A Prophecy against Babylon

1The word that Jehovah spake against Babel, against the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.

2Announce ye in the nations, and cause to be heard, and lift up a signal; cause to be heard, ye shall not hide: say, Babel was taken, Bel was ashamed, Merodach was broken; her images were ashamed, her blocks were broken.

3For a nation came up from the north against her; it shall set her land for a desolation, and none shall be dwelling in her: from man and even to beast they moved, and they went.

Hope for Israel and Judah

4In those days and in that time, says Jehovah, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going, and they wept: they shall go and shall seek Jehovah their God. 5To Zion shall they ask the way, thither their faces: Come ye, and we will join ourselves to Jehovah an eternal covenant; it shall not be forgotten.

6My people were lost sheep: their shepherds caused them to wander, they turned them away in the mountains: they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their place to lie down.

7All finding them consumed them: and their adversaries said, We shall not transgress, for they sinned against Jehovah the habitation of justice, and the hope of their fathers, Jehovah.

8Move from the midst of Babel, and from the land of the Chaldeans; come forth and be ye as the he goats before the flock.

9For behold I raise up and bring up against Babel a convocation of great nations from the land of the north: and they arranged against her; from thence she shall be taken: his arrow as of a strong destroyer shall not turn back in vain.

10And Chaldea was for a spoil: all spoiling her shall be satisfied, says Jehovah.

Babylon’s Fall Is Certain

11Because thou wilt be glad, because thou wilt exult, ye plundering mine inheritance, because thou wilt show off proudly as a heifer at grass, and thou wilt neigh as the strong ones;

12Your mother was greatly ashamed; she bearing you was put to shame: behold the last of the nations a desert, dryness and a sterile region.

13From the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, and it was wholly a desolation: every one passing over Babel shall be astonished and shall hiss at all her blows.

14Arrange yourselves against Babel round about: all ye bending the bow, cast at her, ye shall not spare to the arrow, for she sinned against Jehovah.

15Shout against her round about: she gave her hand: her supports fell, her walls were pulled down: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: avenge ye upon her; as she did, do ye to her.

16Cut off him sowing from Babel, and him holding the sickle in time of harvest: from the face of the Grecian sword they shall turn a man to his people, and they shall flee a man to his land.

Redemption for God’s People

17Israel a scattered sheep; the lions thrust away: first the king of Assur consumed him; and the last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel bound him fast. 18For this, thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Behold me reviewing for the king of Babel, and for his land, as I reviewed to the king of Assur. 19And I turned back Israel to his habitation, and he fed in Carmel and Bashan; and upon mount Ephraim and Gilead shall his soul be satisfied. 20In those days and in that time, says Jehovah, he will seek the iniquity of Israel, and not any; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I shall forgive to whom I shall leave.

The Destruction of Babylon

21Go up against the land of double rebellion, against her, and against the inhabitants of Pekod, laying waste and destroying after them, says Jehovah; and do according to all which I commanded thee.

22The voice of war in the land, and a great breaking.

23How was the hammer of all the earth cut off, and it will be broken! How was Babel for a desolation among the nations!

24I laid snares for thee and also thou wert taken, O Babel, and thou knewest not: thou wert found and thou wert also taken, for thou didst contend against Jehovah.

25Jehovah opened his treasure, and he will bring forth the vessels of his anger: for this the work to the Lord Jehovah of armies in the land of the Chaldeans.

26Come ye against her from the extremity; open her store-houses: cast her up as heaps and exterminate her: there shall be no remnant to her.

27Lay waste all her bullocks; come down to the slaughter: wo to them! for their day came, the time of their reviewing.

28The voice of those fleeing and escaping out of the land of Babel, to announce in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple.

29Cause ye many to be heard against Babel: all ye bending the bow encamp against her round about; there shall be no escaping: requite her according to her work; according to all she did, do to her: for she acted proudly against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.

30For this her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of her war shall be destroyed in that day, says Jehovah.

31Behold me against thee, O pride, says the Lord Jehovah of armies: for thy day came, the time I reviewed thee.

32And pride stumbled and fell, and none lifting up to it: and I kindled a fire in his cities and it shall consume all round about him.

33Thus said Jehovah of armies: the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah being oppressed together: and all taking them captive held upon them; they refused to send them away.

34He redeeming them is strong; Jehovah of armies, his name: pleading, he will plead their cause, so that he caused the land to rest, and caused disquiet to the inhabitants of Babel.

35A sword upon the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and to the inhabitants of Babel and to her chiefs, and to her wise.

36A sword against the liars; and they were foolish: a sword against her strong ones, and they were broken.

37A sword against his horses and against his chariots, and against all the mixture which is in her midst; and they were for women: a sword against her treasures, and they were plundered.

38A sword upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: for it is a land of carved images, and in their terrors they will be foolish.

39For this the inhabitans of the deserts shall dwell with the islands, and the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell in her: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; and she shall not be dwelt in even to generation and generation.

40As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and her neighbors, says Jehovah; a man shall not dwell there, and the son of man shall not sojourn in her.

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

42They shall hold the bow and the javelin: they are fierce, and they will not pity: their voice shall sound as the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, being arranged as a man for war, against thee, O daughter of Babel.

43The king of Babel heard their report, and his hands were relaxed: anguish seized him as the pain of her bringing forth.

44Behold, as a lion he will come up from the excellency of Jordan to the habitation of strength: for I will wink; I will cause them to run away from her: and who the chosen I shall appoint to her? for who like me? and who shall arraign me? and who that shepherd who shall stand before me? 45For this, hear ye the counsel of Jehovah which he counseled against Babel; and his purposes which he purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: if the last of the flock shall not drag them out: if he shall not lay waste the habitation upon them. 46From the voice of the taking of Babel the earth was shaken, and the cry was heard among the nations.