Jeremiah
Chapter 50
1 God spoke against Babylon and the Chaldeans through the prophet Jeremiah.
2 Tell the nations, announce it, raise a flag; announce it, don’t hide it: say, Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is shattered; her gods are ashamed, her statues are shattered.
3 From the north, a nation will attack her and make her land empty. No one will live there; all people and animals will leave.
4 During that time, God says, the people of Israel and Judah will come together, crying as they travel to look for their God.
5 People will look for the way to Zion and say, “Come, let’s join with God in a lasting promise that we’ll always remember.”
6 My people were like lost sheep. Their leaders led them the wrong way. They made them wander on the mountains, moving from hill to hill, and they forgot where to rest.
7 Everyone who found them ate them up; and their enemies thought, ‘We are not guilty, because they sinned against God, who is just and the hope of their ancestors.’
8 Leave Babylon, depart from the land of the Chaldeans, and lead like male goats at the front of the herds.
9 Look, I will bring a group of big nations from the north against Babylon. They will prepare to fight her, and then she will be captured. Their arrows will be like those of a strong skilled warrior; none will miss their target.
10 Chaldea will be robbed, and everyone who robs it will be happy, says God.
11 You were happy and celebrated, you who ruined what I care for, because you have become as fat as a young cow in the field and roar like bulls.
12 Your mother will be very confused; the one who gave birth to you will feel ashamed: look, the least of the nations will become an empty wasteland, a dry place, and a desert.
13 Because God is angry, no one will live there; it will be completely empty. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be shocked and scorn at all its disasters.
14 Get ready to fight against Babylon on all sides: all you archers, shoot at her, don’t hold back any arrows: because she has sinned against God.
15 Call out against her from all sides: she has surrendered; her foundations are destroyed, her walls are torn down: because it is God’s revenge: repay her; do to her as she has done to others.
16 Remove the farmer from Babylon, and the reaper during harvest time: because of the scary sword, everyone will go back to their own people, and they will each run to their own country.
17 Israel is like a sheep that has been scattered; lions have chased it away: first the king of Assyria ate it up, and now this king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has crushed its bones.
18 So God, the God of Israel, says, “Look, I will punish the king of Babylon and his country just like I punished the king of Assyria.”
19 I will bring Israel back to their home, and they will eat from Carmel and Bashan, and they will be content on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 During that time, God says, people will look for Israel’s wrongs but find none, and search for Judah’s sins but they won’t be found, because I will forgive those I spare.
21 Attack the land of Merathaim and also the people of Pekod. Destroy them completely as I have told you, says God.
22 The noise of war is in the country, with much destruction.
23 How has the hammer of the whole world been split and shattered! How has Babylon turned into a wasteland among the countries!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught without knowing; you are found and captured because you fought against God.
25 God has opened his storage of weapons and has taken out the tools of his anger. This is what God of all does in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Attack her from the farthest border, break into her storerooms, pile her up like mounds and completely destroy her; leave nothing remaining.
27 Kill all her bulls; let them be led to the slaughter. Trouble is coming for them, because their day has arrived, the time for them to be punished.
28 The message of those who run away and get out of Babylon, to announce in Zion that God is taking revenge, revenge for his temple.
29 Gather the archers to attack Babylon: all who use bows, surround it and let no one escape. Pay back Babylon for what it has done; treat it just as it has treated others. It has acted arrogantly against God, the Holy One of Israel.
30 So her young men will die in the streets, and all her soldiers will be killed on that day, says God.
31 Look, I am against you, you very proud one, says God: for your day has arrived, the time I will deal with you.
32 The proudest will trip and fall, and no one will help them up: I will start a fire in their cities, and it will consume everything around them.
33 God says: The Israelites and the people of Judah were both oppressed. Their captors held them tightly and would not free them.
34 Their Savior is powerful; God is his name: he will fully defend their case, to bring peace to the land, and trouble to the people of Babylon.
35 God says a sword will strike the Chaldeans, the people of Babylon, its leaders, and its wise men.
36 A sword is against the liars; they will act foolishly. A sword is against her strong men; they will be terrified.
37 War will come to their horses and chariots, and to all the mixed peoples within the city; they will be weak like women: war will come to their riches, and they will be stolen.
38 Her waters face a drought; they will dry up because this is the land of carved images, and they are crazy about their idols.
39 So, the wild animals of the desert and the creatures of the islands will live there, and owls will make their home there. It will never be lived in again, and no one will stay there from one generation to the next.
40 God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities nearby, says God; so no one will live there, nor will anyone stay there.
41 Look, a nation will come from the north, and a great country, and many rulers will rise from the ends of the earth.
42 They will carry bows and spears; they are mean and won’t show mercy. Their voices will sound like the ocean. They will ride horses, ready for battle against you, daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon heard the news about them, and his hands became weak; distress gripped him, pain like that of a woman giving birth.
44 Look, he will rise like a lion from the flooded Jordan to the home of the powerful: but I will make them quickly flee from it: and who is the chosen one I can set over it? For who is like me? And who will set a time for me? And what leader will face me?
45 Listen to God’s plan against Babylon, and his intentions for the Chaldeans’ land: even the smallest sheep will lead them away, and their homes will be destroyed along with them.
46 When Babylon is captured, the earth shakes and nations hear the outcry.