Jeremiah 50 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

The word that Yahweh spoke about Babylon — about the land of the Chaldeans — through the prophet Jeremiah:

"Announce it among the nations — proclaim it. Raise the signal flag — proclaim it, don't hold back. Say: 'Babylon is captured. Bel is put to shame. Marduk is shattered. Her idols are humiliated. Her carved images are broken to pieces.'"

"Because a nation is coming against her from the north 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 Israel and the people of Judah will come together, walking and weeping as they go, searching for Yahweh their God."

"They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces toward it: 'Come, let us bind ourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.'"

"My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray, turning them loose on the mountains. They wandered from mountain to hill, forgetting where they belong."

"Everyone who found them devoured them. Their enemies said, 'We're not guilty — because they failed Yahweh, their true pasture, the hope of their ancestors — 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 stirring up 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 skilled warrior'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 my inheritance. Yes, frolic like a heifer on the threshing floor and neigh like stallions — "

"your mother 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 hiss 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 failed Yahweh."

"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 vengeance — take vengeance on her. Do to her as she has done."

"Cut off the one who sows from Babylon, and the one who wields the sickle 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 scattered flock that lions have driven away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now, last of all, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones."

So this is what Yahweh who commands armies, 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 Carmel and Bashan. On the hills of Ephraim and Gilead his appetite will be satisfied."

"In those days, at that time," declares Yahweh, "the guilt of Israel will be searched for, but there will be none. The failures of Judah will be sought, but they will not be found — because I will forgive the remnant I let survive."

"Go up against the land of Merathaim — attack it — and against those living in Pekod. Slaughter and completely destroy them," declares Yahweh. "Do everything I have commanded you."

"The sound of battle is in the land — massive destruction."

"How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!"

"I set a trap 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 armory and brought out the weapons of his fury, because the Lord Yahweh who commands armies has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans."

"Come against her from every direction. Break open her granaries. Pile her up like heaps of grain and completely destroy her. Let nothing remain of her."

"Slaughter all her bulls — let them go down for killing. How terrible for them, because their day has come, the time of their reckoning."

Listen — the sound of fugitives and refugees fleeing from the land of Babylon to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, vengeance for his Temple.

"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 acted arrogantly against Yahweh, against the set-apart one of Israel."

"So her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced on that day," declares Yahweh.

"Look — I am against you, Arrogance," 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 refuse to let them go."

"Their redeemer is strong. Yahweh who commands armies is his name. He will fiercely take up their case so that he can bring rest to the land but turmoil to those who live in Babylon."

"A sword against the Chaldeans," declares Yahweh, "against those who live in Babylon, against her officials and her wise men."

"A sword against her false prophets — they will be exposed as fools. A sword against her warriors — they will be shattered with fear."

"A sword against her horses and chariots and against all the foreign troops in her midst — they will become like women. A sword against her treasuries — they will be plundered."

"A drought against her waters — they will dry up. Because it is a land of carved images, and they go mad over terrifying idols."

"So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and ostriches will dwell in her. She will never be inhabited again — she will be uninhabited for all generations."

"Just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah 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 roused from the far reaches of the earth."

"They wield bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their sound is like the roaring sea as they ride on horses, lined up like a single warrior against you, daughter Babylon."

"The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands go limp. Anguish grips him — pain like a woman giving birth."

"Look — like a lion coming up from the thick brush of the Jordan 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 is like me? Who can summon me to account? What shepherd can stand against me?"

"So hear the plan that Yahweh has drawn up against Babylon, the purposes he has shaped against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the youngest of the flock will be dragged away. Surely their own pasture will be horrified at their fate."

At the sound of Babylon's capture, the earth shakes. The cry is heard among the nations.