Jeremiah 31:15-40
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Lament Turned to Joy
15 This is what the Lord says:
A voice was heard in Ramah,(A)
a lament with bitter weeping –
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children
because they are no more.(B)
16 This is what the Lord says:
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for the reward for your work will come –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
and your children will return from the enemy’s land.
17 There is hope for your future(C) –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
and your children will return to their own territory.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim moaning,
‘You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined
like an untrained calf.(D)
Take me back, so that I can return,
for you, Lord, are my God.(E)
19 After my return, I felt regret;
After I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief.(F)
I was ashamed and humiliated(G)
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20 Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to me,
a delightful child?(H)
Whenever I speak against him,
I certainly still think about him.
Therefore, my inner being yearns for him;
I will truly have compassion on him.(I)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Repentance and Restoration
21 Set up road markers(J) for yourself;
establish signposts!
Keep the road in mind,
the way you have travelled.
Return, Virgin Israel!
Return to these cities of yours.
22 How long will you turn here and there,
faithless daughter?(K)
For the Lord creates something new in the land[a] –
a female[b] will shelter[c] a man.
23 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘When I restore their fortunes,[d] they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: “May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement,(L) holy mountain.”(M) 24 Judah and all its cities will live in it together – also farmers and those who move[e] with the flocks – 25 for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.’(N)
26 At this I awoke and looked round. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.
27 ‘Look, the days are coming’ – this is the Lord’s declaration – ‘when I will sow the house of Israel(O) and the house of Judah with the seed of people and the seed of animals. 28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster,(P) so will I watch over them to build and to plant them’(Q) – this is the Lord’s declaration. 29 ‘In those days, it will never again be said,
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”(R)
30 Rather, each will die for his own iniquity.(S) Anyone who eats sour grapes – his own teeth will be set on edge.
The New Covenant
31 ‘Look, the days are coming’(T) – this is the Lord’s declaration – ‘when I will make a new covenant(U) with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt – my covenant that they broke even though I am their master’[f](V) – the Lord’s declaration. 33 ‘Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days’ – the Lord’s declaration. ‘I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbour or his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”(W) for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them’(X) – this is the Lord’s declaration. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity(Y) and never again remember their sin.
35 ‘This is what the Lord says:
The one who gives the sun for light by day,
the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar(Z) –
the Lord of Armies is his name:
36 If this fixed order departs from before me –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
only then will Israel’s descendants cease
to be a nation before me for ever.(AA)
37 ‘This is what the Lord says:
Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below explored,
will I reject all of Israel’s descendants
because of all they have done –
this is the Lord’s declaration.
38 ‘Look, the days are coming’ – the Lord’s declaration – ‘when the city[g] from the Tower of Hananel(AB) to the Corner Gate(AC) will be rebuilt for the Lord. 39 A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb(AD) and then turn towards Goah. 40 The whole valley – the corpses, the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley(AE) to the corner of the Horse Gate(AF) to the east – will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or demolished again.’
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Jeremiah 49:34-51:14
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Prophecies against Elam
34 This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam[a] at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.(A) 35 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
I am about to shatter Elam’s bow,(B)
the source[b] of their might.
36 I will bring the four winds against Elam
from the four corners of the heavens,
and I will scatter them to all these winds.
There will not be a nation
to which Elam’s banished ones will not go.
37 I will devastate Elam before their enemies,
before those who intend to take their lives.
I will bring disaster on them,
my burning anger.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will send the sword after them(C)
until I finish them off.
38 I will set my throne in Elam,
and I will destroy the king and officials from there.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
39 Yet, in the last days,
I will restore the fortunes of Elam.(D)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Prophecies against Babylon
50 This is the word the Lord spoke about Babylon,(E) the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:
2 Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;(F)
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say, ‘Babylon is captured;
Bel(G) is put to shame;
Marduk is terrified.’
Her idols are put to shame;
her false gods devastated.
3 For a nation from the north will attack her;(H)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it –
both people and animals will escape.[c](I)
4 In those days and at that time –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,(J)
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.(K)
5 They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves[d] to the Lord
in a permanent covenant(L) that will never be forgotten.
6 My people were lost sheep;(M)
their shepherds led them astray,(N)
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.(O)
They wandered from mountain to hill;
they forgot their resting place.
7 Whoever found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, ‘We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,(P)
the hope of their ancestors,(Q) the Lord.’
8 Escape from Babylon;(R)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9 For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon(S)
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;(T)
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like a skilled[e] warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10 The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11 Because you rejoice,
because you celebrate –
you who plundered my inheritance –
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,(U)
12 your mother(V) will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all[f] the nations –
an arid wilderness, a desert.(W)
13 Because of the Lord’s wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be appalled
and scoff because of all her wounds.(X)
14 Line up in battle formation round Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defence towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.(Y)
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,(Z)
take your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor’s sword,(AA)
each will turn to his own people,(AB)
each will flee to his own land.
The Return of God’s People
17 Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.(AC)
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last who crushed his bones
was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.(AD)
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to punish the king of Babylon(AE) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will return Israel to his grazing land,(AF)
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.(AG)
20 In those days and at that time –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
one will search for Israel’s iniquity,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive(AH) those I leave as a remnant.(AI)
The Invasion of Babylon
21 Attack the land of Merathaim,
and those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
do everything I have commanded you.(AJ)
22 The sound of war is in the land(AK) –
a crushing blow!
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(AL)
24 Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,(AM)
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you pitted yourself against the Lord.
25 The Lord opened his armoury
and brought out his weapons of wrath,(AN)
because it is a task of the Lord God of Armies
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the most distant places.[g]
Open her granaries;
pile her up like mounds of grain
and completely destroy her.
Leave her no survivors.
27 Put all her young bulls to the sword;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them because their day has come,
the time of their punishment.(AO)
The Humiliation of Babylon
28 There is a voice of fugitives and refugees
from the land of Babylon.
The voice announces in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance for his temple.(AP)
29 Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all round her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;(AQ)
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.(AR)
30 Therefore, her young men will fall
in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the Lord’s declaration.(AS)
31 Look, I am against you, you arrogant one –
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Armies –
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The arrogant will stumble and fall(AT)
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.(AU)
The Desolation of Babylon
33 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;(AV)
they refuse to release them.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
the Lord of Armies is his name.
He will fervently champion their cause(AW)
so that he might bring rest to the earth,
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.(AX)
35 A sword is over the Chaldeans –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her wise men.
36 A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
37 A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them,(AY)
and they will be like women.(AZ)
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
38 A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things.[h](BA)
39 Therefore, desert creatures[i] will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.(BB)
40 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighbouring towns(BC) –
this is the Lord’s declaration –
so no one will live there;
no human being will stay in it even temporarily
as a temporary resident.(BD)
The Conquest of Babylon
41 Look! A people comes from the north.(BE)
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(BF)
42 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,(BG)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard about them;
his hands have become weak.
Distress has seized him –
pain, like a woman in labour.(BH)
44 ‘Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[j](BI) of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Babylon[k] away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me? Who will issue me a summons? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me? ’
45 Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans:(BJ) Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them. 46 At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.(BK)
God’s Judgement on Babylon
51 This is what the Lord says:
I am about to rouse the spirit of a destroyer[l] against Babylon(BL)
and against the population of Leb-qamai.[m][n]
2 I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,(BM)
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
3 Don’t let the archer string his bow;
don’t let him put on[o] his armour.(BN)
Don’t spare her young men;
completely destroy her entire army!
4 Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets.(BO)
5 For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the Lord of Armies,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.(BP)
6 Leave Babylon;(BQ)
save your lives, each of you!(BR)
Don’t perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance –
he will pay her what she deserves.(BS)
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand,(BT)
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;(BU)
therefore, the nations go mad.(BV)
8 Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.
Wail for her;
get balm(BW) for her wound –
perhaps she can be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,(BX)
for her judgement extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.(BY)
10 The Lord has brought about our vindication;(BZ)
come, let’s tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has accomplished.(CA)
11 Sharpen the arrows!(CB)
Fill the quivers![p]
The Lord has roused the spirit
of the kings of the Medes
because his plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for his temple.(CC)
12 Raise up a signal flag(CD)
against the walls of Babylon;
fortify the watch post;
set the watchmen in place;
prepare the ambush.
For the Lord has both planned and accomplished
what he has threatened
against those who live in Babylon.(CE)
13 You who reside by abundant water,(CF)
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.
14 The Lord of Armies has sworn by himself:
I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will sing the victory song over you.
Footnotes
- 49:34 = modern Iran
- 49:35 Lit first
- 50:3 Lit escape; they will walk
- 50:5 LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves
- 50:9 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving
- 50:12 Lit Look! The last of
- 50:26 Lit from the end
- 50:38 Or of dreaded gods
- 50:39 Or desert demons
- 50:44 Lit pride
- 50:44 Lit them
- 51:1 Or to stir up a destructive wind
- 51:1 Lit heart of my adversaries
- 51:1 = Chaldeans
- 51:3 Hb obscure
- 51:11 Or Grasp the shields!
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