Jeremiah 49:34-51:14

New King James Version

‘Behold, I will break ^(C)the ^[a]bow of Elam,
The foremost of their might.
³⁶ Against Elam I will bring the four winds
From the four quarters of heaven,
And scatter them toward all those winds;
There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.
³⁷ For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies
And before those who seek their life.
^(D)I will bring disaster upon them,
My fierce anger,’ says the Lord;
‘And I will send the sword after them
Until I have consumed them.
³⁸ I will ^(E)set My throne in Elam,
And will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the Lord.

³⁹ ‘But it shall come to pass ^(F)in the latter days:
I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the Lord.”

² “Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and ^[b]set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is ^(H)taken, ^(I)Bel is shamed.
^[c]Merodach is broken in pieces;
^(J)Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
^3 (K)For out of the north ^(L)a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall ^[d]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,
^(M)They and the children of Judah together;
^(N)With continual weeping they shall come,
^(O)And 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 ^(P)a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’

⁶ “My people have been ^(Q)lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them ^(R)astray;
They have turned them away on ^(S)the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
⁷ All who found them have ^(T)devoured them;
And ^(U)their adversaries said, ^(V)‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, ^(W)the habitation of justice,
The Lord, ^(X)the hope of their fathers.’

⁸ “Move^(Y) from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the ^[e]rams before the flocks.
^9 (Z)For 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 shall be like those of ^[f]an expert warrior;
^(AA)None shall return in vain.
¹⁰ And Chaldea shall become plunder;
^(AB)All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

¹¹ “Because^(AC) you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat ^(AD)like a heifer threshing grain,
And you ^[g]bellow like bulls,
¹² Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a ^(AE)wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
¹³ Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
^(AF)But she shall be wholly desolate.
^(AG)Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴ “Put^(AH) 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 ^(AI)given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
^(AJ)Her walls are thrown down;
For ^(AK)it 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
^(AL)Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷ “Israel is like ^(AM)scattered sheep;
^(AN)The lions have driven him away.
First ^(AO)the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this ^(AP)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
As I have punished the king of ^(AQ)Assyria.
^19 (AR)But 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,
^(AS)“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;
For I will pardon those ^(AT)whom I preserve.

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of ^(AU)Pekod.
^[h]Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do ^(AV)according to all that I have commanded you.
^22 (AW)A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
²³ How ^(AX)the 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 ^(AY)trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have ^(AZ)contended against the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out ^(BA)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 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 ^(BB)bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of ^(BC)their punishment.
²⁸ The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
^(BD)Declares 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 ^[i]escape.
^(BE)Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
^(BF)For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
^30 (BG)Therefore 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,
^[j]The time that I will punish you.
³² The most ^(BH)proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
^(BI)I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”

“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 (BJ)Their Redeemer is strong;
^(BK)The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their ^(BL)case,
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 ^(BM)against her princes and ^(BN)her wise men.
³⁶ A sword is ^(BO)against 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 ^(BP)the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And ^(BQ)they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
^38 (BR)A ^[k]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^(BS) the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
^(BT)It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
^40 (BU)As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man ^(BV)dwell in it.

⁴¹ “Behold,^(BW) 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 (BX)They shall hold the bow and the lance;
^(BY)They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
^(BZ)Their 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 ^(CA)heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in ^(CB)childbirth.

⁴⁴ “Behold,^(CC) he shall come up like a lion from the ^[l]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 man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And ^(CD)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

⁴⁵ Therefore hear ^(CE)the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His ^(CF)purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
^(CG)Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
^46 (CH)At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.

“Behold, I will raise up against ^(CI)Babylon,
Against those who dwell in ^[m]Leb Kamai,
^(CJ)A destroying wind.
² And I will send ^(CK)winnowers to Babylon,
Who shall winnow her and empty her land.
^(CL)For in the day of doom
They shall be against her all around.
³ Against her ^(CM)let the archer bend his bow,
And lift himself up against her in his armor.
Do not spare her young men;
^(CN)Utterly destroy all her army.
⁴ Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
^(CO)And those thrust through in her streets.
⁵ For Israel is ^(CP)not forsaken, nor Judah,
By his God, the Lord of hosts,
Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

^6 (CQ)Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And every one save his life!
Do not be cut off in her iniquity,
For ^(CR)this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
^(CS)He shall recompense her.
^7 (CT)Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
That made all the earth drunk.
^(CU)The nations drank her wine;
Therefore the nations ^(CV)are deranged.
⁸ Babylon has suddenly ^(CW)fallen and been destroyed.
^(CX)Wail for her!
^(CY)Take balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.

⁹ We would have healed Babylon,
But she is not healed.
Forsake her, and ^(CZ)let us go everyone to his own country;
^(DA)For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.
¹⁰ The Lord has ^(DB)revealed our righteousness.
Come and let us ^(DC)declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

^11 (DD)Make^[n] the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
^(DE)The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
^(DF)For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is ^(DG)the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple.
^12 (DH)Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon;
Make the guard strong,
Set up the watchmen,
Prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
^13 (DI)O you who dwell by many waters,
Abundant in treasures,
Your end has come,
The measure of your covetousness.
^14 (DJ)The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:
“Surely I will fill you with men, ^(DK)as with locusts,
And they shall lift ^(DL)up a shout against you.”