Jeremiah 50-52
Contemporary English Version
Babylon Will Be Captured
50 (A) The Lord told me to say:
Announce what will happen
and don't leave anything out.
2 Raise the signal flags;
shout so all nations can hear—
Babylon will be captured!
Marduk,[a] Babylon's god,
will be ashamed and terrified,
and his idols broken.
3 The attack on the Babylonians
will come from the north;
they and their animals will run,
leaving the land empty.
Israel and Judah Will Return to Their Land
4 The Lord said:
People of Israel and Judah,
when these things happen
you will weep, and together
you will return to your land
and worship me,
the Lord your God.
5 You will ask the way to Zion
and then come and join with me
in making an agreement
you won't break or forget.
6 My people, you are lost sheep
abandoned in the mountains
by their shepherds.
You don't even remember
your resting place.
7 I am your true pastureland,
the one who gave hope
to your ancestors.
But you abandoned me,
so when your enemies found you,
they felt no guilt
as they gobbled you up.
8 (B) Escape from Babylonia,
my people.
Get out of that country!
Don't wait for anyone else.
9 In the north I am bringing
great nations together.
They will attack Babylon
and capture it.
The arrows they shoot
are like the best soldiers,[b]
always finding their target.
10 Babylonia will be conquered,
and its enemies will carry off
everything they want.
Babylon Will Be Disgraced
The Lord said:
11 People of Babylonia,
you were glad
to rob my people.
You had a good time,
making more noise
than horses
and jumping around
like calves threshing grain.[c]
12 The city of Babylon
was like a mother to you.
But it will be disgraced
and become nothing
but a barren desert.
13 My anger will destroy Babylon,
and no one will live there.
Everyone who passes by
will be shocked to see
what has happened.
14 Babylon has rebelled against me.
Archers, take your places.
Shoot all your arrows at Babylon.
15 Attack from every side!
Babylon surrenders!
The enemy tears down
its walls and towers.
I am taking my revenge
by doing to Babylon what it did
to other cities.
16 There is no one in Babylonia
to plant or harvest crops.
Even foreigners who lived there
have left for their homelands,
afraid of the enemy armies.
17 Israel is a flock of sheep
scattered by hungry lions.
The king of Assyria[d]
first gobbled Israel up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar,[e]
king of Babylonia,
crunched on Israel's bones.
18 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
the God of Israel,
punished the king of Assyria,
and I will also punish
the king of Babylonia.
19 But I will bring Israel
back to its own land.
The people will be like sheep
eating their fill
on Mount Carmel
and in Bashan,
in the hill country of Ephraim
and in Gilead.
20 I will rescue a few people
from Israel and Judah.
I will forgive them so completely
that their sin and guilt
will disappear,
never to be found.
The Lord's Commands to the Enemies of Babylonia
21 The Lord said:
I have told
the enemies of Babylonia,
“Attack the people of Merathaim
and Pekod.[f]
Kill them all!
Destroy their possessions!”
22 Sounds of war
and the noise of destruction
can be heard.
23 Babylonia was a hammer
pounding every country,
but now it lies broken.
What a shock to the nations
of the world!
24 Babylonia challenged me,
the Lord God All-Powerful,
but that nation doesn't know
it is caught in a trap
that I set.
25 I've brought out my weapons,
and with them I will put a curse
on Babylonia.
26 Come from far away,
you enemies of Babylon!
Pile up the grain
from its storehouses,
and destroy it completely,
along with everything else.
27 Kill the soldiers of Babylonia,
because the time has come
for them to be punished.
28 The Babylonian army
destroyed my temple,
but soon I will take revenge.
Then refugees from Babylon
will tell about it in Zion.
29 (C) Attack Babylon, enemy archers;
set up camp around the city,
and don't let anyone escape.
It challenged me, the holy God,
so do to it
what it did to other cities.
Proud Babylon Will Fall
30 People of Babylon,
I, the Lord, promise
that even your best soldiers
will lie dead in the streets.
31 Babylon, you should be named,
“The Proud One.”
But the time has come when I,
the Lord All-Powerful,
will punish you.
32 You are proud,
but you will stumble and fall,
and no one will help you up.
I will set your villages on fire,
and everything around you
will go up in flames.
33 You Babylonians were cruel
to Israel and Judah.
You took them captive, and now
you refuse to let them go.
34 But I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will rescue and protect them.
I will bring peace to their land
and trouble to yours.
35 I have declared war on you,
your officials, and advisors.
36 This war will prove
that your prophets
are liars and fools.
And it will frighten
your warriors.
37 Then your chariot horses
and the foreigners in your army
will refuse to go into battle,
and the enemy will carry away
everything you treasure.
38 Your rivers and canals
will dry up.
All of this will happen,
because your land
is full of idols,
and they have made fools
of you.
39 (D) Never again will people live
in your land—
only desert animals, jackals,[g]
and unclean birds.
40 (E) I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and the nearby towns,
and I will destroy Babylon
just as completely.
No one will live there again.
Babylonia Is Invaded
The Lord said:
41 Far to the north,
a nation and its allies
have been awakened.
They are powerful
and ready for war.
42 Bows and arrows and swords
are in their hands.
The soldiers are cruel
and show no pity.
The hoofbeats of their horses echo
like ocean waves
crashing against the shore.
The army has lined up for battle
and is coming to attack you,
people of Babylonia!
43 Ever since your king heard
about this army,
he has been weak with fear;
he twists and turns in pain
like a woman giving birth.
44 Babylonia, I will attack you
like a lion from the forest,
attacking sheep in a meadow
along the Jordan.
In a moment the flock runs,
and the land is empty.
Who will I choose to attack you?
I will do it myself!
No one can force me to fight
or chase me away.
45 Listen to my plans for you,
people of Babylonia.
Your children will be dragged off,
and your country destroyed.
46 The sounds of your destruction
will be heard among the nations,
and the earth will shake.
Babylon Will Be Destroyed
51 I, the Lord, am sending
a wind[h] to destroy
the people of Babylonia[i]
and Babylon, its capital.
2 Foreign soldiers will come
from every direction,
and when the disaster is over,
Babylonia will be empty
and worthless.
3 I will tell these soldiers,
“Attack quickly,
before the Babylonians
can string their bows
or put on their armor.[j]
Kill their best soldiers
and destroy their army!”
4 Their troops will fall wounded
in the streets of Babylon.
5 Everyone in Israel and Judah
is guilty.
But I, the Lord All-Powerful,
their holy God,
have not abandoned them.
6 Get out of Babylon!
Run for your lives!
If you stay, you will be killed
when I take revenge on the city
and punish it for its sins.
7 (F) Babylon was my golden cup,
filled with the wine
of my anger.
The nations of the world
got drunk on this wine
and went insane.
8 But suddenly, Babylon will fall
and be destroyed.
I, the Lord, told the foreigners[k]
who lived there,
“Weep for the city!
Get medicine for its wounds;
maybe they will heal.”
9 The foreigners answered,
“We have already tried
to treat Babylon's wounds,
but they would not heal.
Come on, let's all go home
to our own countries.
Nothing is left in Babylonia;
everything is destroyed.”
10 The people of Israel said,
“Tell everyone in Zion!
The Lord has taken revenge
for what Babylon did to us.”
The Lord Wants Babylon Destroyed
11 I, the Lord,
want Babylon destroyed,
because its army
destroyed my temple.
So, you kings of Media,[l]
sharpen your arrows
and pick up your shields.
12 Raise the signal flag
and attack the city walls.
Post more guards.
Have soldiers watch the city
and set up ambushes.
I have made plans
to destroy Babylon,
and nothing will stop me.
13 (G) People of Babylon, you live
along the Euphrates River
and are surrounded by canals.
You are rich,
but now the time has come
for you to die.[m]
14 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
swear by my own life
that enemy soldiers
will fill your streets
like a swarm of locusts.[n]
They will shout
and celebrate their victory.
A Hymn of Praise
(Jeremiah 10.12-16)
15 God used his wisdom and power
to create the earth
and spread out the heavens.
16 The waters in the heavens roar
at his command.
He makes clouds appear;
he sends the wind
from his storehouse
and makes lightning flash
in the rain.
17 People who make idols
are stupid!
They will be disappointed,
because their false gods
cannot breathe.
18 Idols are merely a joke,
and when the time is right,
they will be destroyed.
19 But the Lord, Israel's God,
is all-powerful.
He created everything,
and he chose Israel
to be his very own.
God's Hammer
The Lord said:
20 Babylonia, you were my hammer;
I used you to pound nations
and break kingdoms,
21 to shatter cavalry and chariots,
22 as well as men and women,
young and old,
23 shepherds and their flocks,
farmers and their oxen,
and governors and leaders.
24 But now, my people will watch,
while I repay you
for what you did to Zion.
25 You destroyed the nations
and seem strong as a mountain,
but I am your enemy.
I might even grab you
and roll you off a cliff.
When I am finished,
you'll only be a pile
of scorched bricks.
26 Your stone blocks won't be reused
for cornerstones
or foundations,
and I promise that forever
you will be a desert.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
The Nations Will Attack Babylon
The Lord said:
27 Signal the nations
to get ready to attack.
Raise a flag and blow a trumpet.
Send for the armies of Ararat,
Minni, and Ashkenaz.[o]
Choose a commander;
let the cavalry attack
like a swarm of locusts.
28 Tell the kings and governors,
the leaders and the people
of the kingdoms of the Medes
to prepare for war!
29 The earth twists and turns
in torment,
because I have decided
to make Babylonia a desert
where no one can live,
and I won't change my mind.
30 The Babylonian soldiers
have lost their strength
and courage.[p]
They stay in their fortresses,
unable to fight,
while the enemy breaks through
the city gates,
then sets their homes on fire.
31 One messenger after another
announces to the king,
“Babylon has been captured!
32 The enemy now controls
the river crossings!
The marshes[q] are on fire!
Your army has panicked!”
33 I am the Lord All-Powerful,
the God of Israel,
and I make this promise—
“Soon Babylon will be leveled
and packed down
like a threshing place
at harvest time.”[r]
Babylonia Will Pay!
34 The people of Jerusalem say,
“King Nebuchadnezzar[s]
made us panic.
That monster stuffed himself
with us and our treasures,
leaving us empty—
he gobbled up
what he wanted
and spit out the rest.
35 The people of Babylonia
harmed some of us[t]
and killed others.
Now, Lord, make them pay!”
The Lord Will Take Revenge on Babylon
36 My people, I am on your side,
and I will take revenge
on Babylon.
I will cut off its water supply,
and its stream[u] will dry up.
37 Babylon will be a pile of rubble
where only jackals[v] live,
and everyone will be afraid
to walk among the ruins.
38 The Babylonians roar and growl
like young lions.
39 And since they are hungry,
I will give them a banquet.
They will celebrate, get drunk,
then fall asleep,
never to wake up!
40 I will lead them away to die,
like sheep, lambs, and goats
being led to the butcher.
41 All nations now praise Babylon,[w]
but when it is captured,
those same nations
will be horrified.
42 Babylon's enemies will rise
like ocean waves
and flood the city.
43 Horrible destruction will strike
the nearby towns.
The land will become
a barren desert,
where no one can live
or even travel.
44 I will punish Marduk,[x]
the god of Babylon,
and make him vomit out
everything he gobbled up.
Then nations will no longer
bring him gifts,
and Babylon's walls will crumble.
The Lord Offers Hope to His People
45 Get out of Babylon, my people,
and run for your lives,
before I strike the city
in my anger!
46 Don't be afraid or lose hope,
though year after year
there are rumors
of leaders fighting for control
in the city of Babylon.
47 The time will come
when I will punish
Babylon's false gods.
Everyone there will die,
and the whole nation
will be disgraced,
48 (H) when an army attacks
from the north
and brings destruction.
Then the earth and the heavens
and everything in them
will celebrate.
49 (I) Babylon must be overthrown,
because it slaughtered
the people of Israel
and of many other nations.
50 My people, you escaped death
when Jerusalem fell.
Now you live far from home,
but you should trust me
and think about Jerusalem.
Leave Babylon! Don't stay!
51 You feel ashamed and disgraced,
because foreigners have entered
my sacred temple.
52 Soon I will send a war
to punish Babylon's idols
and leave its wounded people
moaning everywhere.
53 Although Babylon's walls
reach to the sky,
the army I send
will destroy that city.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
Babylon Will Be Destroyed
The Lord said:
54 Listen to the cries for help
coming from Babylon.
Everywhere in the country
the sounds of destruction
can be heard.
55 The shouts of the enemy,
like crashing ocean waves,
will drown out Babylon's cries
as I level the city.
56 An enemy will attack
and destroy Babylon.
Its soldiers will be captured
and their weapons broken,
because I am a God
who takes revenge against nations
for what they do.
57 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
the true King, promise
that the officials and advisors,
the governors and leaders,
and the soldiers of Babylon
will get drunk, fall asleep,
and never wake up.
58 The thick walls of that city
will be torn down,
and its huge gates burned.
Everything that nation
worked so hard to gain
will go up in smoke.
Jeremiah Gives Seraiah a Scroll
59 During Zedekiah's[y] fourth year as king of Judah, he went to Babylon. And Baruch's brother Seraiah[z] went along as the officer in charge of arranging for places to stay overnight.[aa]
60 Before they left, I wrote on a scroll[ab] all the terrible things that would happen to Babylon. 61 I gave the scroll to Seraiah and said:
When you get to Babylon, read this scroll aloud, 62 then pray, “Our Lord, you promised to destroy this place and make it into a desert where no people or animals will ever live.”
63 (J) When you finish praying, tie the scroll to a rock and throw it in the Euphrates River. Then say, 64 “This is how Babylon will sink when the Lord destroys it. Everyone in the city will die, and it won't have the strength to rise again.”
The End of Jeremiah's Writing
Jeremiah's writing ends here.
Jerusalem Is Captured
(2 Kings 24.18—25.30; 2 Chronicles 36.11-21)
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he was appointed king of Judah,[ac] and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years.[ad] His mother Hamutal was the daughter of Jeremiah from the town of Libnah.[ae] 2 Zedekiah disobeyed the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done, 3 and it was Zedekiah who finally rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.[af]
The people of Judah and Jerusalem had made the Lord so angry that he finally turned his back on them. That's why horrible things were happening there.
4 (K) In Zedekiah's ninth year as king, on the tenth day of the tenth month,[ag] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. The troops set up camp outside the city and built ramps up to the city walls.
5-6 After a year and a half,[ah] all the food in Jerusalem was gone. Then on the ninth day of the fourth month,[ai] 7 (L) the Babylonian troops broke through the city wall. That same night, Zedekiah and his soldiers tried to escape through the gate near the royal garden, even though they knew the enemy had the city surrounded. They headed toward the Jordan River valley, 8 but the Babylonian troops caught up with them near Jericho. The Babylonians arrested Zedekiah, but his soldiers scattered in every direction. 9 Zedekiah was taken to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar put him on trial and found him guilty. 10 Zedekiah's sons and the officials of Judah were killed while he watched, 11 (M) then his eyes were poked out. He was put in chains, then dragged off to Babylon and kept in prison until he died.
12 Jerusalem was captured during Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylonia.
About a month later,[aj] Nebuchadnezzar's officer in charge of the guards arrived in Jerusalem. His name was Nebuzaradan, 13 (N) and he burned down the Lord's temple, the king's palace, and every important building in the city, as well as all the houses. 14 Then he ordered the Babylonian soldiers to break down the walls around Jerusalem. 15 He led away the people left in the city, including everyone who had become loyal to Nebuchadnezzar, the rest of the skilled workers,[ak] and even some of the poor people of Judah. 16 Only the very poorest were left behind to work the vineyards and the fields.
17-20 (O) Nebuzaradan ordered his soldiers to go to the temple and take everything made of gold or silver, including bowls, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pans, lampstands, dishes for incense, and the cups for wine offerings. The Babylonian soldiers took all the bronze things used for worship at the temple, including the pans for hot ashes, and the shovels, lamp snuffers, sprinkling bowls, and dishes for incense. The soldiers also took everything else made of bronze, including the two columns that stood in front of the temple, the large bowl called the Sea, the twelve bulls that held it up, and the movable stands.[al] The soldiers broke these things into pieces so they could take them to Babylonia. There was so much bronze that it could not be weighed. 21 For example, the columns were about 8 meters high and 5.5 meters around. They were hollow, but the bronze was about 75 millimeters thick. 22 Each column had a bronze cap over 2 meters high that was decorated with bronze designs. Some of these designs were like chains and others were like pomegranates.[am] 23 There were 96 pomegranates evenly spaced[an] around each column, and a total of 100 pomegranates were located above the chains.
24 Next, Nebuzaradan arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah his assistant, and three temple officials. 25 Then he arrested one of the army commanders, seven of King Zedekiah's personal advisors, and the officer in charge of gathering the troops for battle. He also found 60 more soldiers who were still in Jerusalem. 26-27 Nebuzaradan led them to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar had them killed.
The people of Judah no longer lived in their own country.
People of Judah Taken Prisoner
28-30 Here is a list of the number of the people of Judah that Nebuchadnezzar[ao] took to Babylonia as prisoners:
In his seventh year as king, he took 3,023 people.
In his eighteenth year as king, he took 832 from Jerusalem.
In his twenty-third year as king, his officer Nebuzaradan took 745 people.
So, Nebuchadnezzar took a total of 4,600 people from Judah to Babylonia.
Jehoiachin Is Set Free
(2 Kings 25.27-30)
31 Jehoiachin was a prisoner in Babylon for 37 years. Then Evil Merodach[ap] became king of Babylonia, and in the first year of his rule, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month,[aq] he let Jehoiachin out of prison. 32 Evil Merodach was kind to Jehoiachin and honored him more than any of the other kings held prisoner there. 33 Jehoiachin was allowed to wear regular clothes instead of a prison uniform, and he even ate at the king's table every day. 34 As long as Jehoiachin lived, he was paid a daily allowance to buy whatever he needed.
Footnotes
- 50.2 Marduk: The Hebrew text has “Bel” and “Marduk,” two names for the same god.
- 50.9 the best soldiers: Some Hebrew manuscripts and two ancient translations; most Hebrew manuscripts “soldiers that kill children.”
- 50.11 threshing grain: Hebrew; two ancient translations “in a pasture.”
- 50.17 king of Assyria: Either Shalmaneser V, who ruled 726–722 b.c., conquered most of the northern kingdom, and surrounded its capital city Samaria; or Sargon II, who ruled 721–705 b.c. and took thousands of prisoners back to Assyria.
- 50.17 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
- 50.21 Merathaim … Pekod: Hebrew forms of two Babylonian names that refer to the land of Babylonia. Merathaim probably referred to lagoons near the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers or to the Persian Gulf, but in Hebrew it means “Twice as Rebellious.” Pekod referred to a tribe of southeastern Babylonia, but in Hebrew it means “Punishment.”
- 50.39 jackals: See the note at 9.11.
- 51.1 wind: Or “spirit.”
- 51.1 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “Leb-Qamai,” a secret way of writing “Babylonia.”
- 51.3 I will tell … armor: Or “Attack quickly! String your bows and put on your armor.”
- 51.8 the foreigners: Or “my people.”
- 51.11 kings of Media: Probably kings of smaller kingdoms that were part of the Median Empire (see also verse 27 and the note there).
- 51.13 for you to die: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 51.14 locusts: See the note at 46.22.
- 51.27 Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: Kingdoms to the north of Babylonia that were part of the Median Empire (see also verse 28).
- 51.30 have lost their strength and courage: Hebrew “have lost their strength and have become like women.”
- 51.32 marshes: The tall grass in the marshes could have provided hiding places for people trying to escape from Babylon.
- 51.33 leveled … harvest time: A threshing place with a dirt surface had to be leveled and packed down before it could be used.
- 51.34 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
- 51.35 harmed some of us: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 51.36 stream: Probably the Euphrates River.
- 51.37 jackals: See the note at 9.11.
- 51.41 Babylon: The Hebrew text has “Sheshach,” a secret way of writing the name “Babylon.”
- 51.44 Marduk: Hebrew “Bel” (see the note at 50.2).
- 51.59 Zedekiah's: See the note at 1.3.
- 51.59 Baruch's brother Seraiah: Hebrew “Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah”; Baruch helped Jeremiah write down his messages (see 32.12; 36.4-10).
- 51.59 arranging for places to stay overnight: Hebrew and one ancient translation; two ancient translations, “the tax money.”
- 51.60 scroll: See the note at 30.1,2.
- 52.1 appointed king of Judah: By Nebuchadnezzar (see 37.1).
- 52.1 he ruled … years: Ruled 598–586 b.c.
- 52.1 Jeremiah from the town of Libnah: Not the same Jeremiah as the author of this book (see 1.1).
- 52.3 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
- 52.4 tenth month: See the note at 39.1-3.
- 52.5,6 After a year and a half: Jerusalem was captured in 586 b.c.
- 52.5,6 fourth month: See the note at 39.1-3.
- 52.12 About a month later: Hebrew “On the seventh day of the fifth month.”
- 52.15 the rest of the skilled workers: Nebuchadnezzar had taken away some of the skilled workers eleven years before (see 2 Kings 24.14-16).
- 52.17-20 the large bowl called the Sea, the twelve bulls that held it up, and the movable stands: One ancient translation; Hebrew “the large bowl called the Sea, and the twelve bulls under the movable stands.”
- 52.22 pomegranates: A small red fruit that looks like an apple.
- 52.23 evenly spaced: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 52.28-30 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
- 52.31 Evil Merodach: The son of Nebuchadnezzar who ruled Babylonia from 562–560 b.c.
- 52.31 twelfth month: Adar, the twelfth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-February to mid-March.
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