Jeremiah 46-51
New American Standard Bible
Defeat of Pharaoh Foretold
46 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet (A)concerning the nations.
2 To (B)Egypt, concerning the army of (C)Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at (D)Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the (E)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3 “(F)Set up the [a]buckler and shield,
And advance to the battle!
4 Harness the horses,
And [b]mount the steeds,
Take your stand with helmets on!
(G)Polish the spears,
Put on the (H)coats of armor!
5 Why have I seen it?
They are terrified,
They are (I)retreating,
And their (J)warriors are defeated
And have taken refuge in flight,
Without facing back.
[c](K)Terror is on every side!”
Declares the Lord.
6 Let not the (L)swift man flee,
Nor the warrior escape.
In the north beside the river Euphrates
They have (M)stumbled and fallen.
7 Who is this that (N)rises like the Nile,
Like the rivers whose waters surge?
8 Egypt rises like the Nile,
And like the rivers whose waters surge;
And He has said, “I will (O)rise and cover that land;
I will (P)destroy the city and its inhabitants.”
9 Go up, you horses, and [d](Q)drive wildly, you chariots,
So that the warriors may [e]march forward:
[f]Cush and [g](R)Put, who handle the shield,
And the [h](S)Lydians, who handle and bend the bow.
10 For (T)that day belongs to the Lord [i]God of armies,
A day of (U)vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes;
And the (V)sword will devour and be satisfied,
And [j]drink its fill of their blood;
For there will be a (W)slaughter for the Lord [k]God of armies,
In the land of the north at the river Euphrates.
11 Go (X)up to Gilead and obtain balm,
(Y)Virgin daughter of Egypt!
You have used many [l]remedies in vain;
There is (Z)no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your (AA)shame,
And the earth is full of your (AB)cry of distress;
For one (AC)warrior has stumbled over [m]another,
And both of them have fallen down together.
13 This is the [n]message which the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the (AD)coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to (AE)strike the land of Egypt:
14 “Declare in Egypt and proclaim in (AF)Migdol,
Proclaim also in Memphis and (AG)Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,
For the (AH)sword has devoured those around you.’
15 Why have your (AI)powerful ones been cut down?
They do not stand because the Lord has (AJ)thrust them away.
16 They have repeatedly (AK)stumbled;
Indeed, they have fallen, one against another.
Then they said, ‘Get up, and (AL)let’s go back
To our own people and our native land,
Away from the [o](AM)sword of the oppressor!’
17 [p]They shouted there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is nothing but (AN)a big noise;
He has let the appointed time pass by!’
18 As I live,” declares the (AO)King,
Whose name is the Lord of armies,
“One certainly shall come who is like (AP)Tabor among the mountains,
Or like (AQ)Carmel by the sea.
19 Make your baggage ready for (AR)exile,
(AS)Daughter living in Egypt,
For (AT)Memphis will become a desolation;
It will be destroyed and [q]deprived of inhabitants.
20 Egypt is a pretty (AU)heifer,
But a [r]horsefly is coming (AV)from the north—it is coming!
21 Also her (AW)mercenaries in her midst
Are like fattened (AX)calves,
For they too have turned away and have fled together;
They did not stand their ground.
For the day of their disaster has come upon them,
The time of their (AY)punishment.
22 Its sound moves along like a serpent;
For they move on [s]like an army
And come to her as woodcutters with axes.
23 They have cut down her (AZ)forest,” declares the Lord;
“Certainly it will no longer be found,
Even though [t]they are more numerous than (BA)locusts
And are without number.
24 The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,
Turned over to the [u]power of the (BB)people of the north.”
25 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of (BC)Thebes, and (BD)Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her (BE)gods and her kings, indeed, Pharaoh and those who (BF)trust in him. 26 I shall hand them over to those who are (BG)seeking their lives, that is, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to his [v]officers. (BH)Afterward, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the Lord.
27 “But as for you, Jacob My servant, (BI)do not fear,
Nor be dismayed, Israel!
For, see, I am going to (BJ)save you from far away,
And your descendants from the land of their captivity;
And Jacob will return and be (BK)undisturbed
And secure, with no one making him afraid.
28 Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord,
“For (BL)I am with you.
For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations
Where I have driven you,
Yet I will (BM)not make a complete destruction of you;
But I will (BN)correct you properly
And by no means leave you unpunished.”
Prophecy against Philistia
47 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the (BO)Philistines, before Pharaoh [w]conquered (BP)Gaza. 2 This is what the Lord says:
“Behold, waters are going to rise from (BQ)the north
And become an overflowing torrent,
And (BR)overflow the land and everything that is in it,
The city and those who live in it;
And the people will (BS)cry out,
And every inhabitant of the land will wail.
3 Because of the noise of the [x](BT)galloping hoofs of his [y]stallions,
The roar of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels,
The fathers have not turned back for their children,
Because of the debility of their hands,
4 Because of the day that is coming
To (BU)destroy all the Philistines,
To eliminate from (BV)Tyre and Sidon
Every surviving ally;
For the Lord is going to destroy the Philistines,
The remnant of the coastland of (BW)Caphtor.
5 (BX)Baldness has come upon Gaza;
(BY)Ashkelon has been destroyed.
Remnant of their valley,
How long will you (BZ)gash yourself?
6 Ah, (CA)sword of the Lord,
How long will you not be quiet?
Withdraw into your sheath;
Rest and stay still.
7 How can [z]it be quiet,
When the Lord has (CB)given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the sea shore—
There He has (CC)summoned it.”
Prophecy against Moab
48 Concerning (CD)Moab. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says:
“Woe to (CE)Nebo, for it has been destroyed;
(CF)Kiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;
The high stronghold has been put to shame and [aa]shattered.
2 There is no longer praise for Moab;
In (CG)Heshbon they have devised disaster against her:
‘Come and let’s cut her off from being a nation!’
You too, [ab]Madmen, will be silenced;
The sword will follow you.
3 The sound of an outcry from (CH)Horonaim,
‘Devastation and great destruction!’
4 Moab is broken,
Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.
5 For they will go up by the ascent of (CI)Luhith
With continual weeping;
For at the descent of Horonaim
They have heard the [ac]anguished cry of destruction.
6 (CJ)Flee, save yourselves,
So that you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.
7 For because of your (CK)trust in your own achievements and treasures,
You yourself will also be captured;
And (CL)Chemosh will go off into exile
Together with his priests and his leaders.
8 A destroyer will come to every city,
So that no city will escape;
The valley also will be ruined
And the (CM)plateau will be destroyed,
As the Lord has said.
9 Give [ad](CN)wings to Moab,
For she will [ae]flee away;
And her cities will become a (CO)desolation,
Without inhabitants in them.
10 (CP)Cursed is the one who does the Lord’s work (CQ)negligently,
And cursed is the one who restrains his (CR)sword from blood.
11 “Moab has been (CS)at ease since his youth;
He has also been (CT)peaceful, like wine on [af]its dregs,
And he has not been (CU)poured from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore [ag]he retains his flavor,
And his aroma has not changed.
12 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will pour out his vessels and smash [ah]his jars. 13 And Moab will be (CV)ashamed of (CW)Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed of (CX)Bethel, their confidence.
14 How can you say, ‘We are (CY)warriors,
And men competent for battle’?
15 Moab has been destroyed and [ai]men have gone up to [aj]his cities;
His choicest [ak](CZ)young men have also gone down to the slaughter,”
Declares the (DA)King, whose name is the Lord of armies.
16 “The disaster of Moab will (DB)soon come,
And his catastrophe has hurried quickly.
17 Mourn for him, all you who live around him,
And all of you who know his name;
Say, ‘How the mighty [al](DC)scepter has been broken,
A staff of splendor!’
18 (DD)Come down from your glory
And sit on the parched ground,
O (DE)daughter living in (DF)Dibon,
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,
He has ruined your strongholds.
19 Stand by the road and keep watch,
You inhabitant of (DG)Aroer;
(DH)Ask him who flees and her who escapes
And say, ‘What has happened?’
20 Moab has been put to shame, for it has been [am]shattered.
Wail and cry out;
Declare by the (DI)Arnon
That Moab has been destroyed.
21 “Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, (DJ)Jahzah, and against (DK)Mephaath, 22 against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and (DL)Beth-meon, 24 against (DM)Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25 The (DN)horn of Moab has been cut off, and his (DO)arm broken,” declares the Lord. 26 “(DP)Make him drunk, for he has [an]become (DQ)arrogant toward the Lord; so Moab will [ao]vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock. 27 Now was Israel not a (DR)laughingstock to you? Or was he [ap](DS)caught among thieves? For whenever you speak about him you (DT)shake your head in scorn.
28 Leave the cities and live among the (DU)rocky cliffs,
You inhabitants of Moab,
And be like a (DV)dove that nests
Beyond the mouth of the chasm.
29 (DW)We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—
Of his haughtiness, his (DX)pride, his arrogance, and [aq]his self-exaltation.
30 I know his (DY)fury,” declares the Lord,
“But it is futile;
His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.
31 Therefore I will (DZ)wail for Moab,
For all of Moab I will cry out;
[ar]I will moan for the men of (EA)Kir-heres.
32 More than the (EB)weeping for (EC)Jazer
I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!
Your tendrils stretched across the sea,
They reached to the sea of Jazer;
Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest
The destroyer has fallen.
33 So (ED)joy and rejoicing are removed
From the fruitful field, and from the land of Moab.
And I have (EE)eliminated the wine from the wine presses;
No one will tread them with shouting,
The shouting will not be shouts of joy.
34 (EF)From the outcry at Heshbon to (EG)Elealeh, to Jahaz they have [as]raised their voice, from (EH)Zoar to Horonaim, and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate. 35 And I will put an end to Moab,” declares the Lord, “the one who offers sacrifice on the (EI)high place and the one who [at](EJ)burns incense to his gods.
36 “Therefore My (EK)heart makes a sound like flutes for Moab; My heart also makes a sound like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have (EL)lost the abundance it produced. 37 For (EM)every head is shaved bald, and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands, and (EN)sackcloth around the waists. 38 On all the (EO)housetops of Moab and in its public squares [au]there is mourning everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable (EP)vessel,” declares the Lord. 39 “How [av]shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an (EQ)object of terror to all around him.”
40 For this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, one will (ER)fly swiftly like an eagle
And (ES)spread out his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth has been captured
And the strongholds have been seized,
So the (ET)hearts of the warriors of Moab on that day
Will be like the heart of a (EU)woman in labor.
42 Moab will be (EV)destroyed from being a people
Because he has [aw]become (EW)arrogant toward the Lord.
43 (EX)Terror, pit, and snare are coming upon you,
Inhabitant of Moab,” declares the Lord.
44 “The one who (EY)flees from the terror
Will fall into the pit,
And the one who climbs up out of the pit
Will be caught in the snare;
For I will bring upon her, upon Moab,
The year of their (EZ)punishment,” declares the Lord.
45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
The fugitives stand without strength;
For a fire has spread out from Heshbon
And a (FA)flame from the midst of (FB)Sihon,
And it has devoured the (FC)forehead of Moab
And the scalps of the [ax]loud revelers.
46 (FD)Woe to you, Moab!
The people of (FE)Chemosh have perished;
For your sons have been taken away captive,
And your daughters into captivity.
47 Yet I will (FF)restore the fortunes of Moab
In the [ay]latter days,” declares the Lord.
This is the extent of the judgment on Moab.
Prophecy against Ammon
49 Concerning the sons of (FG)Ammon. This is what the Lord says:
“Does Israel have no sons?
Or has he no heirs?
Why then has [az]Malcam taken possession of Gad,
And his people settled in its cities?
2 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will cause an alarm of (FH)war to be heard
Against (FI)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon;
And it will become a desolate heap,
And her (FJ)towns will be set on fire.
Then Israel will take (FK)possession of his possessors,”
Says the Lord.
3 “Wail, (FL)Heshbon, for (FM)Ai has been destroyed!
Cry out, daughters of Rabbah,
(FN)Put on sackcloth and mourn,
And move about inside the walls;
For [ba]Malcam will (FO)go into exile
Together with his priests and his leaders.
4 How you (FP)boast about the valleys!
Your valley is flowing away,
You (FQ)backsliding daughter
Who trusts in her (FR)treasures, saying,
‘(FS)Who can come against me?’
5 Behold, I am going to bring (FT)terror upon you,”
Declares the Lord [bb]God of armies,
“From all directions around you;
And you will be (FU)driven away [bc]one after another,
With no one to gather the (FV)fugitives together.
6 But afterward I will (FW)restore
The fortunes of the sons of Ammon,”
Declares the Lord.
Prophecy against Edom
7 Concerning (FX)Edom.
This is what the Lord of armies says:
“Is there no longer any (FY)wisdom in (FZ)Teman?
Has good advice been lost by the prudent?
Has their wisdom decayed?
8 Flee away, turn back, dwell in the depths,
You inhabitants of (GA)Dedan,
For I [bd]will bring the (GB)disaster of Esau upon him
At the time I [be]punish him.
9 (GC)If grape pickers came to you,
Would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
They would destroy only what was sufficient for them.
10 But I have (GD)stripped Esau bare,
I have uncovered his hiding places
So that he will not be able to conceal himself;
His [bf]offspring have been destroyed along with his [bg]brothers
And his neighbors, and (GE)he no longer exists.
11 Leave your [bh](GF)orphans behind, I will keep them alive;
And let your (GG)widows trust in Me.”
12 For this is what the Lord says: “Behold, those [bi]who were not sentenced to drink the (GH)cup will certainly drink it, so are you the one who will be held (GI)completely blameless? You will not be held blameless, but you will certainly drink it. 13 For I have (GJ)sworn by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that (GK)Bozrah will become an (GL)object of horror, a disgrace, a wasteland, and a curse; and all its cities will become permanent ruins.”
14 I have (GM)heard a message from the Lord,
And a (GN)messenger is being sent among the nations, saying,
“(GO)Gather yourselves together and come against her,
And rise up for battle!”
15 “For behold, I have made you small among the nations,
Despised among people.
16 As for the terror you cause,
The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,
You who live in the clefts of [bj]the (GP)rock,
Who occupy the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as (GQ)high as an eagle’s,
I will (GR)bring you down from there,” declares the Lord.
17 “Edom will become an (GS)object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and will [bk](GT)hiss at all its wounds. 18 Like the (GU)overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says the Lord, “(GV)no one will live there, nor will [bl]anyone of mankind reside in it. 19 (GW)Behold, one will come up like a lion from the (GX)thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will chase him away from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is (GY)chosen. For who is (GZ)like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd (HA)who can stand against Me?”
20 Therefore hear the (HB)plan of the Lord which He has planned against Edom, and His purposes which He has in mind against the inhabitants of Teman: they will certainly drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; He will certainly make their pasture (HC)desolate because of them. 21 The (HD)earth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The noise of it has been heard at the [bm]Red Sea. 22 Behold, [bn]He will mount up and (HE)swoop like an eagle, and spread out His wings [bo]against Bozrah; and the (HF)hearts of the warriors of Edom on that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
Prophecy against Damascus
23 Concerning (HG)Damascus:
“(HH)Hamath and (HI)Arpad are put to shame,
For they have heard bad news;
They (HJ)despair.
There is anxiety at the sea,
It (HK)cannot be calmed.
24 Damascus has become helpless;
She has turned away to flee,
And panic has gripped her;
(HL)Distress and labor pains have seized her
Like a woman in childbirth.
25 How the (HM)city of praise has not been deserted,
The town of My joy!
26 Therefore, her (HN)young men will fall in her streets,
And all the men of war will perish on that day,” declares the Lord of armies.
27 “I will (HO)set fire to the wall of Damascus,
And it will devour the fortified palace of (HP)Ben-hadad.”
Prophecy against Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning (HQ)Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. This is what the Lord says:
“Arise, go up to Kedar
And devastate the [bp](HR)people of the east.
29 They will take away their tents and their flocks;
They will carry off for themselves
Their tent (HS)curtains, all their goods and their (HT)camels,
And they will call out to one another, ‘(HU)Horror on every side!’
30 Run away, flee! Dwell in the depths,
You inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the Lord;
“For (HV)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has formed a plan against you
And devised a scheme against you.
31 Arise, go up against a nation which is (HW)at ease,
Which lives securely,” declares the Lord.
“It has (HX)no gates or bars;
They (HY)dwell alone.
32 Their camels will become plunder,
And their many livestock for spoils,
And I will (HZ)scatter to all the winds those who (IA)cut the corners of their hair;
And I will bring their disaster from every side,” declares the Lord.
33 “Hazor will become a (IB)haunt of jackals,
A desolation forever;
No one will live there,
Nor will [bq]anyone of mankind reside in it.”
Prophecy against Elam
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning (IC)Elam, (ID)at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
35 “This is what the Lord of armies says:
‘Behold, I am going to (IE)break the bow of Elam,
The [br]finest of their might.
36 I will bring upon Elam the (IF)four winds
From the four ends of heaven,
And will (IG)scatter them to all these winds;
And there will be no nation
To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.
37 So I will [bs]shatter Elam before their enemies
And before those who seek their lives;
And I will (IH)bring disaster upon them,
Even My (II)fierce anger,’ declares the Lord,
‘And I will (IJ)send the sword after them
Until I have consumed them.
38 Then I will set My throne in Elam,
And eliminate from there the king and officials,’
Declares the Lord.
39 ‘But it will come about in the last days
That I will (IK)restore the fortunes of Elam,’”
Declares the Lord.
Prophecy against Babylon
50 The word which the Lord spoke concerning (IL)Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “(IM)Declare and proclaim among the nations.
Proclaim it and (IN)lift up a flag,
Do not conceal it. Say,
‘(IO)Babylon has been captured,
(IP)Bel has been put to shame, [bt]Marduk has been [bu]shattered;
Her (IQ)idols have been put to shame, her images have been shattered.’
3 For a nation has come up against her from the (IR)north; it will make her land (IS)an object of horror, and there will be (IT)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 (IU)as well; they will go along (IV)weeping as they go, and it will be (IW)the Lord their God whom they will seek. 5 They will (IX)ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces [bv]in its direction; [bw]they [bx]will come so that they may join themselves to the Lord in an (IY)everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
6 “My people have become (IZ)lost sheep;
(JA)Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn aside on the (JB)mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill,
They have forgotten their (JC)resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries have said, ‘(JD)We are not guilty,
Since they have sinned against the Lord who is the (JE)habitation of righteousness,
The Lord, the (JF)hope of their fathers.’
8 “Wander away from the (JG)midst of Babylon
And [by]go out from the land of the Chaldeans;
Be like male goats [bz]at the head of the flock.
9 For behold, I am going to (JH)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 [ca]an expert warrior
Who does not return empty-handed.
10 [cb](JI)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 (JJ)pillage My heritage,
Because you skip about [cc]like a threshing (JK)heifer
And neigh like [cd]stallions,
12 Your (JL)mother [ce]will be greatly ashamed,
She who gave you birth [cf]will be humiliated.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
A (JM)wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she will (JN)not be inhabited,
But she will be (JO)completely desolate;
Everyone who passes by Babylon (JP)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 [cg]bend the bow;
Shoot at her, do not spare your arrows,
For she has (JQ)sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise your battle cry against her on every side!
She has (JR)given [ch]herself up, her towers have fallen,
Her (JS)walls have been torn down.
For this is the (JT)vengeance of the Lord:
Take vengeance on her;
(JU)As she has done to others, so do to her.
16 Eliminate the (JV)sower from Babylon
And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;
From [ci]the (JW)sword of the oppressor
(JX)Each of them will turn back to his own people
And each of them will flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is a (JY)scattered [cj]flock, the (JZ)lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the (KA)king of Assyria, and this last one who has gnawed his bones is (KB)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 (KC)punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will (KD)bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his [ck]desire will be satisfied in the (KE)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 (KF)there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will forgive those (KG)whom I leave as a remnant.’
21 “Against the land of [cl]Merathaim, go up against it,
And against the inhabitants of [cm](KH)Pekod.
Kill and [cn]completely destroy them,” declares the Lord,
“And do according to everything that I have commanded you.
22 The (KI)noise of battle is in the land,
And great destruction.
23 How the (KJ)hammer of the whole earth
Has been cut off and broken!
How Babylon has become
An object of horror among the nations!
24 I (KK)set a trap for you and you were also (KL)caught, Babylon,
While you yourself were not aware;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have engaged in (KM)conflict with the Lord.”
25 The Lord has opened His armory
And has brought out the (KN)weapons of His indignation,
For it is a (KO)work of the Lord [co]God of armies
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come to her from the [cp]farthest border;
(KP)Open up her barns,
Pile her up like heaps of grain
And [cq](KQ)completely destroy her,
Let nothing be left to her.
27 (KR)Put all her bulls to the sword;
Let them (KS)go down to the slaughter!
Woe be upon them, for their (KT)day has come,
The time of their punishment.
28 There is a (KU)sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the (KV)vengeance of the Lord our God,
Vengeance for His (KW)temple.
29 “Summon [cr]many against Babylon,
All those who [cs]bend the bow:
Encamp against her on every side,
Let there be no escape[ct].
Repay her according to her work;
(KX)According to all that she has done, so do to her;
For she has become (KY)arrogant against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her (KZ)young men will fall in her streets,
And all her men of war will (LA)perish on that day,” declares the Lord.
31 “Behold, (LB)I am against you, [cu]arrogant one,”
Declares the Lord [cv]God of armies,
“For your day has come,
The time [cw]when I will punish you.
32 The [cx](LC)arrogant one will stumble and fall
With no one to raise him up;
And I will (LD)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 (LE)all who took them captive have held them firmly,
They have refused to let them go.
34 Their (LF)Redeemer is strong, (LG)the Lord of armies is His name;
He will vigorously (LH)plead their case
So that He may (LI)bring rest to their land,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A (LJ)sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,
“And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her (LK)leaders and her (LL)wise men!
36 A sword against the (LM)oracle priests, and they will become fools!
A sword against her (LN)warriors, and they will be [cy](LO)shattered!
37 A sword against [cz]their (LP)horses, against [da]their chariots,
And against all the [db](LQ)foreigners who are in the midst of her,
And they will become (LR)women!
A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
38 A [dc](LS)drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!
For it is a land of (LT)idols,
And they go insane at frightful images.
39 “Therefore the (LU)desert creatures will live there with the jackals;
The ostriches also will live in it.
It will (LV)never again be inhabited
Nor lived in from generation to generation.
40 As when God overthrew (LW)Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,
“No one will live there,
Nor will [dd]anyone of mankind reside in it.
41 “Behold, a people is coming (LX)from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Will be roused from the remote parts of the earth.
42 They (LY)seize their bow and javelin;
They are (LZ)cruel and have no mercy.
Their (MA)voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on (MB)horses,
(MC)Drawn up like a man for the battle
Against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 The (MD)king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands hang limp;
(ME)Distress has gripped him,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.
44 “(MF)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 (MG)chosen. For who is (MH)like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can (MI)stand against Me?” 45 Therefore hear the (MJ)plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has in mind against the land of the Chaldeans: (MK)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 [de]shout, “Babylon has been conquered!” the (ML)earth quakes, and an (MM)outcry is heard among the nations.
Babylon Judged for Sins against Israel
51 This is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am going to stir up
[df]The (MN)spirit of a destroyer against Babylon
And against the inhabitants of [dg]Leb-kamai.
2 I will send [dh]foreigners to Babylon so that they may (MO)winnow her
And devastate her land;
For they will be opposed to her on every side
On the day of her disaster.
3 Let not [di]him who [dj](MP)bends his bow [dk]bend it,
Nor let him rise up in his (MQ)coat of armor.
Do not spare her young men;
Devote all her army to destruction.
4 They will fall down [dl]dead in the land of the Chaldeans,
And (MR)pierced through in their streets.”
5 For (MS)neither Israel nor Judah has been [dm]forsaken
By his God, the Lord of armies,
Although their land is (MT)full of guilt
[dn]Before the Holy One of Israel.
6 (MU)Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And each of you save his life!
Do not (MV)perish in her [do]punishment,
For this is the (MW)Lord’s time of vengeance;
He is going to (MX)repay to her what she deserves.
7 Babylon has been a golden (MY)cup in the hand of the Lord,
Intoxicating all the earth.
The (MZ)nations have drunk of her wine;
Therefore the nations are (NA)going insane.
8 Suddenly (NB)Babylon has fallen and been broken;
(NC)Wail over her!
(ND)Bring [dp]balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.
9 We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;
Abandon her and (NE)let’s each go to his own country,
For her judgment has (NF)reached to heaven
And it rises to the clouds.
10 The Lord has (NG)brought [dq]about our vindication;
Come and let’s (NH)recount in Zion
The work of the Lord our God!
11 (NI)Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
Because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it;
For it is the (NJ)vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for His temple.
12 (NK)Lift up a signal flag against the walls of Babylon;
Post a strong guard,
Station [dr]sentries,
Set up an ambush!
For the Lord has both (NL)planned and performed
What He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who (NM)live by many waters,
Abundant in (NN)treasures,
Your end has come,
The [ds]measure of your [dt](NO)end.
14 The (NP)Lord of armies has sworn by Himself:
“I will certainly fill you with a [du]population like (NQ)locusts,
And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you.”
15 It is (NR)He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding He (NS)stretched out the heavens.
16 When He utters His (NT)voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
And He makes the (NU)clouds ascend from the end of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
And brings out (NV)wind from His storehouses.
17 (NW)Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his [dv]idols,
For his cast metal images are (NX)deceitful,
And there is no breath in them.
18 They are (NY)worthless, a work of mockery;
At the time of their punishment they will perish.
19 The (NZ)portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the [dw]Maker of everything,
And of the [dx]tribe of His inheritance;
The (OA)Lord of armies is His name.
20 He says, “You are My [dy](OB)war-club, My weapon of war;
And with you I (OC)shatter nations,
And with you I destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I (OD)shatter the horse and his rider,
And with you I shatter the (OE)chariot and its rider,
22 And with you I shatter (OF)man and woman,
And with you I shatter the old man and (OG)youth,
And with you I shatter the young man and virgin,
23 And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,
And with you I shatter the farmer and his team,
And with you I shatter governors and officials.
24 “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of (OH)Chaldea for (OI)all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord.
25 “Behold, (OJ)I am against you, mountain of (OK)destruction
That destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,
“And I will stretch out My hand against you,
And roll you down from the rocky cliffs,
And I will make you a (OL)burnt out mountain.
26 They will not take from you even a stone for a corner
Nor a stone for foundations,
But you will be (OM)desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
27 (ON)Lift up a signal flag in the land,
Blow a trumpet among the nations!
Consecrate the nations against her,
Summon against her the (OO)kingdoms of (OP)Ararat, Minni, and (OQ)Ashkenaz;
Appoint an officer against her,
Bring up the (OR)horses like bristly locusts.
28 Consecrate the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
[dz]Their governors and all [ea]their officials,
And every land [eb]under their control.
29 So the (OS)land quakes and writhes,
For the plans of the Lord against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon
[ec]A (OT)desolation without inhabitants.
30 The (OU)warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They stay in the strongholds;
(OV)Their strength is [ed]exhausted,
They are becoming (OW)like women;
Their homes are set on fire,
The (OX)bars of her gates are broken.
31 One [ee](OY)courier runs to meet [ef]another,
And one [eg](OZ)messenger to meet [eh]another,
To tell the king of Babylon
That his city has been captured from end to end;
32 The river crossing places have been seized,
And they have burned the marshes with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.
33 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a (PA)threshing floor
At the time that [ei]it is tread down;
In just a little while the time of (PB)harvest will come for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has (PC)devoured me, he has crushed me,
He has set me down like an (PD)empty vessel;
He has (PE)swallowed me like a monster,
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has washed me away.
35 May the (PF)violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The [ej]inhabitant of Zion will say;
And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am going to (PG)plead your case
And (PH)take vengeance for you;
And (PI)I will dry up her [ek]sea
And make her fountain dry.
37 (PJ)Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,
An (PK)object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.
38 They will roar together like (PL)young lions,
They will growl like lions’ cubs.
39 When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet
And (PM)make them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph,
And may (PN)sleep a perpetual sleep
And not wake up,” declares the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down like [el]lambs (PO)to the slaughter,
Like rams together with male goats.
41 “How [em](PP)Sheshak has been captured,
And (PQ)the praise of the whole earth has been seized!
How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
42 The [en](PR)sea has come up over Babylon;
She has been engulfed by its roaring waves.
43 Her cities have become an (PS)object of horror,
A dry land and a desert,
A land in which (PT)no one lives
And through which no [eo]one of mankind passes.
44 (PU)I will punish Bel in Babylon,
And I will make what he has swallowed (PV)come out of his mouth;
And the nations will no longer (PW)stream toward him.
Even the (PX)wall of Babylon has fallen down!
45 “(PY)Come out from her midst, My people,
And each of you (PZ)save yourselves
From the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 Now, (QA)so that your heart does not grow faint,
And you are not afraid at the (QB)report that will be heard in the land—
For the report will come in [ep]one year,
And after that [eq]another report in [er]another year,
And violence will be in the land
With (QC)ruler against ruler—
47 Therefore behold, days are coming
When I will punish the (QD)idols of Babylon;
And her whole land will be (QE)put to shame.
And all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 Then (QF)heaven and earth and everything that is in them
Will shout for joy over Babylon,
Because (QG)the destroyers will come to her from the north,”
Declares the Lord.
49 (QH)Indeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,
As (QI)the slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon.
50 You (QJ)who have escaped the sword,
Go! Do not stay!
(QK)Remember the Lord from far away,
And let Jerusalem [es]come to your mind.
51 (QL)We are ashamed because we have heard rebuke;
Disgrace has covered our faces,
Because (QM)strangers have entered
The holy places of the Lord’s house.
52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will punish her (QN)idols,
And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.
53 Though Babylon (QO)ascends to the heavens,
And though she fortifies [et]her lofty stronghold,
Destroyers will come from (QP)Me to her,” declares the Lord.
54 The (QQ)sound of an outcry from Babylon,
And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon,
And He will make her loud [eu]noise vanish from her.
And their (QR)waves will roar like many waters;
The clamor of their voices [ev]sounds forth.
56 For the (QS)destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
And her warriors will be captured,
Their (QT)bows shattered;
For the Lord is a God of (QU)retribution,
He will fully repay.
57 “I will (QV)make her leaders and her wise men drunk,
Her governors, her officials, and her warriors,
So that they will sleep a (QW)perpetual sleep and not wake up,”
(QX)Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of armies.
58 This is what the Lord of armies says:
“The broad (QY)wall of Babylon will be completely demolished,
And her high (QZ)gates will be set on fire;
So the peoples will (RA)labor for nothing,
And the nations become (RB)exhausted only for fire.”
59 The [ew]command that Jeremiah the prophet [ex]gave Seraiah the son of (RC)Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with (RD)Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (And Seraiah was quartermaster.) 60 Jeremiah (RE)wrote [ey]on a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. 61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, 62 and say, ‘You, Lord, have [ez]promised concerning this place to (RF)cut it off, so that there will be (RG)nothing living in it, [fa]whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.’ 63 And as soon as you finish reading this [fb]scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and (RH)throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and (RI)not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become (RJ)exhausted.’” (RK)To this point are the words of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 46:3 I.e., small shield
- Jeremiah 46:4 Or go up, you horsemen
- Jeremiah 46:5 Heb Magor-missabib i.e., Terror is on every side
- Jeremiah 46:9 Lit act like madmen
- Jeremiah 46:9 Lit go forth
- Jeremiah 46:9 Or Ethiopia
- Jeremiah 46:9 I.e., Libya (or Somaliland)
- Jeremiah 46:9 Heb Ludim
- Jeremiah 46:10 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 46:10 Lit be saturated with
- Jeremiah 46:10 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 46:11 Lit healings
- Jeremiah 46:12 Lit warrior
- Jeremiah 46:13 Lit word
- Jeremiah 46:16 Lit oppressing sword
- Jeremiah 46:17 Some ancient versions Call the name of Pharaoh a big noise
- Jeremiah 46:19 Lit without
- Jeremiah 46:20 Or possibly mosquito
- Jeremiah 46:22 Or in force
- Jeremiah 46:23 I.e., trees of the forest, the Egyptians
- Jeremiah 46:24 Lit hand
- Jeremiah 46:26 Lit servants
- Jeremiah 47:1 Lit struck
- Jeremiah 47:3 Lit stamping of the
- Jeremiah 47:3 Lit mighty ones
- Jeremiah 47:7 Lit you
- Jeremiah 48:1 Or dismayed
- Jeremiah 48:2 Heb Madmen; i.e., a city of Moab
- Jeremiah 48:5 Lit distresses of outcry
- Jeremiah 48:9 Or salt
- Jeremiah 48:9 Or fall in ruins
- Jeremiah 48:11 Lit his
- Jeremiah 48:11 Lit his flavor has stayed in him
- Jeremiah 48:12 Lit their
- Jeremiah 48:15 Lit one has
- Jeremiah 48:15 Lit her
- Jeremiah 48:15 I.e., warriors
- Jeremiah 48:17 Or rod
- Jeremiah 48:20 Or dismayed
- Jeremiah 48:26 Or magnified himself against
- Jeremiah 48:26 Lit vomit in his vomit
- Jeremiah 48:27 Or found
- Jeremiah 48:29 Lit elevation of his heart
- Jeremiah 48:31 Another reading is He
- Jeremiah 48:34 Lit given forth
- Jeremiah 48:35 Or offers up in smoke
- Jeremiah 48:38 Lit all of it is mourning
- Jeremiah 48:39 Or terrified
- Jeremiah 48:42 Or magnified himself against
- Jeremiah 48:45 Lit sons of uproar
- Jeremiah 48:47 Lit end of the days
- Jeremiah 49:1 In 1 Kin 11:5, 33 and Zeph 1:5, Milcom
- Jeremiah 49:3 See note v 1
- Jeremiah 49:5 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 49:5 Lit each one before him
- Jeremiah 49:8 Or brought
- Jeremiah 49:8 Or punished
- Jeremiah 49:10 Lit seed
- Jeremiah 49:10 Or relatives
- Jeremiah 49:11 Or fatherless
- Jeremiah 49:12 Lit whose judgment was not to
- Jeremiah 49:16 Or Sela
- Jeremiah 49:17 Or whistle
- Jeremiah 49:18 Lit a son of man
- Jeremiah 49:21 Lit Sea of Reeds
- Jeremiah 49:22 Or one
- Jeremiah 49:22 Or over
- Jeremiah 49:28 Lit sons
- Jeremiah 49:33 Lit a son of man
- Jeremiah 49:35 Lit first
- Jeremiah 49:37 Or dismay
- 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 51:1 Or a destroying wind
- Jeremiah 51:1 Cryptic name for Chaldea; or the heart of those who rise up against Me
- Jeremiah 51:2 Some ancient versions winnowers
- Jeremiah 51:3 I.e., the Chaldean defender
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit step(s) on; MT in order to string
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit step(s) on; MT in order to string
- Jeremiah 51:4 Lit killed; or wounded
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit widowed
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit From
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or penalty for wrongdoing
- Jeremiah 51:8 Or balsam resin
- Jeremiah 51:10 Lit forth
- Jeremiah 51:12 Or watchmen
- Jeremiah 51:13 Lit cubit
- Jeremiah 51:13 Lit being cut off
- Jeremiah 51:14 Or mankind
- Jeremiah 51:17 Or images
- Jeremiah 51:19 Lit Fashioner
- Jeremiah 51:19 Or scepter; cf. Num 24:17
- Jeremiah 51:20 Lit shatterer
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit of his dominion
- Jeremiah 51:29 Or An object of horror
- Jeremiah 51:30 Lit dried up
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit announcer
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit announcer
- Jeremiah 51:33 Lit of treading it
- Jeremiah 51:35 Lit inhabitress
- Jeremiah 51:36 Or broad river
- Jeremiah 51:40 Or young rams
- Jeremiah 51:41 Cryptic name for Babylon
- Jeremiah 51:42 Or broad river
- Jeremiah 51:43 Lit son of man
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:50 Lit come upon your heart
- Jeremiah 51:53 Lit the height of her strength
- Jeremiah 51:55 Or voice
- Jeremiah 51:55 Lit is given
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit word
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit commanded
- Jeremiah 51:60 Or in...book
- Jeremiah 51:62 Lit spoken
- Jeremiah 51:62 Lit from man even to beast
- Jeremiah 51:63 Or book
Jeremiah 46-51
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Judgment on Egypt
46 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.
2 Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:(A)
3 Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!(B)
4 Harness the horses;
mount the steeds!
Take your stations with helmets on,
whet the lances,
put on coats of mail!
5 Why do I see them terrified?
They have fallen back;
their warriors are beaten down
and have fled in haste.
They do not look back—
terror is all around!
says the Lord.(C)
6 The swift cannot flee away,
nor can the warrior escape;
in the north by the River Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.(D)
7 Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?(E)
8 Egypt rises like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge.
It said, “Let me rise; let me cover the earth;
let me destroy cities and their inhabitants.”(F)
9 Advance, O horses,
and dash madly, O chariots!
Let the warriors go forth:
Cush and Put, who carry the shield,
the Ludim, who draw[a] the bow.(G)
10 That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
a day of retribution,
to gain vindication from his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated
and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice
in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.(H)
11 Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.(I)
12 The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry,
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
both have fallen together.(J)
Babylonia Will Strike Egypt
13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:(K)
14 Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol;
proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, “Take your stations and be ready,
for the sword shall devour those around you.”(L)
15 Why has Apis[b] fled?
Why did your bull not stand?
Because the Lord thrust him down.
16 Your multitude stumbled[c] and fell,
and one said to another,
“Come, let us go back to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
because of the destroying sword.”(M)
17 Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
“Braggart who missed his chance.”(N)
18 As I live, says the King,
whose name is the Lord of hosts,
one is coming
like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea.(O)
19 Pack your bags for exile,
sheltered daughter Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
a ruin, without inhabitant.(P)
20 A beautiful heifer is Egypt—
a gadfly from the north lights upon her.(Q)
21 Even her mercenaries in her midst
are like fatted calves;
they, too, have turned and fled together;
they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
the time of their punishment.(R)
22 She makes a sound like a snake gliding away,
for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes,
like those who fell trees.(S)
23 They shall cut down her forest,
says the Lord,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous
than locusts;
they are without number.(T)
24 Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame;
she shall be handed over to a people from the north.(U)
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: See, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.(V) 26 I will hand them over to those who seek their life, to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and his servants. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord.(W)
God Will Save Israel
27 But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
and do not be dismayed, O Israel,
for I am going to save you from far away
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and no one shall make him afraid.(X)
28 As for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
says the Lord,
for I am with you.
I will make an end of all the nations
among which I have banished you,
but I will not make an end of you!
I will chastise you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.(Y)
Judgment on the Philistines
47 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:(Z)
2 Thus says the Lord:
See, waters are rising out of the north
and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who live in it.
People shall cry out,
and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.(AA)
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
at the clatter of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
parents do not turn back for children,
so feeble are their hands,(AB)
4 because of the day that is coming
to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.(AC)
5 Baldness has come upon Gaza;
Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of Anakim![d]
How long will you gash yourselves?(AD)
6 Ah, sword of the Lord!
How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
rest and be still!(AE)
7 How can it[e] be quiet,
when the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—
there he has appointed it.(AF)
Judgment on Moab
48 Concerning Moab.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Alas for Nebo, it is laid waste!
Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame and broken down;(AG)
2 the renown of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they planned evil against her:
“Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!”
You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;[f]
the sword shall pursue you.(AH)
3 Listen! A cry goes up from Horonaim:
“Desolation and great destruction!”(AI)
4 “Moab is destroyed!”
her little ones cry out.
5 For at the ascent of Luhith
they go[g] up weeping bitterly;
for at the descent of Horonaim
they have heard the distressing cry of anguish.(AJ)
6 Flee! Save yourselves!
Be like a wild ass[h] in the desert!(AK)
7 Surely, because you trusted in your strongholds[i] and your treasures,
you also shall be taken;
Chemosh shall go out into exile,
with his priests and his attendants.(AL)
8 The destroyer shall come upon every town,
and no town shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
and the plain shall be destroyed,
as the Lord has spoken.(AM)
9 Set aside salt for Moab,
for she will surely fall;
her towns shall become a desolation,
with no inhabitant in them.(AN)
10 Accursed is the one who is slack in doing the work of the Lord, and accursed is the one who keeps back the sword from bloodshed.(AO)
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth,
settled like wine[j] on its dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into exile;
therefore his flavor has remained,
and his aroma is unspoiled.(AP)
12 Therefore, the time is surely coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to him decanters to decant him and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces. 13 Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.(AQ)
14 How can you say, “We are heroes
and mighty warriors”?(AR)
15 Moab is destroyed, and his towns have gone up,
and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.(AS)
16 The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
and his doom approaches swiftly.(AT)
17 Mourn over him, all you his neighbors,
and all who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff!”(AU)
18 Come down from glory
and sit on the parched ground,
enthroned daughter Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.(AV)
19 Stand by the road and watch,
you inhabitant of Aroer!
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping;
say, “What has happened?”(AW)
20 Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down;
wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon
that Moab is laid waste.(AX)
21 Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22 and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24 and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.(AY) 25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.(AZ)
26 Make him drunk because he magnified himself against the Lord; let Moab wallow in his vomit; he, too, shall become a laughingstock.(BA) 27 Israel was a laughingstock for you, though he was not caught among thieves, but whenever you spoke of him you shook your head!(BB)
28 Leave the towns, and live on the rock,
O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
on the sides of the mouth of a gorge.(BC)
29 We have heard of the pride of Moab—
he is very proud—
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
and the haughtiness of his heart.(BD)
30 I myself know his insolence, says the Lord;
his boasts are false;
his deeds are false.(BE)
31 Therefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab;
for the people of Kir-heres I mourn.(BF)
32 More than for Jazer I weep for you,
O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches crossed over the sea,
reached as far as Jazer;[k]
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
the destroyer has fallen.(BG)
33 Gladness and joy have been taken away
from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have stopped the wine from the winepresses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy;
the shouting is not the shout of joy.(BH)
34 From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate.(BI) 35 And I will bring to an end in Moab, says the Lord, those who offer sacrifice at a high place and make offerings to their gods.(BJ) 36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the people of Kir-heres, for the riches they gained have perished.(BK)
37 For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; on all the hands there are gashes and on the loins sackcloth.(BL) 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel that no one wants, says the Lord.(BM) 39 How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all his neighbors.(BN)
40 For thus says the Lord:
Look, he shall swoop down like an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab;(BO)
41 the towns[l] shall be taken
and the strongholds seized.
The hearts of the warriors of Moab, on that day,
shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.(BP)
42 Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
because he magnified himself against the Lord.(BQ)
43 Terror, pit, and trap
are before you, O inhabitants of Moab!
says the Lord.(BR)
44 Everyone who flees from the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and everyone who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the trap.
For I will bring these things[m] upon Moab
in the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.(BS)
45 In the shadow of Heshbon
fugitives stop exhausted,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
a flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed the forehead[n] of Moab,
the scalp of the people of tumult.[o](BT)
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished,
for your sons have been taken captive
and your daughters into captivity.(BU)
47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the latter days, says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.(BV)
Judgment on the Ammonites
49 Concerning the Ammonites.
Thus says the Lord:
Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom[p] dispossessed Gad
and his people settled in its towns?(BW)
2 Therefore, the time is surely coming,
says the Lord,
when I will sound the battle alarm
against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate mound,
and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
says the Lord.(BX)
3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry out, O daughters[q] of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth,
lament, and slash yourselves with whips![r]
For Milcom[s] shall go into exile,
with his priests and his attendants.(BY)
4 Why do you boast in your strength?
Your strength is ebbing,
O faithless daughter.
Who trusted in her treasures, saying,[t]
“Who will attack me?”(BZ)
5 I am going to bring terror upon you,
says the Lord God of hosts,
from all your neighbors,
and you will be scattered, each headlong,
with no one to gather the fugitives.(CA)
6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the Lord.(CB)
Judgment on Edom
7 Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?(CC)
8 Flee; turn back; get down low,
inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time when I punish him.(CD)
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
even they would pillage only what they wanted.(CE)
10 But as for me, I have stripped Esau bare;
I have uncovered his hiding places,
and he is not able to conceal himself.
His offspring are destroyed, his kinsfolk
and his neighbors, and he is no more.(CF)
11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive,
and let your widows trust in me.(CG)
12 For thus says the Lord: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup still have to drink it, shall you be the one to go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; you must drink it.(CH) 13 For by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become an object of horror and ridicule, a waste, and an object of cursing, and all her towns shall be perpetual wastes.(CI)
14 I have heard tidings from the Lord,
and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
and rise up for battle!”(CJ)
15 For I will make you least among the nations,
despised by humankind.
16 The terror you inspire
and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,[u]
who hold the height of the hill.
Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
from there I will bring you down,
says the Lord.(CK)
17 Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.(CL) 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were overthrown, says the Lord, no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in it.(CM) 19 Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase Edom[v] away from it, and I will appoint over it whomever I choose.[w] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?(CN) 20 Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.(CO) 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.[x](CP) 22 Look, he shall mount up and swoop down like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.(CQ)
Judgment on Damascus
23 Concerning Damascus.
Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear; they are troubled like the sea[y]
that cannot be quiet.(CR)
24 Damascus has become feeble; she turned to flee,
and panic seized her;
anguish and pangs seize her,
as of a woman in labor.
25 How is the famous city not forsaken,[z]
the town of my joy?[aa](CS)
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day,
says the Lord of hosts.(CT)
27 And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.(CU)
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated.
Thus says the Lord:
Rise up; advance against Kedar!
Destroy the people of the east!(CV)
29 They take their tents and their flocks,
their curtains and all their goods;
they carry off their camels for themselves,
and a cry shall go up: “Terror is all around!”(CW)
30 Flee; wander far away; hide in deep places,
O inhabitants of Hazor!
says the Lord.
For King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon
has made a plan against you
and formed a purpose against you.(CX)
31 Rise up; advance against a nation at ease,
that lives secure,
says the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
that lives alone.(CY)
32 Their camels shall become plunder;
their herds of cattle a spoil.
I will scatter to every wind
those who have shaved temples,
and I will bring calamity
against them from every side,
says the Lord.(CZ)
33 Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,
an everlasting waste;
no one shall live there,
nor shall anyone settle in it.(DA)
Judgment on Elam
34 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.(DB)
35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might,(DC) 36 and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there shall be no nation to which the exiles from Elam shall not come.(DD) 37 I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life; I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, says the Lord. I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them,(DE) 38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, says the Lord.
39 But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.
Judgment on Babylon
50 The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the prophet Jeremiah:(DF)
2 Declare among the nations and proclaim;
set up a banner and proclaim;
do not conceal it, say:
“Babylon is taken;
Bel is put to shame;
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame;
her idols are dismayed.”(DG)
3 For out of the north a nation has come up against her; it shall make her land a desolation, and no one shall live in it; both humans and animals shall flee away.(DH)
4 In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the people of Israel shall come, they and the people of Judah together; they shall come weeping as they seek the Lord their God.(DI) 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the Lord by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold.(DJ) 7 All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, “We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord, the true pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.”(DK)
8 Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock.(DL) 9 For I am going to stir up and bring against Babylon a company of great nations from the land of the north, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like the arrows of a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.(DM) 10 Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the Lord.
11 Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass
and neigh like stallions,(DN)
12 your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
She shall be the last of the nations,
a wilderness, dry land, and a desert.(DO)
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord, she shall not be inhabited
but shall be an utter desolation;
everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled
and hiss because of all her wounds.(DP)
14 Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her; spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the Lord.(DQ)
15 Raise a shout against her from all sides,
“She has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
her walls are thrown down.”
For this is the vengeance of the Lord:
take vengeance on her;
do to her as she has done.(DR)
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower
and the wielder of the sickle in time of harvest;
because of the destroying sword,
all of them shall return to their own people,
and all of them shall flee to their own land.(DS)
17 Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured it, and now at the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has gnawed its bones.(DT) 18 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. 19 I will restore Israel to its pasture, and it shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead its hunger shall be satisfied.(DU) 20 In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon the remnant that I have spared.(DV)
21 Go up to the land of Merathaim;[ab]
go up against her,
and attack the inhabitants of Pekod[ac]
and utterly destroy the last of them,[ad]
says the Lord;
do all that I have commanded you.(DW)
22 The noise of battle is in the land
and great destruction!(DX)
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!(DY)
24 I set a snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon,
but you did not know it;
you were discovered and seized
because you challenged the Lord.(DZ)
25 The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a task
in the land of the Chaldeans.(EA)
26 Come against her from every quarter;
open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly;
let nothing be left of her.(EB)
27 Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Alas for them, their day has come,
the time of their punishment!(EC)
28 Listen! Fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon are coming to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for his temple.(ED)
29 Summon archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do to her—for she has arrogantly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.(EE) 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the Lord.(EF)
31 I am against you, O arrogant one,
says the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.(EG)
32 The arrogant one shall stumble and fall,
with no one to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour everything around him.(EH)
33 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and so also are the people of Judah; all their captors have held them fast and refuse to let them go.(EI) 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.(EJ)
35 A sword against the Chaldeans, says the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon
and against her officials and her sages!(EK)
36 A sword against the diviners,
so that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
so that they may be dismayed!(EL)
37 A sword against her[ae] horses and against her[af] chariots
and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
so that they may become women!
A sword against her treasures,
that they may be plundered!(EM)
38 A drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
and they go mad over idols.(EN)
39 Therefore wild animals shall live with hyenas in Babylon,[ag] and ostriches shall inhabit her; she shall never again be peopled or inhabited for all generations.(EO) 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in her.(EP)
41 Look, a people is coming from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.(EQ)
42 They wield bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride upon horses,
set in array as a warrior for battle,
against you, O daughter Babylon!(ER)
43 The king of Babylon heard news of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.(ES)
44 Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase them away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.[ah] For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?(ET) 45 Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely the fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.(EU)
51 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to stir up a destructive wind[ai]
against Babylon
and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai,[aj](EV)
2 and I will send winnowers to Babylon,
and they shall winnow her.
They shall empty her land
when they come against her from every side
on the day of trouble.(EW)
3 Let not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not array himself in his coat of mail.
Do not spare her young men;
utterly destroy her entire army.(EX)
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
and wounded in her streets.
5 Indeed, Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Israel.(EY)
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon;
save your lives, each of you!
Do not perish because of her guilt,
for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
he is repaying her what is due.(EZ)
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
and so the nations went mad.(FA)
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
perhaps she may be healed.(FB)
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Forsake her, and let each of us go
to our own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.(FC)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.(FD)
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for his temple.(FE)
12 Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon;
make the watch strong;
post sentinels;
prepare the ambushes,
for the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.(FF)
13 You who live by mighty waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.(FG)
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with troops like a swarm of locusts,
and they shall raise a shout of victory over you.(FH)
15 It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.(FI)
16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.(FJ)
17 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
and there is no breath in them.(FK)
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.(FL)
19 Not like these is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.(FM)
Israel the Creator’s Instrument
20 You are my war club, my weapon of battle:
with you I smash nations;
with you I destroy kingdoms;(FN)
21 with you I smash the horse and its rider;
with you I smash the chariot and the charioteer;
22 with you I smash man and woman;
with you I smash the old man and the boy;
with you I smash the young man and the girl;(FO)
23 with you I smash shepherds and their flocks;
with you I smash farmers and their teams;
with you I smash governors and deputies.
The Doom of Babylon
24 I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion, says the Lord.(FP)
25 I am against you, O destroying mountain,
says the Lord,
that destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you
and roll you down from the crags
and make you a burned-out mountain.(FQ)
26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
says the Lord.(FR)
27 Raise a standard in the land;
blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
summon against her the kingdoms,
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like bristling locusts.(FS)
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
and every land under their dominion.
29 The land trembles and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.(FT)
30 The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting;
they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
they have become women;
her buildings are set on fire;
her bars are broken.(FU)
31 One runner runs to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
that his city is taken from end to end:(FV)
32 the fords have been seized,
the marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.(FW)
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her harvest will come.(FX)
34 “King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has spewed me out.(FY)
35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”
the inhabitants of Zion shall say.
“May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem shall say.(FZ)
36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
I am going to defend your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,(GA)
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
a den of jackals,
an object of horror and of hissing,
without inhabitant.(GB)
38 Like lions they shall roar together;
they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
39 When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink
and make them drunk, until they become merry
and then sleep a perpetual sleep
and never wake, says the Lord.(GC)
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(GD)
41 How Sheshach[ak] is taken;
the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
an object of horror among the nations!(GE)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.(GF)
43 Her cities have become an object of horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one lives
and through which no mortal passes.(GG)
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him disgorge what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer stream to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.(GH)
45 Come out of her, my people!
Save your lives, each of you,
from the fierce anger of the Lord!(GI)
46 Do not be fainthearted or fearful
at the rumors heard in the land—
one year one rumor comes,
the next year another,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.(GJ)
47 Assuredly, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in her midst.(GK)
48 Then the heavens and the earth
and all that is in them
shall shout for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against her out of the north,
says the Lord.(GL)
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.(GM)
50 You survivors of the sword,
go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:(GN)
51 We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;
dishonor has covered our faces,
for aliens have come
into the holy places of the Lord’s house.(GO)
52 Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.(GP)
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
says the Lord.(GQ)
54 Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!(GR)
55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters;
the sound of their clamor resounds,(GS)
56 for a destroyer has come against her,
against Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will repay in full.(GT)
57 I will make her officials and her sages drunk,
also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,
says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.(GU)
58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
the nations only for fire,
and they have become weary.(GV)
Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah
59 The word that the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.(GW) 60 Jeremiah wrote in a[al] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.(GX) 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O Lord, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither humans nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’(GY) 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,(GZ) 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’ ”[am]
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.(HA)
Footnotes
- 46.9 Cn: Heb who grasp, who draw
- 46.15 Gk: Heb mighty ones
- 46.16 Gk: Heb the stumblers multiplied
- 47.5 Gk: Heb their valley
- 47.7 Gk Vg: Heb you
- 48.2 The place name Madmen sounds like the Hebrew verb to be silent
- 48.5 Syr Tg: Heb he goes
- 48.6 Gk: Heb like Aroer
- 48.7 Gk: Heb works
- 48.11 Heb lacks like wine
- 48.32 Heb mss: MT the sea of Jazer
- 48.41 Or Kerioth
- 48.44 Gk Syr: Heb bring upon it
- 48.45 Or borderland
- 48.45 Or of Shaon
- 49.1 Gk Vg Syr: Heb their king
- 49.3 Or villages
- 49.3 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 49.3 Gk Vg Syr: Heb their king
- 49.4 Gk: Heb lacks saying
- 49.16 Or of Sela
- 49.19 Heb him
- 49.19 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 49.21 Or Sea of Reeds
- 49.23 Cn: Heb there is trouble in the sea
- 49.25 Vg: Heb is not forsaken
- 49.25 Syr Vg Tg: Heb the town of my joy
- 50.21 Or of Double Rebellion
- 50.21 Or of Punishment
- 50.21 Tg: Heb destroy after them
- 50.37 Syr: Heb his
- 50.37 Syr: Heb his
- 50.39 Heb lacks in Babylon
- 50.44 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 51.1 Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer
- 51.1 That is, Chaldea
- 51.41 That is, Babylon
- 51.60 Or one
- 51.64 Gk: Heb on her. And they shall weary themselves
Jeremiah 46-51
The Message
You Vainly Collect Medicines
46 God’s Messages through the prophet Jeremiah regarding the godless nations.
2-5 The Message to Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the time it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon while camped at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah:
“‘Present arms!
March to the front!
Harness the horses!
Up in the saddles!
Battle formation! Helmets on,
spears sharpened, armor in place!’
But what’s this I see?
They’re scared out of their wits!
They break ranks and run for cover.
Their soldiers panic.
They run this way and that,
stampeding blindly.
It’s total chaos, total confusion, danger everywhere!”
God’s Decree.
6 “The swiftest runners won’t get away,
the strongest soldiers won’t escape.
In the north country, along the River Euphrates,
they’ll stagger, stumble, and fall.
7-9 “Who is this like the Nile in flood?
like its streams torrential?
Why, it’s Egypt like the Nile in flood,
like its streams torrential,
Saying, ‘I’ll take over the world.
I’ll wipe out cities and peoples.’
Run, horses!
Roll, chariots!
Advance, soldiers
from Cush and Put with your shields,
Soldiers from Lud,
experts with bow and arrow.
10 “But it’s not your day. It’s the Master’s, me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
the day when I have it out with my enemies,
The day when Sword puts an end to my enemies,
when Sword exacts vengeance.
I, the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
will pile them on an altar—a huge sacrifice!—
In the great north country,
along the mighty Euphrates.
11-12 “Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt,
climb into the mountains of Gilead, get healing balm.
You will vainly collect medicines,
for nothing will be able to cure what ails you.
The whole world will hear your anguished cries.
Your wails fill the earth,
As soldier falls against soldier
and they all go down in a heap.”
Egypt’s Army Slithers Like a Snake
13 The Message that God gave to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon was on his way to attack Egypt:
14 “Tell Egypt, alert Migdol,
post warnings in Noph and Tahpanhes:
‘Wake up! Be prepared!
War’s coming!’
15-19 “Why will your bull-god Apis run off?
Because God will drive him off.
Your ragtag army will fall to pieces.
The word is passing through the ranks,
‘Let’s get out of here while we still can.
Let’s head for home and save our skins.’
When they get home they’ll nickname Pharaoh
‘Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.’
As sure as I am the living God”
—the King’s Decree, God-of-the-Angel-Armies is his name—
“A conqueror is coming: like Tabor, singular among mountains;
like Carmel, jutting up from the sea!
So pack your bags for exile,
you coddled daughters of Egypt,
For Memphis will soon be nothing,
a vacant lot grown over with weeds.
20-21 “Too bad, Egypt, a beautiful sleek heifer
attacked by a horsefly from the north!
All her hired soldiers are stationed to defend her—
like well-fed calves they are.
But when their lives are on the line, they’ll run off,
cowards every one.
When the going gets tough,
they’ll take the easy way out.
22-24 “Egypt will slither and hiss like a snake
as the enemy army comes in force.
They will rush in, swinging axes
like lumberjacks cutting down trees.
They’ll level the country”—God’s Decree—“nothing
and no one standing for as far as you can see.
The invaders will be a swarm of locusts,
innumerable, past counting.
Daughter Egypt will be ravished,
raped by vandals from the north.”
25-26 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch out when I visit doom on the god Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him. I’ll turn them over to those who are out to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar and his military. Egypt will be set back a thousand years. Eventually people will live there again.” God’s Decree.
* * *
27-28 “But you, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear.
Israel, there’s no need to worry.
Look up! I’ll save you from that far country,
I’ll get your children out of the land of exile.
Things are going to be normal again for Jacob,
safe and secure, smooth sailing.
Yes, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear.
Depend on it, I’m on your side.
I’ll finish off all the godless nations
among which I’ve scattered you,
But I won’t finish you off.
I have more work left to do on you.
I’ll punish you, but fairly.
No, I’m not finished with you yet.”
It’s Doomsday for Philistines
47 1-5 God’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah regarding the Philistines just before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. This is what God says:
“Look out! Water will rise in the north country,
swelling like a river in flood.
The torrent will flood the land,
washing away city and citizen.
Men and women will scream in terror,
wails from every door and window,
As the thunder from the hooves of the horses will be heard,
the clatter of chariots, the banging of wheels.
Fathers, paralyzed by fear,
won’t even grab up their babies
Because it will be doomsday for Philistines, one and all,
no hope of help for Tyre and Sidon.
God will finish off the Philistines,
what’s left of those from the island of Crete.
Gaza will be shaved bald as an egg,
Ashkelon struck dumb as a post.
You’re on your last legs.
How long will you keep flailing?
6 “Oh, Sword of God,
how long will you keep this up?
Return to your scabbard.
Haven’t you had enough? Can’t you call it quits?
7 “But how can it quit
when I, God, command the action?
I’ve ordered it to cut down
Ashkelon and the seacoast.”
Get Out While You Can!
48 1-10 The Message on Moab from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel:
“Doom to Nebo! Leveled to the ground!
Kiriathaim demeaned and defeated,
The mighty fortress reduced to a molehill,
Moab’s glory—dust and ashes.
Conspirators plot Heshbon’s doom:
‘Come, let’s wipe Moab off the map.’
The city of Madmen will be struck mute,
as killing follows killing.
Listen! A cry out of Horonaim:
‘Disaster—doom and more doom!’
Moab will be shattered.
Her cries will be heard clear down in Zoar.
Up the ascent of Luhith
climbers weep,
And down the descent from Horonaim,
cries of loss and devastation.
Oh, run for your lives! Get out while you can!
Survive by your wits in the wild!
You trusted in thick walls and big money, yes?
But it won’t help you now.
Your big god Chemosh will be hauled off,
his priests and managers with him.
A wrecker will wreck every city.
Not a city will survive.
The valley fields will be ruined,
the plateau pastures destroyed, just as I told you.
Cover the land of Moab with salt.
Make sure nothing ever grows here again.
Her towns will all be ghost towns.
Nobody will ever live here again.
Sloppy work in God’s name is cursed,
and cursed all halfhearted use of the sword.
11-17 “Moab has always taken it easy—
lazy as a dog in the sun,
Never had to work for a living,
never faced any trouble,
Never had to grow up,
never once worked up a sweat.
But those days are a thing of the past.
I’ll put him to work at hard labor.
That will wake him up to the world of hard knocks.
That will smash his illusions.
Moab will be as ashamed of god Chemosh
as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods,
the calf-gods she thought were so great.
For how long do you think you’ll be saying, ‘We’re tough.
We can beat anyone anywhere’?
The destruction of Moab has already begun.
Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now.”
The King’s Decree—
his full name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Yes. Moab’s doom is on countdown,
disaster targeted and launched.
Weep for Moab, friends and neighbors,
all who know how famous he’s been.
Lament, ‘His mighty scepter snapped in two like a toothpick,
that magnificent royal staff!’
18-20 “Come down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon.
Sit in dog dung.
The destroyer of Moab will come against you.
He’ll wreck your safe, secure houses.
Stand on the roadside,
pampered women of Aroer.
Interview the refugees who are running away.
Ask them, ‘What’s happened? And why?’
Moab will be an embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place.
Wail and weep your eyes out!
Tell the bad news along the Arnon river.
Tell the world that Moab is no more.
21-24 “My judgment will come to the plateau cities: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath; on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; on Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of Moab, far and near.
25 “Moab’s link to power is severed.
Moab’s arm is broken.” God’s Decree.
The Sheer Nothingness of Moab
26-27 “Turn Moab into a drunken lush, drunk on the wine of my wrath, a dung-faced drunk, filling the country with vomit—Moab a falling-down drunk, a joke in bad taste. Wasn’t it you, Moab, who made crude jokes over Israel? And when they were caught in bad company, didn’t you cluck and gossip and snicker?
28 “Leave town! Leave! Look for a home in the cliffs,
you who grew up in Moab.
Try living like a dove
who nests high in the river gorge.
29-33 “We’ve all heard of Moab’s pride,
that legendary pride,
The strutting, bullying, puffed-up pride,
the insufferable arrogance.
I know”—God’s Decree—“his rooster-crowing pride,
the inflated claims, the sheer nothingness of Moab.
But I will weep for Moab,
yes, I will mourn for the people of Moab.
I will even mourn for the people of Kir-heres.
I’ll weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
and join Jazer in her weeping—
Grapevines that once reached the Dead Sea
with tendrils as far as Jazer.
Your summer fruit and your bursting grapes
will be looted by brutal plunderers,
Lush Moab stripped
of song and laughter.
And yes, I’ll shut down the winepresses,
stop all the shouts and hurrahs of harvest.
34 “Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, and the people in Jahaz will hear the cries. They will hear them all the way from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.
35 “I will put a stop in Moab”—God’s Decree—“to all hiking to the high places to offer burnt sacrifices to the gods.
36 “My heart moans for Moab, for the men of Kir-heres, like soft flute sounds carried by the wind. They’ve lost it all. They’ve got nothing.
37 “Everywhere you look are signs of mourning:
heads shaved, beards cut,
Hands scratched and bleeding,
clothes ripped and torn.
38 “In every house in Moab there’ll be loud lamentation, on every street in Moab, loud lamentation. As with a pottery jug that no one wants, I’ll smash Moab to bits.” God’s Decree.
39 “Moab ruined!
Moab shamed and ashamed to be seen!
Moab a cruel joke!
The stark horror of Moab!”
* * *
40-42 God’s verdict on Moab. Indeed!
“Look! An eagle is about to swoop down
and spread its wings over Moab.
The towns will be captured,
the fortresses taken.
Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight,
like a woman giving birth to a baby.
There’ll be nothing left of Moab, nothing at all,
because of his defiant arrogance against me.
43-44 “Terror and pit and trap
are what you have facing you, Moab.” God’s Decree.
“A man running in terror
will fall into a trap.
A man climbing out of a pit
will be caught in a trap.
This is my agenda for Moab
on doomsday.” God’s Decree.
45-47 “On the outskirts of Heshbon,
refugees will pull up short, worn out.
Fire will flame high from Heshbon,
a firestorm raging from the capital of Sihon’s kingdom.
It will burn off Moab’s eyebrows,
will scorch the skull of the braggarts.
That’s all for you, Moab!
You worshipers of Chemosh will be finished off!
Your sons will be trucked off to prison camps;
your daughters will be herded into exile.
But yet there’s a day that’s coming
when I’ll put things right in Moab.
“For now, that’s the judgment on Moab.”
You’re a Broken-Down Has-Been
49 1-6 God’s Message on the Ammonites:
“Doesn’t Israel have any children,
no one to step into her inheritance?
So why is the god Milcom taking over Gad’s land,
his followers moving into its towns?
But not for long! The time’s coming”
—God’s Decree—
“When I’ll fill the ears of Rabbah, Ammon’s big city,
with battle cries.
She’ll end up a pile of rubble,
all her towns burned to the ground.
Then Israel will kick out the invaders.
I, God, say so, and it will be so.
Wail Heshbon, Ai is in ruins.
Villages of Rabbah, wring your hands!
Dress in mourning, weep buckets of tears.
Go into hysterics, run around in circles!
Your god Milcom will be hauled off to exile,
and all his priests and managers right with him.
Why do you brag of your once-famous strength?
You’re a broken-down has-been, a castoff
Who fondles his trophies and dreams of glory days
and vainly thinks, ‘No one can lay a hand on me.’
Well, think again. I’ll face you with terror from all sides.”
Word of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“You’ll be stampeded headlong,
with no one to round up the runaways.
Still, the time will come
when I will make things right with Ammon.” God’s Decree.
Strutting Across the Stage of History
7-11 The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom:
“Is there nobody wise left in famous Teman?
no one with a sense of reality?
Has their wisdom gone wormy and rotten?
Run for your lives! Get out while you can!
Find a good place to hide,
you who live in Dedan!
I’m bringing doom to Esau.
It’s time to settle accounts.
When harvesters work your fields,
don’t they leave gleanings?
When burglars break into your house,
don’t they take only what they want?
But I’ll strip Esau clean.
I’ll search out every nook and cranny.
I’ll destroy everything connected with him,
children and relatives and neighbors.
There’ll be no one left who will be able to say,
‘I’ll take care of your orphans.
Your widows can depend on me.’”
12-13 Indeed. God says, “I tell you, if there are people who have to drink the cup of God’s wrath even though they don’t deserve it, why would you think you’d get off? You won’t get off. You’ll drink it. Oh yes, you’ll drink every drop. And as for Bozrah, your capital, I swear by all that I am”—God’s Decree—“that that city will end up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity—and all her daughter-cities with her.”
14 I’ve just heard the latest from God.
He’s sent an envoy to the nations:
“Muster your troops and attack Edom.
Present arms! Go to war!”
15-16 “Ah, Edom, I’m dropping you to last place among nations,
the bottom of the heap, kicked around.
You think you’re so great—
strutting across the stage of history,
Living high in the impregnable rocks,
acting like king of the mountain.
You think you’re above it all, don’t you,
like an eagle in its aerie?
Well, you’re headed for a fall.
I’ll bring you crashing to the ground.” God’s Decree.
17-18 “Edom will end up trash. Stinking, despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. She’ll join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history.” God says so.
“No one will live there,
no mortal soul move in there.
19 “Watch this: Like a lion coming up
from the thick jungle of the Jordan
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
I will come upon Edom and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
The shepherds of Edom are helpless before me.”
20-22 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Edom, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for those who live in Teman:
“Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable—
mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
in shock, helpless to help, will watch it happen.
The very earth will shudder because of their cries,
cries of anguish heard at the distant Red Sea.
Look! An eagle soars, swoops down,
spreads its wings over Bozrah.
Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight,
like a woman giving birth to a baby.”
The Blood Will Drain from the Face of Damascus
23-27 The Message on Damascus:
“Hamath and Arpad will be in shock
when they hear the bad news.
Their hearts will melt in fear
as they pace back and forth in worry.
The blood will drain from the face of Damascus
as she turns to flee.
Hysterical, she’ll fall to pieces,
disabled, like a woman in childbirth.
And now how lonely—bereft, abandoned!
The once famous city, the once happy city.
Her bright young men dead in the streets,
her brave warriors silent as death.
On that day”—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
“I’ll start a fire at the wall of Damascus
that will burn down all of Ben-hadad’s forts.”
Find a Safe Place to Hide
28-33 The Message on Kedar and the sheikdoms of Hazor who were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This is God’s Message:
“On your feet! Attack Kedar!
Plunder the Bedouin nomads from the east.
Grab their blankets and pots and pans.
Steal their camels.
Traumatize them, shouting, ‘Terror! Death! Doom!
Danger everywhere!’
Oh, run for your lives,
You nomads from Hazor.” God’s Decree.
“Find a safe place to hide.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
has plans to wipe you out,
to go after you with a vengeance:
‘After them,’ he says. ‘Go after these relaxed nomads
who live free and easy in the desert,
Who live in the open with no doors to lock,
who live off by themselves.’
Their camels are there for the taking,
their herds and flocks, easy picking.
I’ll scatter them to the four winds,
these defenseless nomads on the fringes of the desert.
I’ll bring terror from every direction.
They won’t know what hit them.” God’s Decree.
“Jackals will take over the camps of Hazor,
camps abandoned to wind and sand.
No one will live there,
no mortal soul move in there.”
The Winds Will Blow Away Elam
34-39 God’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah on Elam at the outset of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says:
“Watch this! I’ll break Elam’s bow,
her weapon of choice, across my knee.
Then I’ll let four winds loose on Elam,
winds from the four corners of earth.
I’ll blow them away in all directions,
landing homeless Elamites in every country on earth.
They’ll live in constant fear and terror
among enemies who want to kill them.
I’ll bring doom on them,
my anger-fueled doom.
I’ll set murderous hounds on their heels
until there’s nothing left of them.
And then I’ll set up my throne in Elam,
having thrown out the king and his henchmen.
But the time will come when I make
everything right for Elam again.” God’s Decree.
Get Out of Babylon as Fast as You Can
50 1-3 The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:
“Get the word out to the nations! Preach it!
Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide:
Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame,
god-Marduk exposed as a fraud.
All her god-idols shuffling in shame,
all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.
For a nation will come out of the north to attack her,
reduce her cities to rubble.
Empty of life—no animals, no people—
not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.
4-5 “In those days, at that time”—God’s Decree—
“the people of Israel will come,
And the people of Judah with them.
Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their God.
They’ll ask directions to Zion
and set their faces toward Zion.
They’ll come and hold tight to God,
bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget.
6-7 “My people were lost sheep.
Their shepherds led them astray.
They abandoned them in the mountains
where they wandered aimless through the hills.
They lost track of home,
couldn’t remember where they came from.
Everyone who met them took advantage of them.
Their enemies had no qualms:
‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on God.
They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’
8-10 “But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
Be rid of that Babylonian country.
On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don’t you be led.
Lead the way home!
Do you see what I’m doing?
I’m rallying a host of nations against Babylon.
They’ll come out of the north,
attack and take her.
Oh, they know how to fight, these armies.
They never come home empty-handed.
Babylon is ripe for picking!
All her plunderers will fill their bellies!” God’s Decree.
11-16 “You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you?
You lived it up, exploiting and using my people,
Frisky calves romping in lush pastures,
wild stallions out having a good time!
Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you.
The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased.
Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation!
Rubble and garbage and weeds!
Emptied of life by my holy anger,
a desert of death and emptiness.
Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled,
shaking their heads at such a comedown.
Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down!
Throw everything you have against her.
Hold nothing back. Knock her flat.
She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me!
Shout battle cries from every direction.
All the fight has gone out of her.
Her defenses have been flattened,
her walls smashed.
‘Operation God’s Vengeance.’
Pile on the vengeance!
Do to her as she has done.
Give her a good dose of her own medicine!
Destroy her farms and farmers,
ravage her fields, empty her barns.
And you captives, while the destruction rages,
get out while the getting’s good,
get out fast and run for home.
* * *
17 “Israel is a scattered flock,
hunted down by lions.
The king of Assyria started the carnage.
The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
Has completed the job,
gnawing the bones clean.”
18-20 And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
the God of Israel, has to say:
“Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land,
the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.
But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures.
He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan,
On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead.
He will eat to his heart’s content.
In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree—
“they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing;
Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing.
These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate.
* * *
21 “Attack Merathaim, land of rebels!
Go after Pekod, country of doom!
Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep.” God’s Decree.
“These are my orders. Do what I tell you.
22-24 “The thunderclap of battle
shakes the foundations!
The Hammer has been hammered,
smashed and splintered,
Babylon pummeled
beyond recognition.
I set out a trap and you were caught in it.
O Babylon, you never knew what hit you,
Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap!
That’s what you get for taking on God.
25-28 “I, God, opened my arsenal.
I brought out my weapons of wrath.
The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
has a job to do in Babylon.
Come at her from all sides!
Break into her granaries!
Shovel her into piles and burn her up.
Leave nothing! Leave no one!
Kill all her young turks.
Send them to their doom!
Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday!
The clock has finally run out on them.
And here’s a surprise:
Runaways and escapees from Babylon
Show up in Zion reporting the news of God’s vengeance,
taking vengeance for my own Temple.
29-30 “Call in the troops against Babylon,
anyone who can shoot straight!
Tighten the noose!
Leave no loopholes!
Give her back as good as she gave,
a dose of her own medicine!
Her brazen insolence is an outrage
against God, The Holy of Israel.
And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets,
her soldiers dead, silent forever.” God’s Decree.
31-32 “Do you get it, Mister Pride? I’m your enemy!”
Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Time’s run out on you:
That’s right: It’s Doomsday.
Mister Pride will fall flat on his face.
No one will offer him a hand.
I’ll set his towns on fire.
The fire will spread wild through the country.”
* * *
33-34 And here’s more from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“The people of Israel are beaten down,
the people of Judah along with them.
Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel.
They won’t let go.
But the Rescuer is strong:
God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Yes, I will take their side,
I’ll come to their rescue.
I’ll soothe their land,
but rough up the people of Babylon.
35-40 “It’s all-out war in Babylon”—God’s Decree—
“total war against people, leaders, and the wise!
War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all!
War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!
War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders!
War to the death on her banks—looted!
War to the death on her water supply—drained dry!
A land of make-believe gods gone crazy—hobgoblins!
The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions,
night-owls and vampire bats.
No one will ever live there again.
The land will reek with the stench of death.
It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
the cities I did away with.” God’s Decree.
“No one will live there again.
No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.
* * *
41-43 “And now, watch this! People pouring
out of the north, hordes of people,
A mob of kings stirred up
from far-off places.
Flourishing deadly weapons,
barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless.
Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers,
they come riding fierce stallions,
In battle formation, ready to fight
you, Daughter Babylon!
Babylon’s king hears them coming.
He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag.
Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight,
like a woman giving birth to a baby.
44 “And now watch this: Like a lion coming up
from the thick jungle of the Jordan,
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
I’ll take over and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me.”
45-46 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for dealing with Chaldea:
Believe it or not, the young,
the vulnerable—mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.
When the shout goes up, “Babylon’s down!”
the very earth will shudder at the sound.
The news will be heard all over the world.
Hurricane Persia
51 1-5 There’s more. God says more:
“Watch this:
I’m whipping up
A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—‘Hurricane Persia’—
against all who live in that perverse land.
I’m sending a cleanup crew into Babylon.
They’ll clean the place out from top to bottom.
When they get through there’ll be nothing left of her
worth taking or talking about.
They won’t miss a thing.
A total and final Doomsday!
Fighters will fight with everything they’ve got.
It’s no-holds-barred.
They will spare nothing and no one.
It’s final and wholesale destruction—the end!
Babylon littered with the wounded,
streets piled with corpses.
It turns out that Israel and Judah
are not widowed after all.
As their God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well,
committed to them even though
They filled their land with sin
against Israel’s most Holy God.
6-8 “Get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
Run for your lives! Save your necks!
Don’t linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her
as I pay her back for her sins.
Babylon was a fancy gold chalice
held in my hand,
Filled with the wine of my anger
to make the whole world drunk.
The nations drank the wine
and they’ve all gone crazy.
Babylon herself will stagger and crash,
senseless in a drunken stupor—tragic!
Get anointing balm for her wound.
Maybe she can be cured.”
* * *
9 “We did our best, but she can’t be helped.
Babylon is past fixing.
Give her up to her fate.
Go home.
The judgment on her will be vast,
a skyscraper-memorial of vengeance.
Your Lifeline Is Cut
10 “God has set everything right for us.
Come! Let’s tell the good news
Back home in Zion.
Let’s tell what our God did to set things right.
11-13 “Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
God has stirred up the kings of the Medes,
infecting them with war fever: ‘Destroy Babylon!’
God’s on the warpath.
He’s out to avenge his Temple.
Give the signal to attack Babylon’s walls.
Station guards around the clock.
Bring in reinforcements.
Set men in ambush.
God will do what he planned,
what he said he’d do to the people of Babylon.
You have more water than you need,
you have more money than you need—
But your life is over,
your lifeline cut.”
* * *
14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn:
“I’ll fill this place with soldiers.
They’ll swarm through here like locusts
chanting victory songs over you.”
* * *
15-19 By his power he made earth.
His wisdom gave shape to the world.
He crafted the cosmos.
He thunders and rain pours down.
He sends the clouds soaring.
He embellishes the storm with lightnings,
launches the wind from his warehouse.
Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish!
god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods!
Their gods are frauds, dead sticks—
deadwood gods, tasteless jokes.
They’re nothing but stale smoke.
When the smoke clears, they’re gone.
But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing;
he put the whole universe together,
With special attention to Israel.
His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
They’ll Sleep and Never Wake Up
20-23 God says, “You, Babylon, are my hammer,
my weapon of war.
I’ll use you to smash godless nations,
use you to knock kingdoms to bits.
I’ll use you to smash horse and rider,
use you to smash chariot and driver.
I’ll use you to smash man and woman,
use you to smash the old man and the boy.
I’ll use you to smash the young man and young woman,
use you to smash shepherd and sheep.
I’ll use you to smash farmer and yoked oxen,
use you to smash governors and senators.
24 “Judeans, you’ll see it with your own eyes. I’ll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion.” God’s Decree.
25-26 “I’m your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer,
you ravager of the whole earth.
I’ll reach out, I’ll take you in my hand,
and I’ll crush you till there’s no mountain left.
I’ll turn you into a gravel pit—
no more cornerstones cut from you,
No more foundation stones quarried from you!
Nothing left of you but gravel.” God’s Decree.
* * *
27-28 “Raise the signal in the land,
blow the shofar-trumpet for the nations.
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her.
Call kingdoms into service against her.
Enlist Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a field marshal against her,
and round up horses, locust hordes of horses!
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her—
the king of the Medes, his leaders and people.
29-33 “The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain,
terrorized by my plans against Babylon,
Plans to turn the country of Babylon
into a lifeless moonscape—a wasteland.
Babylon’s soldiers have quit fighting.
They hide out in ruins and caves—
Cowards who’ve given up without a fight,
exposed as cowering crybabies.
Babylon’s houses are going up in flames,
the city gates torn off their hinges.
Runner after runner comes racing in,
each on the heels of the last,
Bringing reports to the king of Babylon
that his city is a lost cause.
The fords of the rivers are all taken.
Wildfire rages through the swamp grass.
Soldiers desert left and right.
I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, said it would happen:
‘Daughter Babylon is a threshing floor
at threshing time.
Soon, oh very soon, her harvest will come
and then the chaff will fly!’
* * *
34-37 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
chewed up my people and spit out the bones.
He wiped his dish clean, pushed back his chair,
and belched—a huge gluttonous belch.
Lady Zion says,
‘The brutality done to me be done to Babylon!’
And Jerusalem says,
‘The blood spilled from me be charged to the Chaldeans!’
Then I, God, step in and say,
‘I’m on your side, taking up your cause.
I’m your Avenger. You’ll get your revenge.
I’ll dry up her rivers, plug up her springs.
Babylon will be a pile of rubble,
scavenged by stray dogs and cats,
A dumping ground for garbage,
a godforsaken ghost town.’
* * *
38-40 “The Babylonians will be like lions and their cubs,
ravenous, roaring for food.
I’ll fix them a meal, all right—a banquet, in fact.
They’ll drink themselves falling-down drunk.
Dead drunk, they’ll sleep—and sleep, and sleep . . .
and they’ll never wake up.” God’s Decree.
“I’ll haul these ‘lions’ off to the slaughterhouse
like the lambs, rams, and goats,
never to be heard of again.
* * *
41-48 “Babylon is finished—
the pride of the whole earth is flat on her face.
What a comedown for Babylon,
to end up inglorious in the sewer!
Babylon drowned in chaos,
battered by waves of enemy soldiers.
Her towns stink with decay and rot,
the land empty and bare and sterile.
No one lives in these towns anymore.
Travelers give them a wide berth.
I’ll bring doom on the glutton god-Bel in Babylon.
I’ll make him vomit up all he gulped down.
No more visitors stream into this place,
admiring and gawking at the wonders of Babylon.
The wonders of Babylon are no more.
Run for your lives, my dear people!
Run, and don’t look back!
Get out of this place while you can,
this place torched by God’s raging anger.
Don’t lose hope. Don’t ever give up
when the rumors pour in hot and heavy.
One year it’s this, the next year it’s that—
rumors of violence, rumors of war.
Trust me, the time is coming
when I’ll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place.
I’ll show up the whole country as a sickening fraud,
with dead bodies strewn all over the place.
Heaven and earth, angels and people,
will throw a victory party over Babylon
When the avenging armies from the north
descend on her.” God’s Decree!
Remember God in Your Long and Distant Exile
49-50 “Babylon must fall—
compensation for the war dead in Israel.
Babylonians will be killed
because of all that Babylonian killing.
But you exiles who have escaped a Babylonian death,
get out! And fast!
Remember God in your long and distant exile.
Keep Jerusalem alive in your memory.”
51 How we’ve been humiliated, taunted and abused,
kicked around for so long that we hardly know who we are!
And we hardly know what to think—
our old Sanctuary, God’s house, desecrated by strangers.
52-53 “I know, but trust me: The time is coming”
—God’s Decree—
“When I will bring doom on her no-god idols,
and all over this land her wounded will groan.
Even if Babylon climbed a ladder to the moon
and pulled up the ladder so that no one could get to her,
That wouldn’t stop me.
I’d make sure my avengers would reach her.”
God’s Decree.
54-56 “But now listen! Do you hear it? A cry out of Babylon!
An unearthly wail out of Chaldea!
God is taking his wrecking bar to Babylon.
We’ll be hearing the last of her noise—
Death throes like the crashing of waves,
death rattles like the roar of cataracts.
The avenging destroyer is about to enter Babylon:
Her soldiers are taken, her weapons are trashed.
Indeed, God is a God who evens things out.
All end up with their just deserts.
57 “I’ll get them drunk, the whole lot of them—
princes, sages, governors, soldiers.
Dead drunk, they’ll sleep—and sleep and sleep . . .
and never wake up.” The King’s Decree.
His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
58 God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:
“The city walls of Babylon—those massive walls!—
will be flattened.
And those city gates—huge gates!—
will be set on fire.
The harder you work at this empty life,
the less you are.
Nothing comes of ambition like this
but ashes.”
* * *
59 Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. It was in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements.
60-62 Jeremiah had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on Babylon. He told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read this out in public. Read, ‘You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that nothing could live here, neither human nor animal—a wasteland to top all wastelands, an eternal nothing.’
63-64 “When you’ve finished reading the page, tie a stone to it, throw it into the River Euphrates, and watch it sink. Then say, ‘That’s how Babylon will sink to the bottom and stay there after the disaster I’m going to bring upon her.’”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson