Jeremiah 50
1A WORD of the Lord which he spake against Babylon:
2Proclaim among the nations, publish and conceal not—say, Babylon is taken; Bel is confounded; the fearless, the luxurious Mairodach is delivered up.
3For a nation is gone up against her from the north, which will make her land a desolation, so that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast.
4In those days, even at that time, shall come up the children of Israel, they and the children of Juda together: walking slow and weeping they will march on seeking the Lord their God.
5They will ask the way to Zion; for thitherward they will set their face; and they will come and flee to the Lord their God; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten.
6My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds caused them to stray. On the mountains they caused them to wander. From mountain to hill they roamed. They forgot their place of rest.
7All that found them devoured them. Their enemies said, Let us not spare them because they sinned against the Lord. He who gathered their fathers hath a pasture of righteousness:
8remove out of Babylon and from the country of the Chaldeans, and go out and be like dragons before sheep.
9For lo! I am raising up against Babylon assemblies of nations from the north; and they shall be drawn up in array against her. Thence one shall be taken like the dart of a skillful warrior which shall not rebound in vain.
10So Chaldea shall be for a prey. All that plunder it shall be satisfied.
11Because you rejoiced and triumphed when you were plundering My heritage—because you frisked about like calves in a pasture, and brandished your horns like bulls;
12your mother shall be greatly ashamed: she who brought you forth for prosperity shall be confounded. Being the hindmost of nations;
13a desert because of the wrath of the Lord, she shall not be inhabited; but shall be entirely a desolation.
14Sorrow will cover the countenance of all who travel through Babylon; and at all their calamity they will express pity. Set yourselves in array all around against Babylon. All ye who bend the bow shoot at her: spare not your arrows,
15you must needs subdue her. Her hands are weakened; her bulwarks have fallen, and her wall is undermined. Because it is a vengeance from the Lord; execute vengeance on her. As she hath done, do ye to her.
16Destroy utterly the seed of Babylon, him who handleth the sickle in harvest. Let them return from the face of the Grecian sword, every one to his own people; and let every one flee to his own land.
17Israel was a wandering sheep. Lions scared him away. The first who devoured him was the king of Assur, and this last, the king of Babylon gnawed his bones.
18Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold I will execute vengeance on the king of Babylon and his land as I executed vengeance on the king of Assyria.
19And I will bring back Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel, and on mount Ephraim, and on Galaad; and his soul shall be satisfied.
20In those days and at that time, search shall be made for the iniquity of Israel; but none shall remain; and for the sins of Juda, but none shall be found. For I will be merciful to them who are left.
21With respect to this land, saith the Lord. Go up with bitterness against it and against them who dwell in it; take vengeance, O sword, and destroy utterly; saith the Lord, and do according to all that I command thee.
22A sound of battle and great distress in the land of the Chaldeans!
23How the hammer of the whole earth is broken and dashed to pieces! How Babylon is become a desolation among the nations!
24They will come upon thee and thou shalt not know—like Babylon itself and thou shalt be taken. Thou art found out and taken, because thou didst set thyself against the Lord.
25The Lord hath opened His arsenal and brought out the instruments of His wrath; because the Lord God hath a work to perform in the land of the Chaldeans.
26Because her time is come; open ye her treasuries, search her like a cave; and destroy her utterly. Let not a remnant of her be left.
27Lay waste all her fruits and let them go down to destruction. (p) Alas for them; for their day is come and the time of their visitation!
28Hark! a sound of men fleeing and escaping out of the land of Babylon to inform Sion of the vengeance of the Lord our God.
29(J) Issue these orders to many against Babylon—to every one bending a bow—Encamp against her round about; let none escape out of her. Render to her according to her works-according to all that she hath done, do ye to her. Because she set herself against the Lord, the Holy God of Israel,
30therefore her young men shall fall in her streets and all her mighty warriors shall be laid low, saith the Lord.
31Behold I am against thee, thou essence of haughtiness, saith the Lord. Because thy day is come and the time of thy punishment;
32therefore thy haughtiness shall be abated and fall, and none shall continue to support it. For I will kindle a fire in her forest which shall devour all around her.
33Thus saith the Lord: The children of Israel and the children of Juda have both been oppressed; all who captivated them tyrannised over them. Because they refused to let them go,
34therefore their Redeemer-the Mighty One, Whose name is The Lord Almighty, will plead their cause with their adversaries. In order that He may remove this land out of the way, He will sharpen for the inhabitants of Babylon
35a sword against the Chaldeans and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her grandees and against her counsellors-
36a sword against her warriors, and they shall be destroyed;
37a sword against their horses and against their chariots-a sword against their warriors and the mixed multitude in the midst of her [Babylon], and they shall be like women-a sword against her treasures, and they shall be rifled;
38[a sword] against those who are on her waters, and they shall be exposed to shame. Because it is a land of the graven images and it was in these islands where they boasted;
39therefore idols shall dwell in those islands and in her shall dwell the daughters of Sirens, and she shall never more be inhabited.
40As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorra and the neighbouring cities,-said the Lord: No man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man make his abode there.
41Behold a people is coming from the north, even a mighty nation, and many kings shall be roused up from the extremity of the earth
42handling the bow and sword. They are haughty and will shew no mercy: their voice will roar like the sea. On horses they will come prancing, in array like fire, for battle against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
43The king of Babylon heard the report of them and his woman travail.
44Behold 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?
45Therefore hear the counsel which the Lord hath taken against Babylon; and the determination He is come to against the Chaldean inhabitants, let all but the lambs of the flock to destroyed; let all but a pasture for them be made a desolation.
46For at the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall be shaken, and a scream shall be heard among the nations