Old Testament · Prophets

Jeremiah chapter 50

The word that Yahweh spoke about — about the land of the — through the prophet Jeremiah:“Announce it among the nations — proclaim it. Raise the — proclaim it, don’t hold back. Say: ‘Babylon is captured. is put to shame. is shattered. Her idols are humiliated. Her carved images are broken to pieces.’”“Because a nation is coming against her that will turn her land into a wasteland. No one will live in it — both people and animals will flee and be gone.”“In those days, at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the people of will come together, as they go, searching for Yahweh their God.”“They will ask the way to , turning their faces toward it: ‘Come, let us bind ourselves to Yahweh in an that will never be forgotten.’”“My people have been . Their led them astray, turning them loose on the mountains. They wandered from mountain to hill, .”“Everyone who found them devoured them. Their enemies said, ‘We’re not guilty — because they failed Yahweh, , — Yahweh.’”“Flee from the middle of Babylon. Leave the land of the Chaldeans. Be like the male goats that lead the flock out.”“Because look — I am and bringing against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the north. They will line up against her, and from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like a ’s — none of them returns empty-handed.”“Chaldea will become plunder. Everyone who plunders her will have their fill,” declares Yahweh.“Yes, celebrate. Yes, gloat, you who plunder . Yes, frolic like a and neigh like stallions —““ will be deeply ashamed. The woman who bore you will be disgraced. Look — she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.”“Because of Yahweh’s fury she will not be inhabited — she will be total desolation. Everyone passing by Babylon will be stunned and at all her wounds.”“Line up against Babylon on every side, all of you who bend the bow. Shoot at her — don’t spare any arrows, because she has .”“Raise the war cry against her on every side. She has surrendered. Her towers have fallen. Her walls are torn down. This is Yahweh’s — take vengeance on her. Do to her as she has done.”“Cut off from Babylon, and at harvest. Because of the oppressor’s sword, each one will turn back to their own people, each one will flee to their own land.”“Israel is a that lions have driven away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now, last of all, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has .”So this is what , the God of Israel, says: “Watch — I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.”“And I will bring Israel back to his own pasture, and he will graze on . On the hills of his appetite will be satisfied.”“In those days, at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the of Israel will be searched for, but there will be none. The of Judah will be sought, but they will not be found — because I will forgive .”“Go up against the land of — attack it — and against those living in . Slaughter and them,” declares Yahweh. “Do everything I have commanded you.”“The sound of battle is in the land — massive destruction.”“How broken and shattered is ! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!”“I for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you even knew it. You were found and seized because you fought against Yahweh.”“Yahweh has opened his and brought out the weapons of his fury, because the Lord Yahweh who commands armies in the land of the Chaldeans.”“Come against her from every direction. Break open her . Pile her up like heaps of grain and completely destroy her. Let nothing remain of her.”“Slaughter all her — let them go down for killing. How terrible for them, because their day has come, the time of their .”Listen — the sound of fugitives and refugees fleeing from the land of Babylon to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, .“Call up archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow. Encamp against her on every side. Let no one escape. Repay her for what she has done. Do to her exactly as she has done, because she against Yahweh, against .”“So her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be on that day,” declares Yahweh.“Look — I am against you, ,” declares the Lord Yahweh who commands armies, “because your day has come, the time when I will call you to account.”“Arrogance will stumble and fall with no one to pick her up. I will set fire to her cities, and it will devour everything around her.”This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: “The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who captured them hold them fast and .”“Their is strong. Yahweh who commands armies is his name. He will fiercely so that he can bring rest to the land but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.”“A against the Chaldeans,” declares Yahweh, “against those who live in Babylon, against her officials and her wise men.”“A sword against her — they will be exposed as fools. A sword against her warriors — they will be .”“A sword against her horses and chariots and against all the foreign troops in her midst — they will . A sword against her treasuries — they will be plundered.”“A against her waters — they will dry up. Because it is a land of carved images, and they go mad over .”“So will live there, and will dwell in her. She will never be inhabited again — she will be uninhabited for all generations.”“Just as when God and their neighboring towns,” declares Yahweh, “no one will live there. No human being will settle in her.”“Look — a people is coming from the north, a great nation and many kings are being from the .”“They wield bow and javelin. They are . Their sound is like the roaring sea as they ride on horses, lined up like a single warrior against you, .”“The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and . Anguish grips him — .”“Look — like a lion coming up from the to a well-watered pasture, in an instant I will chase them off it. And who is the chosen one I will appoint over it? Because ? Who can summon me to account? What can stand against me?”“So hear the that Yahweh has drawn up against Babylon, the purposes he has shaped against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the will be dragged away. Surely their own pasture will be horrified at their fate.”At the sound of Babylon’s capture, . is heard among the nations.