Berean Standard Bible

Jeremiah 50:2-28

2“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’

3For a nation from the north will come against her;it will make her land a desolation.No one will live in it;both man and beast will flee.”

4“In those days and at that time,declares the LORD,the children of Israel and the children of Judahwill come together, weeping as they come,and will seek the LORD their God.5They will ask the way to Zionand turn their faces toward it.They will come and join themselves to the LORDin an everlasting covenantthat will never be forgotten.

6My people are lost sheep;their shepherds have led them astray,causing them to roam the mountains.They have wandered from mountain to hill;they have forgotten their resting place.7All who found them devoured them,and their enemies said,‘We are not guilty,for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

8Flee from the midst of Babylon;depart from the land of the Chaldeans;be like the he-goats that lead the flock.9For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylonan assembly of great nations from the land of the north.They will line up against her;from the north she will be captured.Their arrows will be like skilled warriorswho do not return empty-handed.10Chaldea1 will be plundered;all who plunder her will have their fill,”declares the LORD.

11“Because you rejoice,because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grainand neigh like stallions,12your mother will be greatly ashamed;she who bore you will be disgraced.Behold, she will be the least of the nations,a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13Because of the wrath of the LORD,she will not be inhabited;she will become completely desolate.All who pass through Babylon will be horrifiedand will hiss at all her wounds.

14Line up in formation around Babylon,all you who draw the bow!Shoot at her! Spare no arrows!For she has sinned against the LORD.15Raise a war cry against her on every side!She has thrown up her hands in surrender;her towers have fallen;her walls are torn down.

Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,take out your vengeance upon her;as she has done,do the same to her.16Cut off the sower from Babylon,and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time.In the face of the oppressor’s sword,each will turn to his own people,each will flee to his own land.

17Israel is a scattered flock,chased away by lions.The first to devour himwas the king of Assyria;the last to crush his boneswas Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

18Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his landas I punished the king of Assyria.19I will return Israel to his pasture,and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan;his soul will be satisfiedon the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

20In those days and at that time,declares the LORD,a search will be made for Israel’s guilt,but there will be none,and for Judah’s sins,but they will not be found;for I will forgivethe remnant I preserve.

21Go up against the land of Merathaim,and against the residents of Pekod.Kill them2 and devote them to destruction.3Do all that I have commanded you,”declares the LORD.22“The noise of battle is in the land—the noise of great destruction.23How the hammer of the whole earthlies broken and shattered!What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

24I laid a snare for you, O Babylon,and you were caught before you knew it.You were found and capturedbecause you challenged the LORD.25The LORD has opened His armoryand brought out His weapons of wrath,for this is the work of the Lord GOD of Hostsin the land of the Chaldeans.

26Come against herfrom the farthest border.Break open her granaries;pile her up like mounds of grain.Devote her to destruction;leave her no survivors.27Kill all her young bulls;let them go down to the slaughter.Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.

28Listen to the fugitives and refugeesfrom the land of Babylon,declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,the vengeance for His temple.

Read all of Jeremiah 50

Notes

1. Jeremiah 50:10 Or Babylonia ↩
2. Jeremiah 50:21 LXX Avenge, O sword, ↩
3. Jeremiah 50:21 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering; also in verse 26. ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Jeremiah 50