Jeremiah 50

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1. 1This is the message the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans.
2. 2Announce among the nations, proclaim it, and raise a signal; do not hide it: 'Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.'
3. 3A nation from the north is coming to attack her. It will turn her land into a wasteland where no one lives. Every person and every animal will flee and be gone.
4. 4"When that time comes," says the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah will come together, weeping as they go, searching for the LORD their God.
5. 5They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces toward it, saying, 'Come, let's bind ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.'
6. 6My people have been like lost sheep. Their leaders led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. They wandered from mountain to hill and forgot their resting place.
7. 7Everyone who found them devoured them. Their enemies said, 'We've done nothing wrong — they're the ones who sinned against the LORD, the true dwelling place of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.'
8. 8"Get out of Babylon! Leave the land of the Chaldeans! Be like the lead goats that march at the front of the flock.
9. 9Watch — I am going to stir up and send against Babylon a coalition of powerful nations from the north. They will line up for battle against her, and she will be captured. Their arrows will fly like those of a skilled warrior — not one will miss its mark.
10. 10Chaldea will be plundered, and everyone who loots her will get their fill," says the LORD.
11. 11You celebrated and rejoiced, you who plundered my people! You grew fat like a heifer at grass and bellowed like bulls.
12. 12But your mother will be utterly disgraced — the nation that gave you birth will be put to shame. She will become the least of all nations — a wilderness, a dry and barren desert.
13. 13Because of the LORD's fury, no one will live there, and it will be completely desolate. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be astonished and hiss at all her plagues.
14. 14Take your positions around Babylon, all you archers! Shoot at her — don't hold back a single arrow — because she has sinned against the LORD.
15. 15Raise the war cry against her from every side! She has surrendered! Her defenses have crumbled, and her walls have been torn down. This is the LORD's vengeance — so take your vengeance on her! Do to her exactly what she has done to others.
16. 16Cut off the farmers who plant in Babylon and those who use the sickle at harvest time. Because of the oppressing sword, everyone will return to their own people and flee to their own land.
17. 17"Israel is a scattered sheep that lions have chased down. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now finally Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has crushed his bones."
18. 18So this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Watch — I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19. 19I will bring Israel back to his own pastureland. He will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
20. 20When that time comes," says the LORD, "people will search for Israel's guilt, but there will be none. They will look for Judah's sins, but they won't find any — because I will forgive the remnant I have spared."
21. 21"March against the land of Merathaim and against the people of Pekod! Slaughter them and completely destroy everything behind you," says the LORD. "Carry out every command I have given you.
22. 22The sound of battle fills the land — the noise of massive destruction!
23. 23How the hammer that smashed the whole earth has itself been cut apart and shattered! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
24. 24I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you even knew it. You were discovered and seized because you fought against the LORD.
25. 25The LORD has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his indignation, because this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
26. 26Come at her from every direction! Break open her storehouses! Pile her up like heaps of rubble and destroy her completely — leave nothing behind.
27. 27Kill all her bullocks; send them to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their visitation.
28. 28Listen to the refugees fleeing and escaping from Babylon, rushing to announce in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God — his vengeance for what was done to his temple.
29. 29"Call up the archers against Babylon — everyone who can draw a bow! Set up camp around her on every side. Don't let anyone escape. Pay her back for what she has done. Do to her exactly as she did to others, because she acted with arrogance against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
30. 30That is why her young men will fall dead in her streets, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day," says the LORD.
31. 31"I am against you, you arrogant one," declares the Lord GOD of hosts. "Your day has come — the time when I will deal with you.
32. 32The arrogant one will stumble and fall with no one to help him up. I will set fire to his cities, and the flames will consume everything around him."
33. 33This is what the LORD of hosts says: "The people of Israel and the people of Judah are oppressed together. Everyone who captured them holds them tight and refuses to let them go.
34. 34But their Redeemer is strong — the LORD of hosts is his name. He will fight their case with power, bringing peace to their land and turmoil to the people of Babylon."
35. 35"A sword is coming against the Chaldeans," says the LORD, "against the people of Babylon, against her officials, and against her wise men.
36. 36A sword is upon the liars, and they will act foolishly; a sword is upon her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
37. 37A sword is against their horses and against their chariots and against all the mixed people in the midst of her, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
38. 38A drought is coming against her waters — they will dry up. For Babylon is a land obsessed with carved images; her people have gone mad over their idols.
39. 39Therefore, the wild beasts of the desert and the wild beasts of the islands will live there, and the owls will dwell there. It will never be inhabited again; no one will live there from generation to generation.
40. 40Just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them," says the LORD, "no one will live there. No human being will ever settle in it again.
41. 41"Look — a people is coming from the north! A great nation and many kings are being roused from the farthest corners of the earth.
42. 42They carry bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their battle cry roars like the ocean. They ride on horses, lined up in formation like warriors ready for battle — all coming against you, daughter of Babylon.
43. 43The king of Babylon has heard the reports about them, and his hands go limp. Anguish grips him — pain like a woman in labor.
44. 44Like a lion coming up from the thick brush along the Jordan to attack a fortified pasture, I will suddenly chase Babylon away from her land. And who is the one I will choose to put in charge of her? For who is like me? Who can challenge me? What leader can stand against me?"
45. 45So listen to the plan the LORD has made against Babylon — the purposes he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Even the weakest of the flock will drag them away. He will turn their homeland into a wasteland because of them.
46. 46At the sound of Babylon's capture, the earth shakes, and the cry echoes among the nations.