Jeremiah 50
Lexham English Bible
A Message Concerning Babylon
50 The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
and lift up a banner.
Proclaim, you must not conceal it.
Say, ‘Babylon is captured,
Bel is ashamed,
Merodach is filled with terror,
her idols are ashamed,
her idols are filled with terror.
3 For a nation will come up against her from the north.
It will make her land as a horror,
and an inhabitant will not be in her.
From humans[a] to animals[b] they all will wander off.
They will go away.
4 In those days and in that time,’” declares[c] Yahweh,
“the people[d] of Israel will come,
they and the people[e] of Judah together.
Weeping as they go,[f] they will go,
and Yahweh their God they will seek.
5 They will ask the way to Zion,
turning their faces there.
They will come and join themselves to Yahweh
by an everlasting covenant[g] that will not be forgotten.
6 My people have become lost sheep,
their shepherds have caused them to go astray.
They led them away to the mountains.
From mountain to hill they have gone,
they have forgotten their resting place.
7 All those who found them have devoured them.
And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty,
because[h] they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture,[i]
even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’[j]
8 Flee from the midst of Babylon,
and from the land of the Chaldeans.
Go out and be like he-goats
before[k] the flock.
9 For look, I am going to stir up,
and I am going to bring against Babylon
a contingent of great nations
from the land of the north.
And they will draw up a battle formation against her,
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success,
he does not return without success.
10 And Chaldea will be as booty,
all those who plunder her will be satisfied,” declares[l] Yahweh.
11 “Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my inheritance,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass,
and you neigh like the powerful stallions,
12 your mother will be very ashamed.
She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.[m]
Look, she will be the least of the nations,
a desert,[n] dry land, and wilderness.[o]
13 Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited,
but she will be a wasteland, all of her.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled
and will hiss because of all her wounds.
14 Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around,
all those who bend the bow, shoot at her.
You must not spare arrows,[p]
for she has sinned against Yahweh.
15 Raise a war cry against her on all sides.
She has surrendered.[q]
Her towers have fallen,
her walls are ruined.
For this is the vengeance of Yahweh.
Take revenge on her.
As she has done to others,
so do to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest.
Because of[r] the sword of the oppressor
each one will turn to their people,
and each one will flee to their land.
17 Israel is a sheep scattered,
lions drove them away.
The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria,
and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones.”
18 Therefore[s] thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Look, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land
just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 And I will restore Israel to its pasture,
and it will feed on Carmel, and in Bashan,
and on the hills[t] of Ephraim, and in Gilead
its hunger will be satisfied.
20 In those days and at that time,” declares[u] Yahweh,
“the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none,
and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found,
for I will forgive those I left behind.
21 To the land of Merathaim,
go up against her,
and against the inhabitants of Pekod,
massacre and destroy them,” declares[v] Yahweh,
“and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 The sound of battle is in the land,
and great destruction.
23 How the blacksmith’s hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!
24 I laid a bird snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon.
But you yourself did not know.
You were discovered and seized,
because with Yahweh you measured yourself.
25 Yahweh has opened his armory,
and he has brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for it is a word for my Lord Yahweh of hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the end,
open her granaries.
Pile her up like heaps and destroy her.
Let there be no remnant for her.
27 Massacre all her bulls,
let them go down to the slaughtering.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.
28 There is the sound of fugitives and survivors
from the land of Babylon,
to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God,
the vengeance for his temple.
29 Summon archers against Babylon,
all those who bend the bow.
Encamp all around her,
there must not be for her an escape.
Take revenge on her according to her deeds.
According to all that she has done, so do to her.
For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently,
against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore[w] her young men will fall in her public squares,
and all her soldiers[x] will perish on that day,” declares[y] Yahweh.
31 “Look, I am against you, O arrogant one,”
declares[z] Lord Yahweh of hosts,
“for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 And the arrogant one will stumble and fall,
and there is no one who raises him up.
And I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour everything around him.”
33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“The people[aa] of Israel are oppressed,
and the people[ab] of Judah likewise,
for[ac] all their captors have seized them,
they refuse to let them go free.
34 Their redeemer is strong,
his name is Yahweh of hosts.
Surely he will plead their case,
in order to make peace for the earth,
but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares[ad] Yahweh,
“and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against her officials,
and against her wise men.
36 A sword against the oracle priests,
and they will become foolish.
A sword against her warriors,
and they will be filled with terror.
37 A sword against his horses,
and against his chariots,[ae]
and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her,
so that they may become as women.
A sword against her treasures,
so that they may be plundered.
38 A drought will come against her waters,
and they will dry up,
for it is a land of images,
and because of the frightful objects, they act like madmen.
39 Therefore[af] desert creatures will live there[ag] with jackals,
and daughters of ostriches[ah] will inhabit her.
And she will not be inhabited again forever,[ai]
and she will not be dwelt in for all generations.[aj]
40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighbors,” declares[ak] Yahweh,
“no one will live there,
and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in her.
41 Look, a people is about to come
from the north,
and a great nation and many kings are woken up
from the remotest part of the earth.
42 They keep hold of bow and short sword.
They are cruel and they have no mercy.
Their sound is like the sea, it roars,
and upon horses they ride.
Drawn up for battle as a man for the battle,
against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon heard their report
and his hands grew slack.
Anxiety has seized him,
fear and pain like the woman who gives birth.
44 Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets[al] of the Jordan
against a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream,[am]
so I will chase them away quickly[an] from her,
and I will appoint whoever is chosen over her.
For who is like me, and who can summon me,
and who is this shepherd who can stand before me?[ao]
45 Therefore[ap] hear the plan of Yahweh
that he has planned against Babylon,
and his plans
that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans.
Surely[aq] they will drag them away,
the little ones of the flock.
Surely[ar] he will cause their grazing place
to be desolate over them.
46 At the sound, ‘Babylon has been captured,’
the earth will quake,
and a cry for help among the nations
will be heard.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:3 Hebrew “human”
- Jeremiah 50:3 Hebrew “animal”
- Jeremiah 50:4 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:4 Or “sons/children”
- Jeremiah 50:4 Or “sons/children”
- Jeremiah 50:4 Literally “They shall go and weeping”
- Jeremiah 50:5 Literally “a covenant of eternity”
- Jeremiah 50:7 Literally “under that”
- Jeremiah 50:7 Literally “settlement of righteousness”
- Jeremiah 50:7 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 50:8 Literally “to the face of”
- Jeremiah 50:10 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or “ashamed”
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or “Arabah”
- Jeremiah 50:14 Hebrew “arrow”
- Jeremiah 50:15 Literally “She has given her hand”
- Jeremiah 50:16 Literally “From the face of”
- Jeremiah 50:18 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 50:19 Hebrew “hill”
- Jeremiah 50:20 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:21 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:30 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 50:30 Literally “her the men of war”
- Jeremiah 50:30 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:31 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:33 Or “sons/children”
- Jeremiah 50:33 Or “sons/children”
- Jeremiah 50:33 Literally “and”
- Jeremiah 50:35 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:37 Hebrew “chariot”
- Jeremiah 50:39 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 50:39 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Jeremiah 50:39 Hebrew “ostrich”
- Jeremiah 50:39 Literally “to eternity”
- Jeremiah 50:39 Literally “until generation and generation”
- Jeremiah 50:40 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 50:44 Hebrew “thicket”
- Jeremiah 50:44 Literally “a pasture of ever-flowing”
- Jeremiah 50:44 Literally “I will do in an instant I will cause them to run”
- Jeremiah 50:44 Literally “to the face of me”
- Jeremiah 50:45 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 50:45 Literally “If not”
- Jeremiah 50:45 Literally “If not”
Jeremiah 50
American Standard Version
50 The word that Jehovah spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is [a]dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are [b]dismayed. 3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast. 4 In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God. 5 They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces [c]thitherward, saying, Come ye, and [d]join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place. 7 All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers. 8 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. 9 For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of [e]an expert mighty man; [f]none shall return in vain. 10 And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah.
11 Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer [g]that treadeth out the grain, and neigh as strong horses; 12 your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. 13 Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against Jehovah. 15 Shout against her round about: she hath [h]submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. 16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
17 Israel is a [i]hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. 18 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will bring Israel again to his [j]pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20 In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
21 Go up against the land of [k]Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of [l]Pekod: slay and [m]utterly destroy after them, saith Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. 22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. 23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against Jehovah. 25 Jehovah hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. 26 Come against her [n]from the utmost border; open her [o]store-houses; cast her up as heaps, and [p]destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left. 27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. 28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together [q]the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; encamp against her round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her; for she hath been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, saith Jehovah. 31 Behold, I am against thee, [r]O thou proud one, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. 32 And [s]the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round about him.
33 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all that took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. 36 A sword is upon the [t]boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed. 37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed. 38 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over [u]idols. 39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the [v]wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.
41 Behold, a people cometh from the north; and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 42 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon hath heard the tidings of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that can stand before me? 45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them. 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembleth, and the cry is heard among the nations.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:2 Or, broken down
- Jeremiah 50:2 Or, broken down
- Jeremiah 50:5 Hebrew hitherward.
- Jeremiah 50:5 Or, they shall join themselves
- Jeremiah 50:9 Or, according to another reading, a mighty man that maketh childless
- Jeremiah 50:9 Or, that returneth not
- Jeremiah 50:11 Or, at grass
- Jeremiah 50:15 Hebrew given her hand.
- Jeremiah 50:17 Hebrew scattered.
- Jeremiah 50:19 Or, fold
- Jeremiah 50:21 That is, Double rebellion.
- Jeremiah 50:21 That is, Visitation.
- Jeremiah 50:21 Hebrew devote.
- Jeremiah 50:26 Or, from every quarter
- Jeremiah 50:26 Or, granaries
- Jeremiah 50:26 Hebrew devote.
- Jeremiah 50:29 Or, many
- Jeremiah 50:31 Hebrew O Pride.
- Jeremiah 50:32 Hebrew Pride.
- Jeremiah 50:36 Hebrew boastings.
- Jeremiah 50:38 Hebrew terrors.
- Jeremiah 50:39 Hebrew howling creatures.
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