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
Common English Bible
Prophecy against Babylon
50 This is what the Lord said concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians through the prophet Jeremiah:
2 Tell the nations;
proclaim it far and wide!
Set up a flag;
proclaim it far and wide!
Hold nothing back;
just shout it:
“Babylon is captured;
Bel is shamed;
Marduk is panic-stricken.
Her images are shamed;
her idols are panic-stricken.”
3 A nation from the north
has risen up against her.
It will decimate her land,
and no one will live in it.
Every living thing will flee.
4 In those days and at that time,
declares the Lord,
the people of Israel and Judah
will come out of Babylon[a] together;
with weeping they will leave
as they seek the Lord their God.
5 They will search for Zion,
turning their faces toward it.
They will come[b] and
unite with the Lord,
in an everlasting covenant
that will never be forgotten.
6 My people were lost sheep;
their shepherds led them astray;
they deserted them on the mountains,
where they wandered off among the hills,
forgetting their resting place.
7 All who found them devoured them;
and their attackers said,
“It’s not our fault,
because they have sinned against the Lord,
the true pasture,[c]
the hope of their ancestors—the Lord.”
8 Now wander far from Babylon.
Get out of that country.
Like rams of the flock,
lead the way home.
9 I’m stirring up against Babylon
a coalition of mighty nations.
It will mobilize in the north,
and from there she will be captured.
Their arrows are like those of an expert archer
who does not return empty-handed.
10 Babylon will be defeated;
its attackers will carry off all that they want,
declares the Lord.
11 Sure, you gloat and rejoice,
you plunderers of my possession.
Sure, you dance around like a calf
and neigh like a stallion.
12 But Mother Babylon[d] will be humiliated;
the one who bore you will be disgraced.
She will become the least of the nations:
a wilderness, a desert, and parched land.
13 Because of the Lord’s anger,
no one will live there;
she will be reduced to total ruin.
All who pass by Babylon will be shocked;
they will gasp at all her injuries.
14 Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you archers;
now shoot at her;
save none of your arrows,
because she’s sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise a victory shout against her on every side!
She’s surrendered;
her towers have collapsed;
her walls are destroyed.
This is the Lord’s retribution;
now pay her back:
do to her what she’s done to others!
16 Cut Babylon off from those who plant
and those who harvest the crops,
because of its ruthless sword.[e]
Now return, all of you, to your people;
flee to your homeland!
17 Israelites are scattered sheep,
driven away by lions.
First the king of Assyria devoured them,
and now Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar has ravaged them.[f]
18 Therefore, the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
I’m going to punish the king of Babylon and his land,
just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will restore Israel to their pasture;
they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
they will eat their fill
in the highlands of Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and at that time,
declares the Lord,
if one searches for the sin of Israel,
they will find nothing;
if one seeks out the wrongdoing of Judah,
they will look in vain.
I will forgive those I have spared.
21 Attack the land of Merathaim;[g]
crush those living in Pekod.
Ruin and destroy them,
declares the Lord;
do all I have commanded you.
22 There’s the sound of war in the land
and enormous devastation.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
has been broken and shattered into pieces!
How Babylon has become a wasteland
among the nations!
24 You set a trap for others, Babylon,[h]
but you yourself were caught in it unaware;
you have been found and captured
because you have defied the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his arsenal
and brought out his brutal weapons.
The Lord God of heavenly forces
has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians.
26 Come against her from every side;
throw open her granaries;
pile her up like stalks of grain;
totally destroy her;
leave nothing intact.
27 Destroy all her bulls;
prepare them for slaughter.
How terrible for them!
Their time has come,
the day of reckoning.
28 A voice of fugitives and refugees,
from the land of Babylon,
declaring in Zion
the retribution of the Lord our God
because of what has been done to his temple.
29 Send the archers against Babylon,
all who draw the bow!
Surround her
and let no one escape.
Pay her back for her deeds;
do to her what she’s done to others.
She has acted arrogantly toward the Lord,
the holy one of Israel!
30 Therefore, her soldiers will fall in the streets;
all her warriors will be silenced on that day,
declares the Lord.
31 I’m against you, you arrogant one!
declares the Lord God of heavenly forces.
Your day has come,
your time of reckoning.
32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall,
and no one will help her up.
I’ll set your cities on fire,
and it will consume all that’s around her.
33 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
The people of Israel were oppressed,
together with the people of Judah.
Their captors held them
and refused to let them go.
34 Yet their redeemer is strong;
the Lord of heavenly forces is his name.
He will surely defend their cause
and give them rest in the land.
But he will unsettle the people of Babylon.
35 A sword against Babylon and its people,
declares the Lord,
along with its officials and sages.
36 A sword against its diviners
so that they become fools.
A sword against its warriors
so that they are terrified.
37 A sword against its horses and chariots,
and the mercenaries[i] in its midst
so that they lose courage.[j]
A sword against its treasures
so that they are looted.
38 A sword[k] against the water supplies
so that they dry up.
It is truly the land of idols,
idols about which they have gone utterly mad!
39 Therefore, Babylon will become a ghost town,
a place for desert animals,
hyenas, and ravenous birds.[l]
No one will live there again;
no one will make it their home.
40 Just as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
declares the Lord,
so no one will live in Babylon
or settle there again.
41 Look! An army is on the move
from the northern regions.
A powerful nation and many kings are coming
from the ends of the earth.
42 Equipped with bow and spear,
they are cruel and show no mercy.
Their horsemen sound like the roaring sea,
arrayed in battle formation against you,
Daughter Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports of them
and is panic-stricken;
distress overwhelms him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
44 Like a lion coming up from
the jungle of the Jordan
to a well-watered meadow,[m]
so I will suddenly chase down Babylon
and single out its choicest of rams.
Who is like me?
Who can direct me?
What shepherd can withstand me?
45 Therefore, listen to the counsel
that the Lord has for Babylon
and the plans he’s devised
against the land of Babylon:
The little ones of the flock
will be dragged off,
as their pasture watches
in utter disbelief.[n]
46 The earth quakes
at the sound of Babylon’s capture;
its screams echo throughout the world.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:4 Heb lacks of Babylon.
- Jeremiah 50:5 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 50:7 Or righteous dwelling place
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or your mother
- Jeremiah 50:16 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 50:17 Or gnawed their bones
- Jeremiah 50:21 Or Double rebellion
- Jeremiah 50:24 Or I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were
- Jeremiah 50:37 Or foreigners
- Jeremiah 50:37 Or become like women
- Jeremiah 50:38 Or A drought
- Jeremiah 50:39 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 50:44 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 50:45 Heb uncertain
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