| Chapter
50 |
| 1 | The
word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans
by Jeremiah the prophet. |
| 2 |
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish,
and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken
in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. |
| 3 | For out of the north there
cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none
shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and
beast. |
| 4 | In those days,
and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and
the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the
LORD their God. |
| 5 | They
shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let
us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be
forgotten. |
| 6 | My people
hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have
turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they
have forgotten their restingplace. |
|
7 | All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries
said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation
of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. |
| 8 | Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and
go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the
flocks. |
| 9 | For, lo, I will
raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from
the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from
thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man;
none shall return in vain. |
| 10
| And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied,
saith the LORD. |
| 11 |
Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage,
because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; |
| 12 | Your mother shall be sore
confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the
nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. |
| 13 | Because of the wrath of the LORD it
shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth
by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. |
| 14 | Put yourselves in array against
Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows:
for she hath sinned against the LORD. |
| 15 | Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand:
her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance
of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. |
| 16 | Cut off the sower from
Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of
the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall
flee every one to his own land. |
|
17 | Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away:
first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon hath broken his bones. |
|
18 | Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the
king of Assyria. |
| 19 | And
I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and
Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. |
| 20 | In those days, and in that
time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will
pardon them whom I reserve. |
| 21
| Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the
inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith 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 nations! |
| 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 striven
against the LORD. |
| 25 | The
LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his
indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the
Chaldeans. |
| 26 | Come
against her from the utmost border, 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 them 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
hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the
Holy One of Israel. |
| 30 |
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall
be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. |
| 31 | Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the
Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. |
| 32 | And the most proud shall
stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his
cities, and it shall devour all round about him. |
|
33 | Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel
and the children 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
hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest
to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. |
| 35 | A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith
the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon
her wise men. |
| 36 | A sword
is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and
they shall be dismayed. |
| 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 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 be no more
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 shall
come 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 are cruel, and will not shew
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 hath 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 habitation of the strong: but I will make them
suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may 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 hath taken
against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of
the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he
shall make their habitation desolate with them. |
|
46 | At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is
moved, and the cry is heard among the nations. |
