Jeremiah Chapter 50
1 A Message Yahveh Spoke About Babylon,
the Land of the Babylonians, Through the Prophet Jeremiah:
2 “Announce it among the nations;
hoist a standard everyone can see:
‘Babylon has been captured,
Bel humbled,
Marduk shattered,
its images disgraced,
its idols smashed.’
3 A nation has come down against it from the north. It will make the land something to abhor; nobody will live there. People and animals will wander off.
4 “At that time, Israel and Judah will return home. They’ll go along weeping, looking for Yahveh their God. 5 They’ll ask how to get to Zion and turn in that direction to join Yahveh in an everlasting covenant they won’t forget.
Jer 50:1-5
6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds had led them astray and abandoned them on the mountains. They’ve gone along from mountain to hill and lost track of their resting place. 7 Everyone that came at them has devoured them. Their enemies have said, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong; they’d sinned against Yahveh, where goodness lives, who was their ancestors’ hope.’
8 “Wander away from Babylon and leave the land of the Babylonians. Be like male goats at the head of the flock. 9 I’m going to bring against Babylon a horde of great nations from farther north. They’ll draw up their battle lines and capture it. Their arrows will fly from skilled soldiers that won’t come back empty-handed. 10 Babylonia will become plunder. Those who plunder it will gather as much as they want,” Yahveh says.
Jer 50:6-10
11 “Though you’re happy and jubilant now,
you that plundered my permanent possession,
though you run around like a heifer on grass
and neigh like a stallion,
12 your mother will be ashamed;
she that bore you will be humiliated.
She’ll be the least of the nations,
a parched wilderness, a desert.
13 Because of Yahveh’s anger,
Babylon will be empty,
completely desolate.
Everybody that goes past it will be appalled
and gasp at its wounds.
14 Draw up your battle lines on every side of Babylon,
you that bend the bow.
Shoot at it; don’t spare your arrows
because it’s sinned against Yahveh.
Jer 50:11-14
15 Raise your battle cry at it everywhere!
It has given up; its pillars have fallen;
its walls have been torn down.
This is Yahveh’s revenge:
carry out that revenge on it;
do to it what it’s done to others.
16 Eliminate the sower from Babylon
and the one that swings the sickle at harvest time.
Each one will retreat from the sword
back to their own people;
they’ll flee to their own land.
Jer 50:15-16
17 “Israel is like a flock driven away and scattered by lions. The king of Assyria devoured it first. Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, broke its bones. 18 So Yahveh of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘I’m going to punish Babylon like I punished Assyria. 19 I’ll bring Israel back to his pasture so he can graze on Carmel and Bashan. He’ll eat as much as he wants in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 At that time, they’ll search for Israel’s iniquity and Judah’s sin, but they won’t find any. That’s because I’ll pardon the ones I’m leaving as a remnant.’
Jer 50:17-20
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim
and the people in Pekod.
Slay and destroy them,” Yahveh says.
“Do everything I’ve commanded you.
22 The noise of battle is in the land
and great destruction.
23 How the sledgehammer of the whole world
has been cut off and broken!
How Babylon has become
something to abhor among the countries!
Jer 50:21-23
24 I set a snare for you and caught you, Babylon,
while you weren’t watching.
You’ve been found and captured
because you’ve engaged Yahveh in conflict.”
25 Yahvehhas opened his armory
and brought out his weapons of wrath.
This is his work against the Babylonians.
26 Attack it from the farthest border;
open your arms, pile it in heaps,
destroy it.
Don’t leave anything.
27 Kill its young bulls with the sword;
let them go down to slaughter!
Misfortune awaits them because their time has come,
the time for their punishment.
28 There’s the sound of fugitives from Babylon;
it speaks of Yahveh’s revenge for his Temple.
Jer 50:24-28
29 “Summon many nations against Babylon,
every one that bends the bow;
camp against it all the way around;
don’t let anyone escape.
Repay it according to its work;
do to it everything it has done,
because it’s been arrogant against Yahveh,
the Holy One of Israel.
30 So its young men will fall in its streets;
its fighting men will fall silent then.
31 I’m against you, arrogant one;
it’s time for me to punish you.
32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall
with nobody to help him up.
I’ll set fire to his towns
and consume his surroundings.”
Jer 50:29-32
33 Yahveh of hosts says,
“Israel is oppressed,
Judah as well.
All who have taken them captive
have held onto them fast
and won’t let go.
34 Their redeemer is strong;
his name is Yahveh of Hosts.
He’ll certainly argue their case
and give rest to their land;
he’ll bring unrest to the people in Babylon.
35 A sword against them,
their officials and wise men!
Jer 50:33-35
36 A sword against their fortunetellers
so they’ll become fools!
A sword against their fighting men
so they’ll be shattered!
37 A sword against their horses and chariots,
against the foreigners in it
so they’ll become women!
A sword against its treasures
so they’ll be plundered!
38 A drought to dry up its water
because it’s a land of idols,
and they’re crazy about their idols
39 “So the desert animals will live there along with jackals and owls. Nobody will ever live in it again 40 as when I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors.
Jer 50:39-40
41 “People are coming from the north;
a big empire with many kings
will rise up from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They take hold of bow and javelin;
they’re cruel with no mercy.
They roar like the sea; they ride on horses,
arrayed against you like soldiers for battle, Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard the reports about them,
and his hands hang limp;
anguish has seized him,
agony like a woman in childbirth.
Jer 50:41-43
44 “Like a lion from the thickets by the Jordan suddenly attacking a sheepfold, I’ll chase everyone away from it in an instant. I’ll appoint over it anyone I choose. Who can take me to court? What shepherd can oppose me?”
45 So listen to what Yahveh has planned for Babylon and the Babylonians. They’ll drag off the little ones in the flock and empty the pasture. 46 At the shout, “Babylon’s been captured!” the ground will shake. The nations will hear the shout.
Jer 50:44-46