Jeremiah
50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the
Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
50:2 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.
50:3 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.
50:4 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.
50:5 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.
50:6 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.
50:7 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.
50:8 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.
50:9 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.
50:10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied,
saith the LORD.
50:11 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;
50:12 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.
50:13 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.
50:14 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.
50:15 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.
50:16 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.
50:17 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.
50:18 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.
50:19 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.
50:20 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.
50:21 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.
50:22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
50:23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is
Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
50:24 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.
50:25 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.
50:26 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.
50:27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them!
for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
50:28 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.
50:29 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.
50:30 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.
50:31 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.
50:32 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.
50:33 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.
50:34 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.
50:35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants
of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
50:36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her
mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
50:37 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.
50:38 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.
50:39 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.
50:40 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.
50:41 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.
50:42 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.
50:43 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.
50:44 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?
50:45 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.
50:46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is
heard among the nations.
