The Judgment on Babylon

1The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2Declare you 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.

3For out of the north there comes 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.

Hope for Israel and Judah

4In those days, and in that time, said 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. 5They 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.

6My people has 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 resting place.

7All 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.

8Remove out of the middle of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.

9For, see, 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 there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

10And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, said the LORD.

Babylon's Fall is Certain

11Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O you destroyers of my heritage, because you are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

12Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

14Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all you that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against the LORD.

15Shout against her round about: she has given her hand: her foundations 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.

16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handles 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.

Redemption for God's People

17Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. 18Therefore thus said 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. 19And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on mount Ephraim and Gilead. 20In those days, and in that time, said 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.

The Destruction of Babylon

21Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, said the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded you.

22A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

23How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

24I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against the LORD.

25The LORD has opened his armory, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

26Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

27Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

28The 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.

29Call together the archers against Babylon: all you that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

30Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, said the LORD.

31Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, said the Lord GOD of hosts: for your day is come, the time that I will visit you.

32And 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.

33Thus said 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.

34Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35A sword is on the Chaldeans, said the LORD, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on her princes, and on her wise men.

36A sword is on the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is on her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

37A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mingled people that are in the middle of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

38A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad on their idols.

39Therefore 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 dwelled in from generation to generation.

40As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, said the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

41Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

42They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

44Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to 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? 45Therefore hear you the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has 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. 46At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.