Jeremiah 50:21-46 ¶ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod; waste and utterly destroy after them, said the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

EJ2000⁽ⁱ⁾ ²¹ ¶ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod; waste and utterly destroy after them, said the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. ²² A sound of battle is in the land and of great destruction. ²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the Gentiles! ²⁴ I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught because thou hast provoked the LORD. ²⁵ The LORD has opened his treasury and has brought forth the vessels of his indignation; for this is the work of the Lord GOD of the hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ Come against her from the ends of the earth, open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. ²⁷ Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. ²⁸ The voice of those that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. ²⁹ Call together the archers against Babylon; all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her; for she has become proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, said the LORD. ³¹ Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, said the Lord GOD of the hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. ³² And the proud one shall stumble and fall and have no one to raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. ³³ ¶ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah were oppressed together; and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of the hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. ³⁵ A sword is upon the Chaldeans, said the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her princes and upon her wise men. ³⁶ A sword is upon the fortune-tellers; and they shall be fools: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be broken. ³⁷ A sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women; a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. ³⁸ A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up; for it is the land of graven images, and they are become mad upon their idols. ³⁹ Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall no longer be inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. ⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. ⁴¹ Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. ⁴² They shall hold the bow and the lance; they shall be cruel and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. ⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. ⁴⁴ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the strong habitation; but I will rest and will make him run from upon her; and he who shall be chosen I will appoint over her. For who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? ⁴⁵ Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Babylon and his thoughts that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out, and they shall destroy their habitations with them. ⁴⁶ At the noise of the taking of Babylon, the earth was moved, and the cry was heard among the Gentiles.