Jeremiah 50
New King James Version
Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia
50 The word that the Lord spoke (A)against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 “Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and [a]set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is (B)taken, (C)Bel is shamed.
[b]Merodach is broken in pieces;
(D)Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
3 (E)For out of the north (F)a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall [c]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,
(G)They and the children of Judah together;
(H)With continual weeping they shall come,
(I)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 (J)a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’
6 “My people have been (K)lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them (L)astray;
They have turned them away on (M)the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have (N)devoured them;
And (O)their adversaries said, (P)‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, (Q)the habitation of justice,
The Lord, (R)the hope of their fathers.’
8 “Move(S) from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the [d]rams before the flocks.
9 (T)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 [e]an expert warrior;
(U)None shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall become plunder;
(V)All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.
11 “Because(W) you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat (X)like a heifer threshing grain,
And you [f]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 (Y)wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
(Z)But she shall be wholly desolate.
(AA)Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.
14 “Put(AB) 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 (AC)given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
(AD)Her walls are thrown down;
For (AE)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
(AF)Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is like (AG)scattered sheep;
(AH)The lions have driven him away.
First (AI)the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this (AJ)Nebuchadnezzar 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 (AK)Assyria.
19 (AL)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,
(AM)“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 (AN)whom I preserve.
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of (AO)Pekod.
[g]Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do (AP)according to all that I have commanded you.
22 (AQ)A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
23 How (AR)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 (AS)trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have (AT)contended against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out (AU)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 (AV)bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of (AW)their punishment.
28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
(AX)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 [h]escape.
(AY)Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
(AZ)For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 (BA)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,
[i]The time that I will punish you.
32 The most (BB)proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
(BC)I 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 (BD)Their Redeemer is strong;
(BE)The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their (BF)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 (BG)against her princes and (BH)her wise men.
36 A sword is (BI)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 (BJ)the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And (BK)they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
38 (BL)A [j]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(BM) the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
(BN)It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 (BO)As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man (BP)dwell in it.
41 “Behold,(BQ) 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 (BR)They shall hold the bow and the lance;
(BS)They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
(BT)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 (BU)heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in (BV)childbirth.
44 “Behold,(BW) he shall come up like a lion from the [k]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 (BX)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”
45 Therefore hear (BY)the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His (BZ)purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
(CA)Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
46 (CB)At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:2 lift
- Jeremiah 50:2 Or Marduk; a Babylonian god
- Jeremiah 50:3 Or wander
- Jeremiah 50:8 male goats
- Jeremiah 50:9 So with some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr.; MT, Tg., Vg. a warrior who makes childless
- Jeremiah 50:11 Or neigh like steeds
- Jeremiah 50:21 Or Attack with the sword
- Jeremiah 50:29 Qr., some Heb. mss., LXX, Tg. add to her
- Jeremiah 50:31 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. The time of your punishment
- Jeremiah 50:38 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; Syr. sword; LXX omits A drought is
- Jeremiah 50:44 Or thicket
Jeremiah 50
New American Standard Bible
Prophecy against Babylon
50 The word which the Lord spoke concerning (A)Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “(B)Declare and proclaim among the nations.
Proclaim it and (C)lift up a flag,
Do not conceal it. Say,
‘(D)Babylon has been captured,
(E)Bel has been put to shame, [a]Marduk has been [b]shattered;
Her (F)idols have been put to shame, her images have been shattered.’
3 For a nation has come up against her from the (G)north; it will make her land (H)an object of horror, and there will be (I)no inhabitant in it. Whether people or animals, they have wandered off, they have gone!
4 “In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah (J)as well; they will go along (K)weeping as they go, and it will be (L)the Lord their God whom they will seek. 5 They will (M)ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces [c]in its direction; [d]they [e]will come so that they may join themselves to the Lord in an (N)everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
6 “My people have become (O)lost sheep;
(P)Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn aside on the (Q)mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill,
They have forgotten their (R)resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries have said, ‘(S)We are not guilty,
Since they have sinned against the Lord who is the (T)habitation of righteousness,
The Lord, the (U)hope of their fathers.’
8 “Wander away from the (V)midst of Babylon
And [f]go out from the land of the Chaldeans;
Be like male goats [g]at the head of the flock.
9 For behold, I am going to (W)rouse and bring up against Babylon
A contingent of great nations from the land of the north,
And they will draw up their battle lines against her;
From there she will be taken captive.
Their arrows will be like [h]an expert warrior
Who does not return empty-handed.
10 [i](X)Chaldea will become plunder;
All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.
11 “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,
You who (Y)pillage My heritage,
Because you skip about [j]like a threshing (Z)heifer
And neigh like [k]stallions,
12 Your (AA)mother [l]will be greatly ashamed,
She who gave you birth [m]will be humiliated.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
A (AB)wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she will (AC)not be inhabited,
But she will be (AD)completely desolate;
Everyone who passes by Babylon (AE)will be horrified
And will hiss because of all her wounds.
14 Draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side,
All of you who [n]bend the bow;
Shoot at her, do not spare your arrows,
For she has (AF)sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise your battle cry against her on every side!
She has (AG)given [o]herself up, her towers have fallen,
Her (AH)walls have been torn down.
For this is the (AI)vengeance of the Lord:
Take vengeance on her;
(AJ)As she has done to others, so do to her.
16 Eliminate the (AK)sower from Babylon
And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;
From [p]the (AL)sword of the oppressor
(AM)Each of them will turn back to his own people
And each of them will flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is a (AN)scattered [q]flock, the (AO)lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the (AP)king of Assyria, and this last one who has gnawed his bones is (AQ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 18 Therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I (AR)punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will (AS)bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his [r]desire will be satisfied in the (AT)hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days and at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for the wrongdoing of Israel, but (AU)there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will forgive those (AV)whom I leave as a remnant.’
21 “Against the land of [s]Merathaim, go up against it,
And against the inhabitants of [t](AW)Pekod.
Kill and [u]completely destroy them,” declares the Lord,
“And do according to everything that I have commanded you.
22 The (AX)noise of battle is in the land,
And great destruction.
23 How the (AY)hammer of the whole earth
Has been cut off and broken!
How Babylon has become
An object of horror among the nations!
24 I (AZ)set a trap for you and you were also (BA)caught, Babylon,
While you yourself were not aware;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have engaged in (BB)conflict with the Lord.”
25 The Lord has opened His armory
And has brought out the (BC)weapons of His indignation,
For it is a (BD)work of the Lord [v]God of armies
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come to her from the [w]farthest border;
(BE)Open up her barns,
Pile her up like heaps of grain
And [x](BF)completely destroy her,
Let nothing be left to her.
27 (BG)Put all her bulls to the sword;
Let them (BH)go down to the slaughter!
Woe be upon them, for their (BI)day has come,
The time of their punishment.
28 There is a (BJ)sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the (BK)vengeance of the Lord our God,
Vengeance for His (BL)temple.
29 “Summon [y]many against Babylon,
All those who [z]bend the bow:
Encamp against her on every side,
Let there be no escape[aa].
Repay her according to her work;
(BM)According to all that she has done, so do to her;
For she has become (BN)arrogant against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her (BO)young men will fall in her streets,
And all her men of war will (BP)perish on that day,” declares the Lord.
31 “Behold, (BQ)I am against you, [ab]arrogant one,”
Declares the Lord [ac]God of armies,
“For your day has come,
The time [ad]when I will punish you.
32 The [ae](BR)arrogant one will stumble and fall
With no one to raise him up;
And I will (BS)set fire to his cities,
And it will devour all his surroundings.”
33 This is what the Lord of armies says:
“The sons of Israel are oppressed,
And the sons of Judah as well;
And (BT)all who took them captive have held them firmly,
They have refused to let them go.
34 Their (BU)Redeemer is strong, (BV)the Lord of armies is His name;
He will vigorously (BW)plead their case
So that He may (BX)bring rest to their land,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A (BY)sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,
“And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her (BZ)leaders and her (CA)wise men!
36 A sword against the (CB)oracle priests, and they will become fools!
A sword against her (CC)warriors, and they will be [af](CD)shattered!
37 A sword against [ag]their (CE)horses, against [ah]their chariots,
And against all the [ai](CF)foreigners who are in the midst of her,
And they will become (CG)women!
A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
38 A [aj](CH)drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!
For it is a land of (CI)idols,
And they go insane at frightful images.
39 “Therefore the (CJ)desert creatures will live there with the jackals;
The ostriches also will live in it.
It will (CK)never again be inhabited
Nor lived in from generation to generation.
40 As when God overthrew (CL)Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,
“No one will live there,
Nor will [ak]anyone of mankind reside in it.
41 “Behold, a people is coming (CM)from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Will be roused from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They (CN)seize their bow and javelin;
They are (CO)cruel and have no mercy.
Their (CP)voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on (CQ)horses,
(CR)Drawn up like a man for the battle
Against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 The (CS)king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands hang limp;
(CT)Distress has gripped him,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.
44 “(CU)Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will chase them away from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is (CV)chosen. For who is (CW)like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can (CX)stand against Me?” 45 Therefore hear the (CY)plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has in mind against the land of the Chaldeans: (CZ)they will certainly drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; He will certainly make their pasture desolate because of them. 46 At the [al]shout, “Babylon has been conquered!” the (DA)earth quakes, and an (DB)outcry is heard among the nations.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:2 Heb Merodach
- Jeremiah 50:2 Or dismayed
- Jeremiah 50:5 Lit toward here
- Jeremiah 50:5 MT come, that
- Jeremiah 50:5 Or will have come
- Jeremiah 50:8 Another reading is let them go out
- Jeremiah 50:8 Or in front of
- Jeremiah 50:9 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT a warrior who makes childless
- Jeremiah 50:10 Or the Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 50:11 Another reading is in the grass
- Jeremiah 50:11 Lit mighty ones
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or has become
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or has become
- Jeremiah 50:14 Lit step on (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 50:15 Lit her hand
- Jeremiah 50:16 Or the oppressing sword
- Jeremiah 50:17 Lit sheep
- Jeremiah 50:19 Lit soul
- Jeremiah 50:21 Or double rebellion
- Jeremiah 50:21 I.e., punishment (uncertain)
- Jeremiah 50:21 Lit put under the ban
- Jeremiah 50:25 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit end
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit put under the ban
- Jeremiah 50:29 Another reading is archers
- Jeremiah 50:29 Lit step on (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 50:29 Some mss add to her
- Jeremiah 50:31 Lit arrogance
- Jeremiah 50:31 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 50:31 Another reading is of your punishment
- Jeremiah 50:32 Lit arrogance
- Jeremiah 50:36 Or filled with terror
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit mixed multitude
- Jeremiah 50:38 Another reading is sword
- Jeremiah 50:40 Lit a son of man
- Jeremiah 50:46 Lit voice
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
