Jeremiah 50
Legacy Standard Bible
Word Against Babylon
50 The word which Yahweh spoke concerning (A)Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “(B)Declare and make it heard among the nations.
Make it heard and (C)lift up a standard.
Do not conceal it but say,
‘(D)Babylon has been captured;
(E)Bel has been put to shame; [a]Marduk has been [b]shattered;
Her (F)images have been put to shame; her idols have been shattered.’
3 For a nation has come up against her out of the (G)north; it will make her land (H)an object of horror, and there will be (I)no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off; they have gone away!
4 “In those days and at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah (J)as well; they will go along (K)weeping as they go, and it will be (L)Yahweh their God they will seek. 5 They will (M)ask for the way to Zion—turning their faces [c]in its direction and saying, ‘[d]Come!’—in order that they may join themselves to Yahweh in an (N)everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
6 “My people have become (O)lost sheep;
(P)Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn away on the (Q)mountains;
They have gone along from mountain to hill
And have forgotten their (R)resting place.
7 All who came out against them have devoured them;
And their adversaries have said, ‘(S)We are not guilty,
Inasmuch as they have sinned against Yahweh, who is the (T)abode of righteousness,
Even Yahweh, the (U)hope of their fathers.’
8 “Wander away from the (V)midst of Babylon
And [e]go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;
Be also like male goats [f]at the head of the flock.
9 For behold, I am going to (W)arouse and bring up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the land of the north,
And they will arrange their battle lines against her;
From there she will be taken captive.
Their arrows will be like [g]a warrior who makes one childless
Who does not return empty-handed.
10 [h](X)Chaldea will become spoil;
All who take her spoil will have enough,” declares Yahweh.
11 “Because you are glad, because you exult,
O you who (Y)plunder My inheritance,
Because you skip about [i]like a threshing (Z)heifer
And neigh like [j]valiant steeds,
12 Your (AA)mother [k]will be greatly ashamed;
She who gave you birth [l]will be humiliated.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
A (AB)wilderness, a parched land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of Yahweh she will (AC)not be inhabited,
But she will be (AD)completely desolate;
Everyone who passes by Babylon (AE)will be in desolation
And will hiss because of all her wounds.
14 Arrange your battle lines against Babylon on every side,
All you who [m]bend the bow;
Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,
For she has (AF)sinned against Yahweh.
15 Raise a loud shout against her on every side!
She has (AG)given [n]herself up, her pillars have fallen,
Her (AH)walls have been pulled down.
For this is the (AI)vengeance of Yahweh:
Take vengeance on her;
(AJ)As she has done to others, so do to her.
16 Cut off the (AK)sower from Babylon
And the one who seizes the sickle at the time of harvest;
From before [o]the (AL)sword of the oppressor
(AM)They will each turn back to his own people,
And they will each flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is a (AN)scattered [p]flock; the (AO)lions have banished them away. The first one who devoured him was the (AP)king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is (AQ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 18 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I (AR)punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will [q](AS)return Israel back to his pasture, and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his [r]desire will be satisfied in the (AT)hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days and at that time,’ declares Yahweh, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but (AU)there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those (AV)whom I leave as a remnant.’
21 “Against the land of [s]Merathaim, go up against it,
And against the inhabitants of [t](AW)Pekod.
Put them to the sword and [u]devote them to destruction,” declares Yahweh,
“And do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 The (AX)noise of battle is in the land,
And great destruction.
23 How the (AY)hammer of the whole earth
Has been cut in pieces and broken!
How Babylon has become
An object of horror among the nations!
24 I (AZ)set a snare for you, and you were also (BA)caught, O Babylon,
But you yourself did not know;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have engaged in (BB)conflict with Yahweh.”
25 Yahweh has opened His armory
And has brought forth the (BC)weapons of His indignation,
For it is a (BD)work of Lord Yahweh of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come to her from the [v]farthest border;
(BE)Open up her barns;
Pile her up like heaps,
And [w](BF)devote her to destruction;
Let nothing of her remain.
27 (BG)Put all her young bulls to the sword;
Let them (BH)go down to the slaughter!
Woe be upon them, for their (BI)day has come,
The time of their punishment.
28 There is a (BJ)sound of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the (BK)vengeance of Yahweh our God,
Vengeance for His (BL)temple.
29 “Summon [x]many against Babylon,
All those who [y]bend the bow:
Encamp against her on every side,
Let there be no escape[z].
Repay her according to her work;
(BM)According to all that she has done, so do to her;
For she has become (BN)arrogant against Yahweh,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her (BO)young men will fall in her open squares,
And all her men of war will be [aa](BP)silenced in that day,” declares Yahweh.
31 “Behold, (BQ)I am against you, O [ab]arrogant one,”
Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts,
“For your day has come,
The time [ac]when I will punish you.
32 The [ad](BR)arrogant one will stumble and fall
With no one to raise him up;
And I will (BS)set fire to his cities,
And it will devour him on every side.”
33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“The sons of Israel are oppressed,
And the sons of Judah as well;
And (BT)all who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
34 Their (BU)Redeemer is strong, (BV)Yahweh of hosts is His name;
He will vigorously (BW)plead their case
So that He may (BX)bring relief to [ae]the earth,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A (BY)sword against the Chaldeans,” declares Yahweh,
“And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her (BZ)officials and her (CA)wise men!
36 A sword against the (CB)oracle priests, and they will become fools!
A sword against her (CC)mighty men, and they will be [af](CD)shattered!
37 A sword against [ag]their (CE)horses and against [ah]their chariots
And against all the [ai](CF)foreigners who are in the midst of her,
And they will become (CG)women!
A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
38 A [aj](CH)drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!
For it is a land of (CI)graven images,
And they are mad over terrifying idols.
39 “Therefore the (CJ)desert creatures will live there along with the jackals;
The ostriches also will live in it,
And it will (CK)never again be lived in
Or dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As when God overthrew (CL)Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares Yahweh,
“No man will live there,
Nor will any son of man sojourn in it.
41 “Behold, a people is coming (CM)from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They (CN)seize their bow and [ak]javelin;
They are (CO)cruel and have no compassion.
Their (CP)voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on (CQ)horses,
(CR)Arranged like a man for the battle
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The (CS)king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands hang limp;
(CT)Distress has taken hold of him,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.
44 “(CU)Behold, one will come up like a lion from the [al]thicket of the Jordan to an enduring pasture; for in an instant I will make them run away from it, and whoever is (CV)chosen I will appoint over it. For who is (CW)like Me, and who will [am]summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can (CX)stand before Me?” 45 Therefore hear the (CY)counsel of Yahweh which He has counseled against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: (CZ)surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their [an]pasture desolate because of them. 46 At the sound, “Babylon has been seized!” the (DA)earth is shaken, and an (DB)outcry is heard among the nations.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:2 Heb Merodach
- Jeremiah 50:2 Or dismayed
- Jeremiah 50:5 Lit hither
- Jeremiah 50:5 Gr they will come and join themselves
- Jeremiah 50:8 Or let them go forth
- Jeremiah 50:8 Or in front of
- Jeremiah 50:9 Some mss and versions an expert warrior
- Jeremiah 50:10 Or The Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 50:11 Or in the grass
- Jeremiah 50:11 Lit mighty ones
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or has become
- Jeremiah 50:12 Or has become
- Jeremiah 50:14 Lit tread (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 50:15 Lit her hand
- Jeremiah 50:16 Or the oppressing sword
- Jeremiah 50:17 Lit sheep
- Jeremiah 50:19 Or restore
- Jeremiah 50:19 Lit soul
- Jeremiah 50:21 Lit double rebellion
- Jeremiah 50:21 Lit punishment
- Jeremiah 50:21 Lit put under the ban
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit end
- Jeremiah 50:26 Or put her under the ban
- Jeremiah 50:29 Or archers
- Jeremiah 50:29 Lit tread (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 50:29 Some mss add to her
- Jeremiah 50:30 Or made lifeless, destroyed
- Jeremiah 50:31 Lit arrogance
- Jeremiah 50:31 Or of your punishment
- Jeremiah 50:32 Lit arrogance
- Jeremiah 50:34 Or their land
- Jeremiah 50:36 Or dismayed
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit mixed multitude
- Jeremiah 50:38 Or sword
- Jeremiah 50:42 Or scimitar
- Jeremiah 50:44 Lit pride
- Jeremiah 50:44 Or cause Me to testify, cf. Job 9:19
- Jeremiah 50:45 Or habitation
Jeremiah 50
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Prophecies against Babylon
50 The word the Lord spoke about Babylon,(A) the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 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 devastated;
her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3 For a nation from the north will come against her;(D)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it—
both man and beast will escape.[a]
4 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.(E)
5 They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves[b] to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant(F) that will never be forgotten.
6 My people are lost sheep;(G)
their shepherds have led them astray,
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.(H)
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,(I)
the hope of their ancestors,(J) the Lord.”
8 Escape from Babylon;(K)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9 For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like those of 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 sing in triumph—
you who plundered My inheritance—
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,(L)
12 your mother will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all[d] the nations—
a dry land, a wilderness,(M) an Arabah.
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 horrified
and scoff because of all her wounds.(N)
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.(O)
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,(P)
take out 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,(Q)
each will turn to his own people,(R)
each will flee to his own land.
The Return of God’s People
17 Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.(S)
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last one who crushed his bones
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.(T)
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to punish the king of Babylon(U) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will return Israel to his grazing land,
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.(V)
20 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
one will search for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive(W) those I leave as a remnant.(X)
The Invasion of Babylon
21 “Go against the land of Merathaim,
and against those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
do everything I have commanded you.(Y)
22 The sound of war is in the land(Z)—
a great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(AA)
24 Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,(AB)
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you fought against the Lord.
25 The Lord opened His armory
and brought out His weapons of wrath,(AC)
because it is a task of the Lord God of Hosts
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.(AD)
The Humiliation of Babylon
28 “There is a voice of fugitives and those who escape
from the land of Babylon
announcing in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance for His temple.(AE)
29 Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;(AF)
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.(AG)
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.(AH)
31 Look, I am against you, you arrogant one—
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Hosts—
because your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The arrogant will stumble and fall
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.”(AI)
The Desolation of Babylon
33 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;(AJ)
they refuse to release them.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case(AK)
so that He might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.(AL)
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,(AM)
and they will be like women.(AN)
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](AO)
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.(AP)
40 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns(AQ)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
so no one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it
as a temporary resident.(AR)
The Conquest of Babylon
41 Look! A people comes from the north.
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(AS)
42 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,(AT)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands fall helpless.
Distress has seized him—
pain, like a woman in labor.(AU)
44 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[h](AV) of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, 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 summon Me? 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: 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.(AW)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:3 Lit escape; they will walk
- Jeremiah 50:5 LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves
- Jeremiah 50:9 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving
- Jeremiah 50:12 Lit Look! The last of
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit from the end
- Jeremiah 50:38 Or of dreaded gods
- Jeremiah 50:39 Or desert demons
- Jeremiah 50:44 Lit pride
- Jeremiah 50:44 Lit them
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