Jeremiah 50

New American Standard Bible

Prophecy against Babylon

50 The word which the Lord spoke concerning ^(A)Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

²“^(B)Declare and proclaim among the nations.
Proclaim it and ^(C)lift up a flag,
Do not conceal it. Say,
‘^(D)Babylon has been captured,
^(E)Bel has been put to shame, ^[a]Marduk has been ^[b]shattered;
Her ^(F)idols have been put to shame, her images have been shattered.’

³For a nation has come up against her from the ^(G)north; it will make her land ^(H)an object of horror, and there will be ^(I)no inhabitant in it. Whether people or animals, they have wandered off, they have gone!

⁴“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah ^(J)as well; they will go along ^(K)weeping as they go, and it will be ^(L)the Lord their God whom they will seek. ⁵They will ^(M)ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces ^[c]in its direction; ^[d]they ^[e]will come so that they may join themselves to the Lord in an ^(N)everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

⁶“My people have become ^(O)lost sheep;
^(P)Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn aside on the ^(Q)mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill,
They have forgotten their ^(R)resting place.
⁷All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries have said, ‘^(S)We are not guilty,
Since they have sinned against the Lord who is the ^(T)habitation of righteousness,
The Lord, the ^(U)hope of their fathers.’

⁸“Wander away from the ^(V)midst of Babylon
And ^[f]go out from the land of the Chaldeans;
Be like male goats ^[g]at the head of the flock.
⁹For behold, I am going to ^(W)rouse and bring up against Babylon
A contingent 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 ^[h]an expert warrior
Who does not return empty-handed.
¹⁰^[i]^(X)Chaldea will become plunder;
All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.

¹¹“Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,
You who ^(Y)pillage My heritage,
Because you skip about ^[j]like a threshing ^(Z)heifer
And neigh like ^[k]stallions,
¹²Your ^(AA)mother ^[l]will be greatly ashamed,
She who gave you birth ^[m]will be humiliated.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
A ^(AB)wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord she will ^(AC)not be inhabited,
But she will be ^(AD)completely desolate;
Everyone who passes by Babylon ^(AE)will be horrified
And will hiss because of all her wounds.
¹⁴Draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side,
All of you who ^[n]bend the bow;
Shoot at her, do not spare your arrows,
For she has ^(AF)sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵Raise your battle cry against her on every side!
She has ^(AG)given ^[o]herself up, her towers have fallen,
Her ^(AH)walls have been torn down.
For this is the ^(AI)vengeance of the Lord:
Take vengeance on her;
^(AJ)As she has done to others, so do to her.
¹⁶Eliminate the ^(AK)sower from Babylon
And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;
From ^[p]the ^(AL)sword of the oppressor
^(AM)Each of them will turn back to his own people
And each of them will flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is a ^(AN)scattered ^[q]flock, the ^(AO)lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the ^(AP)king of Assyria, and this last one who has gnawed his bones is ^(AQ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. ¹⁸Therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I ^(AR)punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹And I will ^(AS)bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his ^[r]desire will be satisfied in the ^(AT)hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. ²⁰In those days and at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for the wrongdoing of Israel, but ^(AU)there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will forgive those ^(AV)whom I leave as a remnant.’

²¹“Against the land of ^[s]Merathaim, go up against it,
And against the inhabitants of ^[t]^(AW)Pekod.
Kill and ^[u]completely destroy them,” declares the Lord,
“And do according to everything that I have commanded you.
²²The ^(AX)noise of battle is in the land,
And great destruction.
²³How the ^(AY)hammer of the whole earth
Has been cut off and broken!
How Babylon has become
An object of horror among the nations!
²⁴I ^(AZ)set a trap for you and you were also ^(BA)caught, Babylon,
While you yourself were not aware;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have engaged in ^(BB)conflict with the Lord.”
²⁵The Lord has opened His armory
And has brought out the ^(BC)weapons of His indignation,
For it is a ^(BD)work of the Lord ^[v]God of armies
In the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶Come to her from the ^[w]farthest border;
^(BE)Open up her barns,
Pile her up like heaps of grain
And ^[x]^(BF)completely destroy her,
Let nothing be left to her.
²⁷^(BG)Put all her bulls to the sword;
Let them ^(BH)go down to the slaughter!
Woe be upon them, for their ^(BI)day has come,
The time of their punishment.

²⁸There is a ^(BJ)sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the ^(BK)vengeance of the Lord our God,
Vengeance for His ^(BL)temple.

²⁹“Summon ^[y]many against Babylon,
All those who ^[z]bend the bow:
Encamp against her on every side,
Let there be no escape^[aa].
Repay her according to her work;
^(BM)According to all that she has done, so do to her;
For she has become ^(BN)arrogant against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
³⁰Therefore her ^(BO)young men will fall in her streets,
And all her men of war will ^(BP)perish on that day,” declares the Lord.
³¹“Behold, ^(BQ)I am against you, ^[ab]arrogant one,”
Declares the Lord ^[ac]God of armies,
“For your day has come,
The time ^[ad]when I will punish you.
³²The ^[ae]^(BR)arrogant one will stumble and fall
With no one to raise him up;
And I will ^(BS)set fire to his cities,
And it will devour all his surroundings.”

³³This is what the Lord of armies says:
“The sons of Israel are oppressed,
And the sons of Judah as well;
And ^(BT)all who took them captive have held them firmly,
They have refused to let them go.
³⁴Their ^(BU)Redeemer is strong, ^(BV)the Lord of armies is His name;
He will vigorously ^(BW)plead their case
So that He may ^(BX)bring rest to their land,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.
³⁵A ^(BY)sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,
“And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her ^(BZ)leaders and her ^(CA)wise men!
³⁶A sword against the ^(CB)oracle priests, and they will become fools!
A sword against her ^(CC)warriors, and they will be ^[af]^(CD)shattered!
³⁷A sword against ^[ag]their ^(CE)horses, against ^[ah]their chariots,
And against all the ^[ai]^(CF)foreigners who are in the midst of her,
And they will become ^(CG)women!
A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
³⁸A ^[aj]^(CH)drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!
For it is a land of ^(CI)idols,
And they go insane at frightful images.

³⁹“Therefore the ^(CJ)desert creatures will live there with the jackals;
The ostriches also will live in it.
It will ^(CK)never again be inhabited
Nor lived in from generation to generation.
⁴⁰As when God overthrew ^(CL)Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,
“No one will live there,
Nor will ^[ak]anyone of mankind reside in it.

⁴¹“Behold, a people is coming ^(CM)from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Will be roused from the remote parts of the earth.
⁴²They ^(CN)seize their bow and javelin;
They are ^(CO)cruel and have no mercy.
Their ^(CP)voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on ^(CQ)horses,
^(CR)Drawn up like a man for the battle
Against you, daughter of Babylon.
⁴³The ^(CS)king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands hang limp;
^(CT)Distress has gripped him,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.

⁴⁴“^(CU)Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will chase them away from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is ^(CV)chosen. For who is ^(CW)like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can ^(CX)stand against Me?” ⁴⁵Therefore hear the ^(CY)plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has in mind against the land of the Chaldeans: ^(CZ)they will certainly drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; He will certainly make their pasture desolate because of them. ⁴⁶At the ^[al]shout, “Babylon has been conquered!” the ^(DA)earth quakes, and an ^(DB)outcry is heard among the nations.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 50:2 Heb Merodach
Jeremiah 50:2 Or dismayed
Jeremiah 50:5 Lit toward here
Jeremiah 50:5 MT come, that
Jeremiah 50:5 Or will have come
Jeremiah 50:8 Another reading is let them go out
Jeremiah 50:8 Or in front of
Jeremiah 50:9 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT a warrior who makes childless
Jeremiah 50:10 Or the Chaldeans
Jeremiah 50:11 Another reading is in the grass
Jeremiah 50:11 Lit mighty ones
Jeremiah 50:12 Or has become
Jeremiah 50:12 Or has become
Jeremiah 50:14 Lit step on (in order to string)
Jeremiah 50:15 Lit her hand
Jeremiah 50:16 Or the oppressing sword
Jeremiah 50:17 Lit sheep
Jeremiah 50:19 Lit soul
Jeremiah 50:21 Or double rebellion
Jeremiah 50:21 I.e., punishment (uncertain)
Jeremiah 50:21 Lit put under the ban
Jeremiah 50:25 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Jeremiah 50:26 Lit end
Jeremiah 50:26 Lit put under the ban
Jeremiah 50:29 Another reading is archers
Jeremiah 50:29 Lit step on (in order to string)
Jeremiah 50:29 Some mss add to her
Jeremiah 50:31 Lit arrogance
Jeremiah 50:31 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Jeremiah 50:31 Another reading is of your punishment
Jeremiah 50:32 Lit arrogance
Jeremiah 50:36 Or filled with terror
Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
Jeremiah 50:37 Lit mixed multitude
Jeremiah 50:38 Another reading is sword
Jeremiah 50:40 Lit a son of man
Jeremiah 50:46 Lit voice