Jeremiah 50

Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

1 The word that the Lord spoke *Gen. 10:10; 11:9; 2 Kin. 17:24; Is. 13:1; 47:1; Dan. 1:1; Rev. 14:8against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 "Declare among the nations,

Proclaim, and set up a standard;

Proclaim—do not conceal it—

Say, ‘Babylon is *Is. 21:9taken, *Is. 46:1; Jer. 51:44Bel is shamed.

Merodach is broken in pieces;

*Jer. 43:12, 13Her idols are humiliated,

Her images are broken in pieces.’

3 *Jer. 51:48; Dan. 5:30, 31For out of the north *Is. 13:17, 18, 20a nation comes up against her,

Which shall make her land desolate,

And no one shall dwell therein.

They shall move, they shall depart,

Both man and beast.

4 "In those days and in that time," says the Lord,

"The children of Israel shall come,

*Ezra 2:1; Is. 11:12, 13; Jer. 3:18; 31:31; 33:7; Hos. 1:11They and the children of Judah together;

*Ezra 3:12, 13; (Ps. 126:5); Jer. 31:9; (Zech. 12:10)With continual weeping they shall come,

*Hos. 3:5And seek the Lord their God.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion,

With their faces toward it, saying,

‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord

In*Jer. 31:31a perpetual covenant

That will not be forgotten.’

6 "My people have been *Is. 53:6; (Ezek. 34:15, 16); Matt. 9:36; 10:6; 1 Pet. 2:25lost sheep.

Their shepherds have led them *Jer. 23:1; Ezek. 34:2astray;

They have turned them away on*(Jer. 2:20; 3:6, 23)the mountains.

They have gone from mountain to hill;

They have forgotten their resting place.

7 All who found them have *Ps. 79:7devoured them;

And *Jer. 40:2, 3; Zech. 11:5their adversaries said, *Jer. 2:3; Dan. 9:16‘We have not offended,

Because they have sinned against the Lord, *(Ps. 90:1; 91:1)the habitation of justice,

The Lord, *Ps. 22:4; Jer. 14:8; 17:13the hope of their fathers.’

8 "Move*Is. 48:20; Jer. 51:6, 45; Zech. 2:6, 7; (Rev. 18:4) from the midst of Babylon,

Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;

And be like the rams before the flocks.

9 *Jer. 15:14; 51:27For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the north country,

And they shall array themselves against her;

From there she shall be captured.

Their arrows shallbe like those of an expert warrior;

*2 Sam. 1:22None shall return in vain.

10 And Chaldea shall become plunder;

*(Rev. 17:16)All who plunder her shall be satisfied," says the Lord.

11 "Because*Is. 47:6 you were glad, because you rejoiced,

You destroyers of My heritage,

Because you have grown fat *Hos. 10:11like a heifer threshing grain,

And you bellow like bulls,

12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;

She who bore you shall be ashamed.

Behold, the least of the nations shallbe a *Jer. 51:43wilderness,

A dry land and a desert.

13 Because of the wrath of the Lord

She shall not be inhabited,

*Jer. 25:12But she shall be wholly desolate.

*Jer. 49:17Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified

And hiss at all her plagues.

14 "Put*Jer. 51:2 yourselves in array against Babylon all around,

All you who bend the bow;

Shoot at her, spare no arrows,

For she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Shout against her all around;

She has *1 Chr. 29:24; 2 Chr. 30:8; Lam. 5:6; Ezek. 17:18given her hand,

Her foundations have fallen,

*Jer. 51:58Her walls are thrown down;

For *Jer. 51:6, 11it is the vengeance of the Lord.

Take vengeance on her.

As she has done, so do to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.

For fear of the oppressing sword

*Is. 13:14; Jer. 51:9Everyone shall turn to his own people,

And everyone shall flee to his own land.

17 "Israel is like *2 Kin. 24:10, 14scattered sheep;

*Jer. 2:15The lions have driven him away.

First *2 Kin. 15:29; 17:6; 18:9–13the king of Assyria devoured him;

Now at last this *2 Kin. 24:10–14; 25:1–7Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones."

18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

"Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,

As I have punished the king of *Is. 10:12; Ezek. 31:3, 11, 12; Nah. 3:7, 18, 19Assyria.

19 *Is. 65:10; Jer. 33:12; Ezek. 34:13But I will bring back Israel to his home,

And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;

His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days and in that time," says the Lord,

*Num. 23:21; Is. 43:25; (Jer. 31:34; Mic. 7:19)"The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but thereshallbe none;

And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;

For I will pardon those *Is. 1:9whom I preserve.

21 "Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,

And against the inhabitants of *Ezek. 23:23Pekod.

Waste and utterly destroy them," says the Lord,

"And do *2 Sam. 16:11; 2 Kin. 18:25; 2 Chr. 36:23; Is. 10:6; 44:28; 48:14according to all that I have commanded you.

22 *Jer. 51:54A sound of battle is in the land,

And of great destruction.

23 How *Is. 14:6; Jer. 51:20–24the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!

How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

24 I have laid a snare for you;

You have indeed been *Jer. 51:8, 31; Dan. 5:30trapped, O Babylon,

And you were not aware;

You have been found and also caught,

Because you have *(Is. 45:9)contended against the Lord.

25 The Lord has opened His armory,

And has brought out *Is. 13:5the weapons of His indignation;

For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her from the farthest border;

Open her storehouses;

Cast her up as heaps of ruins,

And destroy her utterly;

Let nothing of her be left.

27 Slay all her *Ps. 22:12; Is. 34:7; Jer. 46:21bulls,

Let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them!

For their day has come, the time of *Ps. 37:13; Jer. 48:44; Ezek. 7:7their punishment.

28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon

*Ps. 149:6–9; Jer. 51:10Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

The vengeance of His temple.

29 "Call together the archers against Babylon.

All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;

Let none of them escape.

*Ps. 137:8; Jer. 51:56; (2 Thess. 1:6); Rev. 18:6Repay her according to her work;

According to all she has done, do to her;

*(Is. 47:10)For she has been proud against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

30 *Is. 13:18; Jer. 49:26; 51:4Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,

And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day," says the Lord.

31 "Behold, I am against you,

O most haughty one!" says the Lord God of hosts;

"For your day has come,

The time that I will punish you.

32 The most *Is. 26:5; Mal. 4:1proud shall stumble and fall,

And no one will raise him up;

*Jer. 21:14I will kindle a fire in his cities,

And it will devour all around him."

33 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

"The children of Israel were oppressed,

Along with the children of Judah;

All who took them captive have held them fast;

They have refused to let them go.

34 *Prov. 23:11; Is. 43:14; Jer. 15:21; 31:11; Rev. 18:8Their Redeemer is strong;

*Is. 47:4The Lord of hosts is His name.

He will thoroughly plead their *Jer. 51:36; Mic. 7:9case,

That He may give rest to the land,

And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 "A sword is against the Chaldeans," says the Lord,

"Against the inhabitants of Babylon,

And *Dan. 5:30against her princes and *Is. 47:13; Jer. 51:57her wise men.

36 A sword is*Is. 44:25; Jer. 48:30against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.

A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

37 A sword is against their horses,

Against their chariots,

And against all *Jer. 25:20; Ezek. 30:5the mixed peoples who are in her midst;

And *Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13they will become like women.

A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.

38 *Is. 44:27; Jer. 51:36; Rev. 16:12A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.

For it is the land of carved images,

And they are insane with their idols.

39 "Therefore*Is. 13:21, 22; 34:14; Jer. 51:37; Rev. 18:2 the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,

And the ostriches shall dwell in it.

*Is. 13:20; Jer. 25:12It shall be inhabited no more forever,

Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

40 *Gen. 19:24, 25; Is. 13:19; Jer. 49:18; (Luke 17:28–30); 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

And their neighbors," says the Lord,

"So no one shall reside there,

Nor son of man *Is. 13:20dwell in it.

41 "Behold,*Is. 13:2–5; Jer. 6:22; 25:14; 51:27 a people shall come from the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.

42 *Jer. 6:23They shall hold the bow and the lance;

*Is. 13:18They are cruel and shall not show mercy.

*Is. 5:30Their voice shall roar like the sea;

They shall ride on horses,

Set in array, like a man for the battle,

Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43 "The king of Babylon has *Jer. 51:31heard the report about them,

And his hands grow feeble;

Anguish has taken hold of him,

Pangs as of a woman in *Jer. 6:24childbirth.

44 "Behold,*Jer. 49:19–21 he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan

Against the dwelling place of the strong;

But I will make them suddenly run away from her.

And who is a chosen manthat I may appoint over her?

For who is like Me?

Who will arraign Me?

And *Job 41:10; Jer. 49:19who is that shepherd

Who will withstand Me?"

45 Therefore hear *(Ps. 33:11; Is. 14:24); Jer. 51:10, 11the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,

And His *Jer. 51:29purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:

*Jer. 49:19, 20Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;

Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.

46 *Rev. 18:9At the noise of the taking of Babylon

The earth trembles,

And the cry is heard among the nations.