Jeremiah 50
New American Standard Bible
Prophecy against Babylon
50 The word which the Lord spoke concerning (A)Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “(B)Declare and proclaim among the nations.
Proclaim it and (C)lift up a flag,
Do not conceal it. Say,
‘(D)Babylon has been captured,
(E)Bel has been put to shame, [a]Marduk has been [b]shattered;
Her (F)idols have been put to shame, her images have been shattered.’
3 For a nation has come up against her from the (G)north; it will make her land (H)an object of horror, and there will be (I)no inhabitant in it. Whether people or animals, they have wandered off, they have gone!
4 “In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah (J)as well; they will go along (K)weeping as they go, and it will be (L)the Lord their God whom they will seek. 5 They will (M)ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces [c]in its direction; [d]they [e]will come so that they may join themselves to the Lord 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 aside on the (Q)mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill,
They have forgotten their (R)resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries have said, ‘(S)We are not guilty,
Since they have sinned against the Lord who is the (T)habitation of righteousness,
The Lord, the (U)hope of their fathers.’
8 “Wander away from the (V)midst of Babylon
And [f]go out from the land of the Chaldeans;
Be like male goats [g]at the head of the flock.
9 For behold, I am going to (W)rouse and bring up against Babylon
A contingent of great nations from the land of the north,
And they will draw up their battle lines against her;
From there she will be taken captive.
Their arrows will be like [h]an expert warrior
Who does not return empty-handed.
10 [i](X)Chaldea will become plunder;
All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.
11 “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,
You who (Y)pillage My heritage,
Because you skip about [j]like a threshing (Z)heifer
And neigh like [k]stallions,
12 Your (AA)mother [l]will be greatly ashamed,
She who gave you birth [m]will be humiliated.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
A (AB)wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she will (AC)not be inhabited,
But she will be (AD)completely desolate;
Everyone who passes by Babylon (AE)will be horrified
And will hiss because of all her wounds.
14 Draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side,
All of you who [n]bend the bow;
Shoot at her, do not spare your arrows,
For she has (AF)sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise your battle cry against her on every side!
She has (AG)given [o]herself up, her towers have fallen,
Her (AH)walls have been torn down.
For this is the (AI)vengeance of the Lord:
Take vengeance on her;
(AJ)As she has done to others, so do to her.
16 Eliminate the (AK)sower from Babylon
And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;
From [p]the (AL)sword of the oppressor
(AM)Each of them will turn back to his own people
And each of them will flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is a (AN)scattered [q]flock, the (AO)lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the (AP)king of Assyria, and this last one who has gnawed his bones is (AQ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 18 Therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘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 (AS)bring 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 the Lord, ‘search will be made for the wrongdoing of Israel, but (AU)there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will forgive 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.
Kill and [u]completely destroy them,” declares the Lord,
“And do according to everything 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 off and broken!
How Babylon has become
An object of horror among the nations!
24 I (AZ)set a trap for you and you were also (BA)caught, Babylon,
While you yourself were not aware;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have engaged in (BB)conflict with the Lord.”
25 The Lord has opened His armory
And has brought out the (BC)weapons of His indignation,
For it is a (BD)work of the Lord [v]God of armies
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come to her from the [w]farthest border;
(BE)Open up her barns,
Pile her up like heaps of grain
And [x](BF)completely destroy her,
Let nothing be left to her.
27 (BG)Put all her 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 fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the (BK)vengeance of the Lord our God,
Vengeance for His (BL)temple.
29 “Summon [y]many against Babylon,
All those who [z]bend the bow:
Encamp against her on every side,
Let there be no escape[aa].
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 the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her (BO)young men will fall in her streets,
And all her men of war will (BP)perish on that day,” declares the Lord.
31 “Behold, (BQ)I am against you, [ab]arrogant one,”
Declares the Lord [ac]God of armies,
“For your day has come,
The time [ad]when I will punish you.
32 The [ae](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 all his surroundings.”
33 This is what the Lord of armies says:
“The sons of Israel are oppressed,
And the sons of Judah as well;
And (BT)all who took them captive have held them firmly,
They have refused to let them go.
34 Their (BU)Redeemer is strong, (BV)the Lord of armies is His name;
He will vigorously (BW)plead their case
So that He may (BX)bring rest to their land,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A (BY)sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,
“And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her (BZ)leaders and her (CA)wise men!
36 A sword against the (CB)oracle priests, and they will become fools!
A sword against her (CC)warriors, and they will be [af](CD)shattered!
37 A sword against [ag]their (CE)horses, 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)idols,
And they go insane at frightful images.
39 “Therefore the (CJ)desert creatures will live there with the jackals;
The ostriches also will live in it.
It will (CK)never again be inhabited
Nor lived in from generation to generation.
40 As when God overthrew (CL)Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,
“No one will live there,
Nor will [ak]anyone of mankind reside in it.
41 “Behold, a people is coming (CM)from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Will be roused from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They (CN)seize their bow and javelin;
They are (CO)cruel and have no mercy.
Their (CP)voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on (CQ)horses,
(CR)Drawn up like a man for the battle
Against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 The (CS)king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands hang limp;
(CT)Distress has gripped him,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.
44 “(CU)Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will chase them away from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is (CV)chosen. For who is (CW)like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can (CX)stand against Me?” 45 Therefore hear the (CY)plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has in mind against the land of the Chaldeans: (CZ)they will certainly drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; He will certainly make their pasture desolate because of them. 46 At the [al]shout, “Babylon has been conquered!” the (DA)earth quakes, and an (DB)outcry is heard among the nations.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 50:2 Heb Merodach
- Jeremiah 50:2 Or dismayed
- Jeremiah 50:5 Lit toward here
- Jeremiah 50:5 MT come, that
- Jeremiah 50:5 Or will have come
- Jeremiah 50:8 Another reading is let them go out
- Jeremiah 50:8 Or in front of
- Jeremiah 50:9 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT a warrior who makes childless
- Jeremiah 50:10 Or the Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 50:11 Another reading is 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 step on (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 Lit soul
- Jeremiah 50:21 Or double rebellion
- Jeremiah 50:21 I.e., punishment (uncertain)
- Jeremiah 50:21 Lit put under the ban
- Jeremiah 50:25 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit end
- Jeremiah 50:26 Lit put under the ban
- Jeremiah 50:29 Another reading is archers
- Jeremiah 50:29 Lit step on (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 50:29 Some mss add to her
- Jeremiah 50:31 Lit arrogance
- Jeremiah 50:31 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 50:31 Another reading is of your punishment
- Jeremiah 50:32 Lit arrogance
- Jeremiah 50:36 Or filled with terror
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit his
- Jeremiah 50:37 Lit mixed multitude
- Jeremiah 50:38 Another reading is sword
- Jeremiah 50:40 Lit a son of man
- Jeremiah 50:46 Lit voice
Jeremiah 50
Christian Standard Bible
Prophecies against Babylon
50 This is the word the Lord spoke about Babylon,(A) the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:
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 terrified.”
Her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3 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)
4 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)
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.”
8 Escape from Babylon;(N)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9 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)
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