审判巴比伦的预言

50 论到迦勒底人居住的巴比伦,耶和华对耶利米先知说:

“你要向列国宣告,
你要竖起旗帜毫不隐瞒地宣告,
‘巴比伦要沦陷了!
它的神明彼勒必蒙羞,
米罗达必惊慌;
巴比伦的神像都蒙羞,
偶像都必惊慌。
因为有一个来自北方的国家要攻击它,
使它荒凉、人畜绝迹。’”

耶和华说:“那时,以色列人要与犹大人一同哭着来寻求他们的上帝耶和华。 他们必打听前往锡安的路,朝锡安走去。他们必凭不会被遗忘的永恒之约归附耶和华。 我的子民成了一群迷路的羊,他们的牧人使他们步入歧途,在高山丘陵间流浪,忘了自己的安歇之处。 敌人遇见他们,就吞噬他们,还说,‘我们没有错!这是因为他们冒犯了他们真正的安歇之处——耶和华,他们祖先的盼望——耶和华。’ 我的子民啊,你们要逃离巴比伦,离开迦勒底人的土地,要像带领羊群的公山羊一样离开。 看啊,我要使来自北方的列强联合起来攻打巴比伦,他们要列阵攻占它,他们的勇士箭术高超,百发百中。 10 他们要在迦勒底肆意掳掠,直到心满意足。这是耶和华说的。

11 “抢夺我产业的巴比伦人啊,
你们欢喜快乐,
像草场上欢跳的母牛犊,
又像嘶鸣的公马。
12 生养你们的母亲巴比伦将羞愧难当,
蒙受耻辱,
排在列国之末,
沦为干旱的荒漠。
13 由于耶和华的愤怒,
巴比伦必无人居住,
荒凉不堪。
她满目疮痍,
令路人惊惧、嗤笑。
14 弓箭手啊,你们要列阵围攻巴比伦,
向她猛射,
不要吝啬箭枝,
因为她得罪了耶和华。
15 你们要从四面向她吶喊,
她必投降,
她的堡垒将倾倒,
城墙将坍塌,
因为耶和华要报应她。
你们要向她复仇,
她怎样对待别人,
你们也要怎样对待她。
16 你们要铲除在巴比伦撒种的和收割的。
为躲避敌人的刀剑,
人们各自逃到故土亲族那里。

17 “以色列人是一群被狮子驱散的羊,先被亚述王吞噬,后被巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒咬碎骨头。” 18 以色列的上帝——万军之耶和华说:“看啊,我要像惩罚亚述王一样惩罚巴比伦王和他的国家。 19 我要带领以色列人返回他们的草场,让他们在迦密和巴珊吃草,在以法莲和基列的山上吃得饱足。 20 那时,在以色列必找不到过犯,在犹大必找不到罪恶,因为我必赦免我保留下来的余民。这是耶和华说的。

21 “你们要去攻打米拉大翁和比割的居民,
照我的命令彻底消灭他们。
这是耶和华说的。
22 巴比伦境内传来战争和大毁灭的声音。
23 威震天下的锤子巴比伦怎么被砍断、打碎了!
它的下场令列国震惊。
24 巴比伦啊,我给你设下了陷阱,
你在懵然不知中被捉住,
因为你与耶和华为敌。
25 耶和华已打开祂的军库,
取出倾泻祂愤怒的兵器。
因为主——万军之耶和华要惩罚迦勒底人。
26 你们要从远方前来攻打巴比伦,
打开她的粮仓,
使她沦为一堆废墟,
彻底毁灭她,不留一物。
27 你们要杀掉她所有的士兵,
把他们全部屠杀。
他们大祸临头了,
惩罚他们的日子到了。

28 “从巴比伦逃出来的人在锡安述说我们的上帝耶和华如何报仇,为祂的圣殿报仇。

29 “要召集所有的弓箭手来攻打巴比伦,在她四围扎营,不让一人漏网。要照她的所作所为报应她;她怎样对待别人,也要怎样对待她,因为她藐视耶和华——以色列的圣者。 30 她的青年要倒毙街头,那时她所有的战士都要灭亡。”这是耶和华说的。

31 “主——万军之耶和华说,
‘狂傲的人啊,我要与你为敌,
我惩罚你的时候到了。
32 狂傲的人要踉踉跄跄,
跌倒在地,无人扶起。
我要焚烧她的城邑,
使她周围的一切化为灰烬。’”

33 万军之耶和华说:“以色列人和犹大人要一同受压迫,掳走他们的人必控制他们,不肯释放他们。 34 但他们的救赎主——万军之耶和华有伟大的能力,祂必为他们申冤,使他们的家园安宁,使巴比伦的居民不得安宁。”

35 耶和华说:

“敌人要攻击巴比伦的居民及其首领和谋士;
36 敌人要攻击巴比伦的假先知,
使他们显出愚昧;
敌人要攻击巴比伦的勇士,
使他们充满恐惧;
37 敌人要攻击巴比伦人的战车战马和他们的盟军,
使他们柔弱得像妇女;
敌人要攻打他们的库房,
肆意抢夺他们的财宝。
38 旱灾必临到巴比伦,
使那里的河流干涸,
因为那里偶像遍地,
人们都沉迷于祭拜神像。

39 “因此,巴比伦必杳无人烟,永远荒凉,成为豺狼等野兽出没之地、鸵鸟的栖身之所。 40 上帝要毁灭巴比伦,像毁灭所多玛、蛾摩拉及其周围的城邑一样,使那里人烟绝迹。这是耶和华说的。

41 “看啊,大军要从北方而来,
一个强国及其盟军要从地极而来。
42 巴比伦人啊,他们残忍无道,
手持弓箭和矛枪,
骑着战马,
列阵攻击你们,
声势如翻腾的大海。
43 巴比伦王闻风丧胆,
四肢发软,
像分娩的妇人一样痛苦不堪。

44 “看啊,我必在瞬间把巴比伦人赶离家园,如约旦河边丛林中跳出的狮子赶散草场的羊群。我要派我拣选的人统治这地方。谁能与我相比?谁能与我较量?哪位首领能抵抗我?”

45 因此,你们要听听耶和华攻击巴比伦的策略,听听祂攻击迦勒底人的计划。他们的孩子要被拖走,他们的家园要被毁灭。 46 巴比伦被毁灭的消息震动天下,呼喊声传到列国。

Prophecies against Babylon

50 This is the word the Lord spoke about Babylon,(A) the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:

Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;(B)
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say, “Babylon is captured;
Bel(C) is put to shame;
Marduk is terrified.”
Her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
For a nation from the north will attack her;(D)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it—
both people and animals will escape.[a](E)
In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,(F)
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.(G)
They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves[b] to the Lord
in a permanent covenant(H) that will never be forgotten.

My people were lost sheep;(I)
their shepherds led them astray,(J)
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.(K)
They wandered from mountain to hill;
they forgot their resting place.
Whoever found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,(L)
the hope of their ancestors,(M) the Lord.”

Escape from Babylon;(N)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon(O)
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;(P)
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like a skilled[c] 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,(Q)
12 your mother(R) will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all[d] the nations—
an arid wilderness, a desert.(S)
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.(T)
14 Line up in battle formation around 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 defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.(U)
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,(V)
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,(W)
each will turn to his own people,(X)
each will flee to his own land.

The Return of God’s People

17 Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.(Y)
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last who crushed his bones
was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.(Z)

18 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to punish the king of Babylon(AA) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 I will return Israel to his grazing land,(AB)
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.(AC)
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(AD) those I leave as a remnant.(AE)

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.(AF)
22 The sound of war is in the land(AG)
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!(AH)
24 Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,(AI)
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you pitted yourself against the Lord.
25 The Lord opened his armory
and brought out his weapons of wrath,(AJ)
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.[e]
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.(AK)

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.(AL)
29 Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;(AM)
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.(AN)
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.(AO)
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(AP)
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.(AQ)

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;(AR)
they refuse to release them.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
the Lord of Armies is his name.
He will fervently champion their cause(AS)
so that he might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.(AT)
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 sages.
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,(AU)
and they will be like women.(AV)
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.[f](AW)

39 Therefore, desert creatures[g] will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.(AX)
40 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns(AY)
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.(AZ)

The Conquest of Babylon

41 Look! A people comes from the north.(BA)
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(BB)
42 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,(BC)
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 labor.(BD)

44 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[h](BE) of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Babylon[i] 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:(BF) 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.(BG)

Footnotes

  1. 50:3 Lit escape; they will walk
  2. 50:5 LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves
  3. 50:9 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving
  4. 50:12 Lit Look! The last of
  5. 50:26 Lit from the end
  6. 50:38 Or of dreaded gods
  7. 50:39 Or desert demons
  8. 50:44 Lit pride
  9. 50:44 Lit them