Jeremiah 50
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Prophecy About Babylon and Israel
50 The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 Declare and proclaim this among the nations.
Set up a signal flag.
Proclaim and do not hide it.
Say this:
Babylon has been taken.
Bel has been put to shame.
Marduk is terrified.
Babylon’s images have been put to shame.
Her filthy idols are terrified.
3 A nation has come up against her out of the north.
It will make her land desolate,
and no one will dwell in it.
Both man and animal have wandered away.
They are gone.
4 In those days, and in that time, declares the Lord,
the people of Israel will come,
they and the people of Judah together with them.
They will come weeping,
and they will seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion and turn toward it,
saying, “Come, join yourselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”
6 My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have turned them aside on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill.
They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them.
Their enemies said, “We are not guilty,
because they sinned against the Lord,
who is their rightful pasture,
the Lord, the hope of their fathers.”
8 Flee from Babylon!
Leave the land of the Chaldeans.
Be like the male goats that lead the flock.
9 Watch, I will stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the land of the north.
They will array themselves against her,
and she will be taken away captive from there.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10 Chaldea will be plundered.
All who prey on her will have their fill, declares the Lord.
11 Because you are glad and rejoice,
you who plunder my inheritance,
because you leap like a heifer that treads out the grain,
and you neigh like strong horses,
12 your mother will be completely put to shame.
She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.
Watch, she will become the least of the nations,
a wilderness, a desert, a wasteland.
13 Because of the Lord’s wrath she will not be inhabited.
She will be completely desolate.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be astonished.
Everyone will mock her because of all her wounds.
14 Line up for battle against Babylon and surround her.
All you who bend the bow, shoot at her.
Don’t save any arrows,
because she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout against her from all sides.
She surrenders!
Her fortifications[a] have fallen.
Her walls have been thrown down.
This is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her!
Do to her as she has done to others!
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and the one who swings the sickle at harvest time.
They will each return to their own people.
They will each flee to their own land
because they fear the sword of the oppressor.
17 Israel is a scattered flock of sheep that lions have chased away.
First, the king of Assyria devoured him.
Now, the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
18 Therefore this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
I will certainly punish the king of Babylon and his land,
as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will restore Israel to his pasture.
He will feed on Carmel and in Bashan.
His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and at that time, declares the Lord,
the guilt of Israel will be sought,
but there will be none.
The sins of Judah will be sought,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive the survivors whom I spare.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim
and against those who live in Pekod.
Kill them and destroy them, declares the Lord.
Do everything I have commanded you.
22 The noise of battle is in the land,
the noise of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is smashed and broken to pieces!
How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it.
You were found and captured,
because you fought against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his arsenal
and brought out his weapons of wrath,
for the Lord God of Armies has work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from far away.
Open up her granaries,
and pile her up like heaps of grain.
Destroy her completely.
Let nothing be left.
27 Kill all her young bulls.[b]
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time for their punishment.
28 Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon!
They proclaim in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
vengeance for what was done to his temple.
29 Call the archers to Babylon,
all those who bend the bow.
Set up camp all around her.
Don’t let her escape.
Pay her back for her deeds.
Do to her what she has done,
because she has defied the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her young men will fall in the streets.
All her soldiers will be silenced in that day, declares the Lord.
31 Look, I am against you, you proud one, declares the Lord God of Armies.
Your day has come,
the time for your punishment.
32 The proud king[c] will stumble and fall,
and no one will help him up.
In his cities I will start a fire
that will consume everyone around him.
33 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast.
They refuse to let them go.
34 But their Redeemer is strong.
The Lord of Armies is his name.
He himself will take up their cause
so that he may bring rest to the earth,
and unrest to those who live in Babylon.
35 A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
and against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials and her wise men!
36 A sword against her empty boasters!
They will become fools.
A sword against her strong warriors!
They will be filled with terror.
37 A sword against their horses and chariots!
All the foreigners in her ranks will become as weak as women.
A sword against her treasures!
They will be looted.
38 A sword against her waters!
They will be dried up,
because it is a land of idols,
and they are driven mad by those dreadful images.
39 That is why desert animals and hyenas[d] will live there,
and shrieking ostriches will dwell there.
It will never again be inhabited.
It will never be lived in from generation to generation.
40 Just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord,
no one will dwell there.
No one will live there even as a temporary resident.
41 Look! A people comes from the north!
A great nation and many kings are being stirred up
from the ends of the earth.
42 They take up bow and spear.
They are cruel and merciless.
Their roar sounds like the sea.
They ride on horses,
arrayed in battle formation against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
and his hands hang limp.
Anguish grips him,
pains like a woman in labor.
44 Watch this!
Like a lion coming out of the thickets of the Jordan
into the pastures that are always green,
I will suddenly chase Babylon away from its land,
and I will appoint whomever I choose over it.
For who is like me?
Who can challenge me?
What shepherd can stand before me?
45 Therefore hear what the Lord has planned for Babylon,
and what he intends to do against the land of the Chaldeans:
Even the little ones of the flock will be dragged away.
He will make their pasture desolate because of them.
46 The earth will tremble at the noise of Babylon’s fall.
Their cry will be heard among the nations.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:15 The meaning of the Hebrew word translated fortifications is uncertain. The Greek reads battlements; the Latin reads foundations.
- Jeremiah 50:27 Perhaps a reference to young warriors
- Jeremiah 50:32 The Hebrew text does not contain the word king, but the pronouns shift from feminine to masculine, suggesting a reference to the king.
- Jeremiah 50:39 The meaning of this Hebrew term is uncertain.
Jeremiah 50
King James Version
50 The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
4 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.
8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith 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 Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.
25 The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the 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 utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord.
31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.