Jeremiah 50:1-13 ▼

1 This is the message that the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans.

2 |Declare and proclaim among the nations. Lift up a banner and proclaim. Don't conceal anything. Say, 'Babylon will be captured. Bel will be disgraced, and Marduk will be destroyed. Her idols will be disgraced, and her filthy images will be destroyed.'

3 For a nation from the north will go up against her. It will make her land into an object of horror, and no one will live in it. Both people and animals will wander off, and they'll leave.

4 In those days, and at that time,| declares the LORD, |the people of Israel will come together with the people of Judah. They'll be weeping as they travel along, and they'll be seeking the LORD their God.

5 They'll ask the way to Zion, turning their faces in that direction. They'll come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that won't be forgotten.

6 My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them toward the mountains. They go from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place.

7 All who find them devour them, but their enemies say, 'We're not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.'

8 Move away from the middle of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans. Be like male goats at the head of the flock.

9 Indeed, I'm going to stir up and bring against Babylon a great company of nations from the land of the north. They'll deploy for battle against her, and from there she will be captured. Their arrows will be like a skilled warrior; they won't miss their targets.

10 The Chaldeans will become plunder, and all who plunder them will get more than enough,| declares the LORD.

11 |Though you rejoice, though you exult, you plunderers of my inheritance, though you skip around like a heifer in the grass and neigh like stallions,

12 your mother will be greatly devastated, she who gave birth to you will be ashamed. She will become the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13 Because of the anger of the LORD she won't be inhabited, but will be utterly devastated. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and will scoff because of all her wounds.