Jeremiah 50:1-13 ▼

1 The word which the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

2 “Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a flag, Do not conceal it. Say, ‘Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered; Her idols have been put to shame, her images have been shattered.’

3 For a nation has come up against her from the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Whether people or animals, they have wandered off, they have gone!

4 “In those days and at that time,” declares the LORD, “the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God whom they will seek.

5 They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come so that they may join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

6 “My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them turn aside on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill, They have forgotten their resting place.

7 “All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty, Since they have sinned against the LORD who is the habitation of righteousness, The LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

8 “Wander away from the midst of Babylon And go out from the land of the Chaldeans; Be like male goats at the head of the flock.

9 “For behold, I am going to rouse and bring up against Babylon A contingent of great nations from the land of the north, And they will draw up their battle lines against her; From there she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior Who does not return empty-handed.

10 “Chaldea will become plunder; All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the LORD.

11 “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant, You who pillage My heritage, Because you skip about like a threshing heifer And neigh like stallions,

12 Your mother will be greatly ashamed, She who gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a dry land and a desert.

13 “Because of the wrath of the LORD she will not be inhabited, But she will be completely desolate; Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified And will hiss because of all her wounds.