VerseAI

NIV

Jeremiah 50

  1. 1<pb/>This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians<f>[111]</f>:
  2. 2<pb/><t>“Announce and proclaim among the nations,</t> <t>lift up a banner and proclaim it;</t> <t>keep nothing back, but say,</t> <t>‘Babylon will be captured;</t> <t>Bel will be put to shame,</t> <t>Marduk filled with terror.</t> <t>Her images will be put to shame</t> <t>and her idols filled with terror.’</t>
  3. 3<t>A nation from the north will attack her</t> <t>and lay waste her land.</t> <t>No one will live in it;</t> <t>both people and animals will flee away. <pb/></t>
  4. 4<t>“In those days, at that time,”</t> <t>declares the LORD,</t> <t>“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together</t> <t>will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.</t>
  5. 5<t>They will ask the way to Zion</t> <t>and turn their faces toward it.</t> <t>They will come and bind themselves to the LORD</t> <t>in an everlasting covenant</t> <t>that will not be forgotten. <pb/></t>
  6. 6<t>“My people have been lost sheep;</t> <t>their shepherds have led them astray</t> <t>and caused them to roam on the mountains.</t> <t>They wandered over mountain and hill</t> <t>and forgot their own resting place.</t>
  7. 7<t>Whoever found them devoured them;</t> <t>their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,</t> <t>for they sinned against the LORD, their verdant pasture,</t> <t>the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.’ <pb/></t>
  8. 8<t>“Flee out of Babylon;</t> <t>leave the land of the Babylonians,</t> <t>and be like the goats that lead the flock.</t>
  9. 9<t>For I will stir up and bring against Babylon</t> <t>an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.</t> <t>They will take up their positions against her,</t> <t>and from the north she will be captured.</t> <t>Their arrows will be like skilled warriors</t> <t>who do not return empty-handed.</t>
  10. 10<t>So Babylonia<f>[112]</f> will be plundered;</t> <t>all who plunder her will have their fill,”</t> <t>declares the LORD. <pb/></t>
  11. 11<t>“Because you rejoice and are glad,</t> <t>you who pillage my inheritance,</t> <t>because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain</t> <t>and neigh like stallions,</t>
  12. 12<t>your mother will be greatly ashamed;</t> <t>she who gave you birth will be disgraced.</t> <t>She will be the least of the nations—</t> <t>a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.</t>
  13. 13<t>Because of the LORD’s anger she will not be inhabited</t> <t>but will be completely desolate.</t> <t>All who pass Babylon will be appalled;</t> <t>they will scoff because of all her wounds. <pb/></t>
  14. 14<t>“Take up your positions around Babylon,</t> <t>all you who draw the bow.</t> <t>Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,</t> <t>for she has sinned against the LORD.</t>
  15. 15<t>Shout against her on every side!</t> <t>She surrenders, her towers fall,</t> <t>her walls are torn down.</t> <t>Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,</t> <t>take vengeance on her;</t> <t>do to her as she has done to others.</t>
  16. 16<t>Cut off from Babylon the sower,</t> <t>and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.</t> <t>Because of the sword of the oppressor</t> <t>let everyone return to their own people,</t> <t>let everyone flee to their own land. <pb/></t>
  17. 17<t>“Israel is a scattered flock</t> <t>that lions have chased away.</t> <t>The first to devour them</t> <t>was the king of Assyria;</t> <t>the last to crush their bones</t> <t>was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”</t>
  18. 18<pb/>Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: <pb/><t>“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land</t> <t>as I punished the king of Assyria.</t>
  19. 19<t>But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture,</t> <t>and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;</t> <t>their appetite will be satisfied</t> <t>on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.</t>
  20. 20<t>In those days, at that time,”</t> <t>declares the LORD,</t> <t>“search will be made for Israel’s guilt,</t> <t>but there will be none,</t> <t>and for the sins of Judah,</t> <t>but none will be found,</t> <t>for I will forgive the remnant I spare. <pb/></t>
  21. 21<t>“Attack the land of Merathaim</t> <t>and those who live in Pekod.</t> <t>Pursue, kill and completely destroy<f>[113]</f> them,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t> <t>“Do everything I have commanded you.</t>
  22. 22<t>The noise of battle is in the land,</t> <t>the noise of great destruction!</t>
  23. 23<t>How broken and shattered</t> <t>is the hammer of the whole earth!</t> <t>How desolate is Babylon</t> <t>among the nations!</t>
  24. 24<t>I set a trap for you, Babylon,</t> <t>and you were caught before you knew it;</t> <t>you were found and captured</t> <t>because you opposed the LORD.</t>
  25. 25<t>The LORD has opened his arsenal</t> <t>and brought out the weapons of his wrath,</t> <t>for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do</t> <t>in the land of the Babylonians.</t>
  26. 26<t>Come against her from afar.</t> <t>Break open her granaries;</t> <t>pile her up like heaps of grain.</t> <t>Completely destroy her</t> <t>and leave her no remnant.</t>
  27. 27<t>Kill all her young bulls;</t> <t>let them go down to the slaughter!</t> <t>Woe to them! For their day has come,</t> <t>the time for them to be punished.</t>
  28. 28<t>Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon</t> <t>declaring in Zion</t> <t>how the LORD our God has taken vengeance,</t> <t>vengeance for his temple. <pb/></t>
  29. 29<t>“Summon archers against Babylon,</t> <t>all those who draw the bow.</t> <t>Encamp all around her;</t> <t>let no one escape.</t> <t>Repay her for her deeds;</t> <t>do to her as she has done.</t> <t>For she has defied the LORD,</t> <t>the Holy One of Israel.</t>
  30. 30<t>Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets;</t> <t>all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t>
  31. 31<t>“See, I am against you, you arrogant one,”</t> <t>declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty,</t> <t>“for your day has come,</t> <t>the time for you to be punished.</t>
  32. 32<t>The arrogant one will stumble and fall</t> <t>and no one will help her up;</t> <t>I will kindle a fire in her towns</t> <t>that will consume all who are around her.”</t>
  33. 33<pb/>This is what the LORD Almighty says: <pb/><t>“The people of Israel are oppressed,</t> <t>and the people of Judah as well.</t> <t>All their captors hold them fast,</t> <t>refusing to let them go.</t>
  34. 34<t>Yet their Redeemer is strong;</t> <t>the LORD Almighty is his name.</t> <t>He will vigorously defend their cause</t> <t>so that he may bring rest to their land,</t> <t>but unrest to those who live in Babylon. <pb/></t>
  35. 35<t>“A sword against the Babylonians!”</t> <t>declares the LORD—</t> <t>“against those who live in Babylon</t> <t>and against her officials and wise men!</t>
  36. 36<t>A sword against her false prophets!</t> <t>They will become fools.</t> <t>A sword against her warriors!</t> <t>They will be filled with terror.</t>
  37. 37<t>A sword against her horses and chariots</t> <t>and all the foreigners in her ranks!</t> <t>They will become weaklings.</t> <t>A sword against her treasures!</t> <t>They will be plundered.</t>
  38. 38<t>A drought on<f>[114]</f> her waters!</t> <t>They will dry up.</t> <t>For it is a land of idols,</t> <t>idols that will go mad with terror. <pb/></t>
  39. 39<t>“So desert creatures and hyenas will live there,</t> <t>and there the owl will dwell.</t> <t>It will never again be inhabited</t> <t>or lived in from generation to generation.</t>
  40. 40<t>As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah</t> <t>along with their neighboring towns,”</t> <t>declares the LORD,</t> <t>“so no one will live there;</t> <t>no people will dwell in it. <pb/></t>
  41. 41<t>“Look! An army is coming from the north;</t> <t>a great nation and many kings</t> <t>are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.</t>
  42. 42<t>They are armed with bows and spears;</t> <t>they are cruel and without mercy.</t> <t>They sound like the roaring sea</t> <t>as they ride on their horses;</t> <t>they come like men in battle formation</t> <t>to attack you, Daughter Babylon.</t>
  43. 43<t>The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,</t> <t>and his hands hang limp.</t> <t>Anguish has gripped him,</t> <t>pain like that of a woman in labor.</t>
  44. 44<t>Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets</t> <t>to a rich pastureland,</t> <t>I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.</t> <t>Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?</t> <t>Who is like me and who can challenge me?</t> <t>And what shepherd can stand against me?” <pb/></t>
  45. 45<t>Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Babylon,</t> <t>what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians:</t> <t>The young of the flock will be dragged away;</t> <t>their pasture will be appalled at their fate.</t>
  46. 46<t>At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble;</t> <t>its cry will resound among the nations.</t>