41 “Behold,(A) a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42 (B)They shall hold the bow and the lance;
(C)They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
(D)Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43 “The king of Babylon has (E)heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in (F)childbirth.

44 “Behold,(G) he shall come up like a lion from the [a]floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will make them suddenly run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And (H)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

45 Therefore hear (I)the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His (J)purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
(K)Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
46 (L)At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 50:44 Or thicket

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[a] of the Jordan
    against a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream,[b]
so I will chase them away quickly[c] 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?[d]
45 Therefore[e] 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[f] they will drag them away,
    the little ones of the flock.
Surely[g] 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.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 50:44 Hebrew “thicket”
  2. Jeremiah 50:44 Literally “a pasture of ever-flowing”
  3. Jeremiah 50:44 Literally “I will do in an instant I will cause them to run”
  4. Jeremiah 50:44 Literally “to the face of me”
  5. Jeremiah 50:45 Literally “To thus”
  6. Jeremiah 50:45 Literally “If not”
  7. Jeremiah 50:45 Literally “If not”