 7 All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
8 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the meek in front of the flocks. 9 For, behold, I awake and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and from there they shall set themselves in array against her; she shall be taken; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert one, who shall not return in vain. 10 And the land of the Chaldeans shall be for a spoil; all that spoil her shall come forth full, saith the LORD. 11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced destroying my heritage, because ye filled yourselves as a heifer on grass and neighed like horses; 12 your mother was sore confounded; she that bore you was ashamed: see here the latter end of the Gentiles: wilderness, dry land, and desert. 13 Because of the wrath of the LORD, she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be completely desolate; every one that goes by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues. 14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about; all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she has sinned against the LORD. 15 Shout against her round about; she has 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 has done, do unto her. 16 Cut off the sower from Babylon and him that handles the sickle in the time of harvest; for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn each one to his people, and they shall flee each one to his own land.
17 Israel has been like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away; first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said; Behold, I visit the king of Babylon and his land as I have visited the king of Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days, and in that time, said the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon those whom I shall have left.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod; waste and utterly destroy after them, said the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. 22 A sound of battle is in the land and of great destruction. 23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the Gentiles! 24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught because thou hast provoked the LORD. 25 The LORD has opened his treasury and has brought forth the vessels of his indignation; for this is the work of the Lord GOD of the hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. 26 Come against her from the ends of the earth, open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. 27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
28 The voice of those that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. 29 Call together the archers against Babylon; all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her; for she has become proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, said the LORD. 31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, said the Lord GOD of the hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. 32 And the proud one shall stumble and fall and have no one to raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah were oppressed together; and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of the hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, said the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her princes and upon her wise men. 36 A sword is upon the fortune-tellers; and they shall be fools: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be broken. 37 A sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women; a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. 38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up; for it is the land of graven images, and they are become mad upon their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall no longer be inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 42 They shall hold the bow and the lance; they shall be cruel and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the strong habitation; but I will rest and will make him run from upon her; and he who shall be chosen I will appoint over her. For who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Babylon and his thoughts that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out, and they shall destroy their habitations with them. 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon, the earth was moved, and the cry was heard among the Gentiles.
1 Thus hath the LORD said; Behold, I raise up against Babylon and against her inhabitants that rise up against me from the heart, a destroying wind. 2 And I will send unto Babylon fanners that shall fan her and shall empty her land; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3 I shall say to the archer that bends his bow and unto him that lifts himself up in his brigandine, Spare ye not her young men; utterly destroy all her host. 4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans and those that are thrust through in her streets. 5 For Israel and Judah have not been made widows of their God, of the LORD of the hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver each one his soul that ye not perish because of her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense. 7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD's hand that made all the earth drunken: the Gentiles have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 We applied the medicine to Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go each one into his own land; for her judgment is come unto heaven and is lifted up even to the clouds.
10 The LORD has brought our righteousness to light; come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields; the LORD has awakened the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his thought is against Babylon to destroy her; for it is vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up the banner upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has deliberated and shall put into effect that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O thou that dwellest among many waters, rich in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.
14 The LORD of the hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with locusts; and they shall sing the song of the winepress against thee.
15 He is the one who makes the earth by his power; he upholds the world by his wisdom and extends the heavens by his intelligence; 16 he who gives with his voice a multitude of waters from heaven, then he causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with the rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.
17 Every man has become carnal and is without knowledge; let every founder be ashamed of the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the Former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance; the LORD of the hosts is his name.
20 Thou art my hammer, O weapons of war: for with thee I will break in pieces the Gentiles, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms; 21 and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariots and their riders; 22 with thee also I will break in pieces men and women; and with thee I will break in pieces old and young; and with thee I will break in pieces young men and virgins; 23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee I will break in pieces dukes and princes.
24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, said the LORD.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, said the LORD, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, said the LORD.
27 Set ye up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the Gentiles, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as raised up locusts. 28 Prepare the nations against her: the kings of Media, the captains thereof, and all the princes thereof, and all the land of their dominion. 29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow for every thought of the LORD is confirmed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. 30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight; they have remained in their holds; their might has failed; they became as women: the enemies have burned her dwellingplaces; they have broken her bars. 31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken in all places, 32 And the fords were taken, and they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war were astounded.
33 For thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor; it is now time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon; he has filled his belly with my delicates; he has cast me out. 35 The violence against me and my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus hath the LORD said: Behold, I judge thy cause and shall take thy vengeance; and I will dry up her sea and make her flowing waters dry. 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant. 38 They shall roar together like lions; they shall roar as lions' whelps. 39 In their heat I will place their feasts before them, and I will make them drunken that they may rejoice and sleep an eternal sleep and not wake, said the LORD. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
41 How is Sheshach a prey! and how is she who was the praise of the whole earth taken! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the Gentiles! 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. 43 Her cities were devastated, the land dry and desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither shall any son of man pass thereby. 44 And I will visit Bel himself in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the Gentiles shall not flow together any more unto him; and the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 Come out of the midst of her, my people, and save each one his life from the fierce anger of the LORD. 46 And lest your heart faint, and ye fear because of the news that shall be heard in the land; in one year shall the news come, and after that in the next year shall come the rumour, and then shall come the violence in the land, and the ruler over him who rules. 47 Therefore, behold, the days come that I will visit the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be ashamed, and all her dead shall fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heavens and the earth and all that is therein shall sing praises over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, said the LORD.
49 As Babylon has caused the dead of Israel to fall, so because of Babylon the dead of all the earth fell. 50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, do not tarry: remember the LORD for many days, and remember Jerusalem.
51 We are ashamed, because we have heard the reproach; confusion has covered our faces; for strangers are come against the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.
52 Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will visit her graven images; and through all her land the wounded unto death shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strength upon high, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, said the LORD.
54 The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! 55 Because the LORD destroys Babylon and takes out of her the many thunders, her waves shall roar; like many waters shall be the sound of their voice: