Jeremiah 50

1The word that Yahweh spoke against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2Proclaim among the nations and announce it, raise a banner; announce it, do not conceal it: say, Babylon is captured, Bel is shamed, Merodach dismayed; her images shamed, her idols dismayed.

3For a nation from the north rises against her; it will turn her land into desolation, and no inhabitant will remain in it—from humankind to beast—they flee, they depart.

4In those days and at that time, declares Yahweh, the sons of Israel will come—they and the sons of Judah together—going with tears as they proceed to seek Yahweh their God.

5They will ask for the way to Zion with their faces toward it, saying, "Come, let us cling to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten."

6My people have been a lost flock; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them to the backsliding mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, forgetting their resting place.

7All who found them devoured them, and their adversaries said, "We bear no guilt, because they sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, the hope of their fathers, Yahweh."

8Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out from the land of the Chaldeans; go out, and be like rams before the flock.

9For behold, I will rouse and bring up against Babylon a company of great nations from the land of the north, and they will array themselves against her; from there she will be captured— their arrows like those of a mighty skilled warrior; none will return empty.

10Chaldea shall become plunder; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, says Yahweh.

11Because you rejoice, because you exult, O plunderers of my heritage, because you frolic like a heifer on the grass, and neigh like mighty bulls.

12Your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who bore you will be confounded. Behold, the last of the nations will be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13Because of Yahweh's indignation she will not be inhabited, but will become utter desolation; every passerby over Babylon will be appalled and hiss at all her wounds.

14Position yourselves against Babylon all around, every archer who draws the bow; shoot at her, withhold no arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.

15Cry out against her on every side: she has given her hand; her very foundations have fallen, her walls demolished—for it is Yahweh's vengeance: avenge on her; as she has done, do to her.

16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and whoever grasps the sickle at harvest time; before the oppressing sword, every man will turn to his people, and every man will flee to his land.

17Israel is a scattered sheep; lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him; and this last one, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, has broken his bones.

18Therefore Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, declares: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria.

19I will bring Israel back to his pasture, and he will graze in Carmel and Bashan, and his soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

20In those days and at that time, declares Yahweh, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah will not be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave.

21Advance against Merathaim's land, even against it, and against Pekod's residents: ravage and annihilate after them, declares Yahweh, and carry out everything I have directed you to do.

22Battle clamor resounds in the land, and great devastation.

23How is the hammer of the whole earth hewn down and shattered! How has Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

24I have snared you, and you were captured too, Babylon, and you did not know; you were found, and trapped as well, because you provoked Yahweh.

25Yahweh opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for this is the work of the Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

26Come to her from the farthest end; open her storehouses; pile her up like heaps, and devote her to destruction; let no remnant remain for her.

27Destroy all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their reckoning.

28The voice of those fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon proclaims in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance for his temple.

29Summon archers against Babylon, all who draw the bow; encamp against her on every side; let no survivor remain for her; repay her according to her deeds, according to everything she has done, do likewise to her; for she has acted arrogantly against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.

30Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her fighting men will be silenced that day, says Yahweh.

31Look, I am against you, proud one, declares the Lord Yahweh of Hosts, for your day has come, the time I will punish you.

32The proud one will stumble and fall, with none to raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will consume all around him.

33Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together, and all their captors hold them firmly; they refuse to release them.

34Their strong Redeemer—Yahweh of hosts is his name—will surely plead their cause, to give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares Yahweh, “against those dwelling in Babylon, against her princes, against her wise men.

36A sword against the liars, and they shall be fools; a sword against her warriors, and they shall be terrified.

37A sword against their horses and chariots, and against all the mixed people in her midst—they will become women; a sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered.

38Drought comes to her waters, and they will dry up; for it is a land of idols, and they glory in terrors.

39Therefore wild beasts of the desert will dwell there with wild beasts of the islands, and ostriches will dwell in it; it will no longer be inhabited forever, nor settled from generation to generation.

40As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man live in it.

41See, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings will rouse from the earth's remotest parts.

42They seize bow and spear; cruel and merciless, their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, each one arrayed like a man for battle against you, daughter of Babylon.

43The king of Babylon heard their report, and his hands grew limp; distress gripped him, birth pangs like a woman's.

44Behold, like a lion one will arise from the pride of the Jordan against the sturdy pasture, for suddenly I will drive them in haste from her—who is the chosen whom I will station over her? For who rivals me? Who will summon me to account? And who is that shepherd who can stand before me?

45Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh that he devised against Babylon and his purposes that he formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Will not the little ones of the flock drag them away? Will he not lay their fold waste upon them?

46At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth quakes, and the cry among the nations is heard.