Jeremiah — Chapter 50

The word that GOD spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:

Declare among the nations, and proclaim;Raise a standard, proclaim;Hide nothing! Say:Babylon is captured,BelaBel A name of the city god of Babylon. is shamed,MerodachbMerodach Another name of the city god of Babylon. is dismayed.Her idols are shamed,Her fetishes dismayed.

For a nation from the north has attacked her,It will make her land a desolation.No one shall dwell in it,Both human and animal shall wander away.

In those days and at that time—declares GOD—the people of Israel together with the people of Judah shall come, and they shall weep as they go to seek the ETERNAL their God.

They shall inquire for Zion; in that direction their faces shall turn; they shall comecthey shall come Heb. “come!” (in the plural). and attach themselves to GOD by a covenant for all time, which shall never be forgotten.

My people were lost sheep: their shepherds led them astray, they drove them out to the mountains, they roamed from mount to hill, they forgot their own resting place.

All who encountered them devoured them; and their foes said, “We shall not be held guilty, because they have sinned against GOD, the true Pasture, the Hope of their ancestors—GOD.”

Flee from Babylon,Leave the land of the Chaldeans,And be like he-goats that lead the flock!

For see, I am rousing and leadingAn assemblage of great nations against BabylonFrom the lands of the north.They shall draw up their lines against her,There she shall be captured.Their arrows are like those of a skilled warriorda skilled warrior So many mss., editions, and versions; other mss. and editions read “a warrior who bereaves.” Who does not turn back without hitting the mark.

Chaldea shall be despoiled,All her spoilers shall be sated—declares GOD.

For you rejoiced, you exulted,You who plundered My possession;You stamped like a heifer treading grain,You neighed like steeds.

So your mother will be utterly shamed,She who bore you will be disgraced.Behold the end of the nations—Wilderness, desert, and steppe!

Because of GOD’s wrath she shall not be inhabited;She shall be utterly desolate.Whoever passes by Babylon will be appalledAnd will hissehiss Cf. note at 18.16. at all her wounds.

Range yourselves round about Babylon,All you who draw the bow;Shoot at her, don’t spare arrows,For she has sinned against GOD.

Raise a shout against her all about!She has surrendered;fShe has surrendered Lit. “She has given her hand”; meaning of Heb. uncertain. Her bastions have fallen,Her walls are thrown down—This is GOD’s vengeance.Take vengeance on her,Do to her as she has done!

Make an end in Babylon of sowers,And of wielders of the sickle at harvest time.Because of the deadlygdeadly Meaning of Heb. uncertain. sword,Everyone shall turn back to their own people,All shall flee to their own land.

Israel are scattered sheep, harried by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured them, and in the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon crunched their bones.

Assuredly, thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will deal with the king of Babylon and his land as I dealt with the king of Assyria.

And I will lead Israel back to his pasture, and he shall graze in Carmel and Bashan, and eat his fill in the hill country of Ephraim and in Gilead.

In those days and at that time—declares GOD—The iniquity of Israel shall be sought,And there shall be none;The sins of Judah,And none shall be found;For I will pardon those I allow to survive.

Advance against her—the land of Merathaimhthe land of Merathaim Meaning of Heb. uncertain.—And against the inhabitants of Pekod;Ruin and destroy after them to the last—says GOD—Do just as I have commanded you.

Hark! War in the landAnd vast destruction!

How the hammer of the whole earthHas been hacked and shattered!How Babylon has becomeAn appallment among the nations!

I set a snare for you, O Babylon,And you were trapped unawares;You were found and caught,Because you challenged GOD.

GOD has opened the divine armoryAnd brought out the weapons of wrath;For that is the taskOf my Sovereign GOD of HostsIn the land of the Chaldeans.

Come against her from every quarter;ifrom every quarter Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Break open her granaries,Pile her up like heaps of grain,jPile her up like heaps of grain Meaning of Heb. uncertain. And destroy her, let her have no remnant!

Destroy allkDestroy all Emendation yields “A sword against”; cf. vv. 35ff. her bulls,Let them go down to slaughter.Alas for them, their day is come,The hour of their doom!

Hark! fugitives are escapingFrom the land of Babylon,To tell in Zion of the vengeance of the ETERNAL our God,Vengeance for the holylthe holy Lit. “His.” temple.

Summon archers against Babylon,All who draw the bow!Encamp against her round about,Let none of her people escape.Pay her back for her actions,Do to her just what she has done;For she has acted insolently against GOD,The Holy One of Israel.

Assuredly, her young men shall fall in her squares,And all her warriors shall perish in that day—declares GOD.

I am going to deal with you, O Insolence—declares my Sovereign GOD of Hosts—For your day is come, the time when I doom you:

Insolence shall stumble and fall,With none to raise her up.I will set her cities on fire,And it shall consume everything around her.

Thus said GOD of Hosts:The people of Israel are oppressed,And so too the people of Judah;All their captors held them,They refused to let them go.

Their mighty Redeemer,Whose name is GOD of Hosts,Will champion their cause—So as to give rest to the earth,And unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

A sword against the Chaldeans—declares GOD—And against the inhabitants of Babylon,Against its officials and its sages!

A sword against the diviners, that they be made fools of!A sword against the warriors, that they be dismayed!

A sword against its horses and chariots,And against all the motley crowd in its midst,That they become women!A sword against its treasuries, that they be pillaged!

A droughtmdrought Ḥoreb, play on ḥereb, “sword” in preceding verses. against its waters, that they be dried up!For it is a land of idols;They are besotted by their dread images.ndread images Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

Assuredly,Wildcats and hyenasoWildcats and hyenas Meaning of Heb. uncertain. shall dwell [there],And ostriches shall dwell there;It shall never be settled again,Nor inhabited throughout the ages.

It shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors—declares GOD; nobody shall live there, no human shall sojourn there.

Lo, a people comes from the northland;A great nation and many kings are rousedFrom the remotest parts of the earth.

They grasp the bow and javelin,They are cruel, they show no mercy;The sound of them is like the roaring sea.They ride upon horses,Accoutered like a man for battle,Against you, O Fair Babylon!

The king of Babylon has heard the report of them,And his hands are weakened;Anguish seizes him,Pangs like a woman in childbirth.

It shall be as when a lion comes out of the jungle of the Jordan against a secure pasture: in a moment I can harry them out of it and appoint over it anyone I choose.pI can harry them out of it and appoint over it anyone I choose See note at 49.19. Then who is like Me? Who can summon Me? Who is the shepherd that can stand up against Me?

Hear, then, the plan that GOD has devised against Babylon, and has purposed against the land of Chaldea:Surely the shepherd boysShall drag them away;Surely the pasture shall beAghast because of them.

At the sound of Babylon’s captureThe earth quakes,And an outcry is heard among the nations.