Jeremiah 50:1-46 This is the word that the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans.

VIN⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ This is the word that the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. ² "Declare and proclaim among the nations. Lift up a banner and proclaim. Don't conceal anything. Say, 'Babylon will be captured. Bel will be disgraced, and Marduk will be destroyed. Her idols will be disgraced, and her filthy images will be destroyed.' ³ For a nation from the north will go up against her. It will make her land into an object of horror, and no one will live in it. Both people and animals will wander off, and they'll leave. ⁴ In those days, and at that time, says the LORD, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek the LORD their God. ⁵ They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there. They will come and join themselves to the LORD by an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. ⁶ My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains; they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting place. ⁷ All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, 'We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the true pasture, even the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.' ⁸ Go in flight out of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and be like he-goats before the flocks. ⁹ Indeed, I'm going to stir up and bring against Babylon a great company of nations from the land of the north. They'll deploy for battle against her, and from there she will be captured. Their arrows will be like a skilled warrior; they won't miss their targets. ¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a prize; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, declares the LORD. ¹¹ Because you rejoice, because you exult, O destroyers of My inheritance, because you are fat like the heifer in grass, and neigh like strong ones, ¹² Your mother will be greatly devastated, she who gave birth to you will be ashamed. She will become the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. ¹³ Because of the anger of the LORD she won't be inhabited, but will be utterly devastated. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and will scoff because of all her wounds. ¹⁴ Deploy the troops all around Babylon. All who bend the bow, shoot at her and spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵ Shout against her all around: she has submitted herself; her towers are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her. ¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor each one will turn to their people, and each one will flee to their land. ¹⁷ "The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria. The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. ¹⁸ "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰ In those days and at that time," declares the LORD, "the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I left behind. ²¹ "Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod. Claim them for me by killing them with a sword, says the LORD. Do everything I commanded you. ²² A noise of battle [is] in the land, and of great destruction." ²³ How s cut and broken the hammer of all the earth! How hath Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! ²⁴ "I will set traps for you, Babylon. You will be caught, but you will not know it. You will be found and captured because you have opposed the LORD." ²⁵ the LORD will open his armory and bring out the weapons of his fury, because the LORD Almighty has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians. ²⁶ "Come to her from afar. Open up her barns. Pile her up like heaps of grain, and completely destroy her. Don't leave any survivors. ²⁷ Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. ²⁸ Fugitives and refugees from Babylon are coming to Zion to tell about the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for his temple. ²⁹ "Summon many to Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Camp all around her, let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds. Do to her just as she has done. For she has behaved arrogantly against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore, her warriors will fall in her streets, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day," declares the LORD. ³¹ "Look, I am against you, O arrogant one," declares Sovereign LORD Almighty, "for your day has come, the time when I will punish you. ³² The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.” ³³ Thus says the LORD Almighty: "The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah likewise, for all their captors have seized them, they refuse to let them go free. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty, is His name. He shall thoroughly plead their cause, so that he may give rest to the land, and give trouble to the people of Babylon. ³⁵ A sword against the Chaldeans," declares the LORD, "and against the inhabitants of Babylon, against her officials and her wise men. ³⁶ A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror. ³⁷ A sword against her horses, against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst. They'll become women. A sword against her treasures. They'll be plundered. ³⁸ A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act madly with idols. ³⁹ "That is why desert animals will live with hyenas. Desert owls will also live there. It will no longer be inhabited or lived in for generations. ⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, states the LORD, so no man shall live there, nor shall a son of man stay in it. ⁴¹ "Look, people are coming from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the ends of the earth. ⁴² They grab bow and spear. They're cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, as they ride on horses deployed like men ready for battle against you, daughter of Babylon. ⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands hang limp. Distress has seized him, like a woman in labor. ⁴⁴ Behold he will be like the lion which must go up from the swelling of Jordan to Gaitham, for I will speedily drive men from her, and set every youth against her: for who is like me and who can withstand me? And who is the shepherd who can stand before me? ⁴⁵ Listen to what the LORD is going to do against Babylon and the things he intends to do to the land of the Babylonians. He will surely drag away the little ones of the flock. He will surely destroy the pasture because of the Babylonians. ⁴⁶ At the sound of Babylon's capture, the earth shall tremble, and a cry is heard among the nations.