A Message Concerning Babylon

50 The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:

• 2 “Declare among the nations and proclaim, and lift up a banner.
• Proclaim, you must not conceal it.
• Say, ‘Babylon is captured,
  • Bel is ashamed,
  • Merodach is filled with terror,
• her idols are ashamed,
  • her idols are filled with terror.
• 3 For a nation will come up against her from the north. It will make her land as a horror,
  • and an inhabitant will not be in her.
• From humans[fn] to animals[fn] they all will wander off.
  • They will go away.
  • 4 In those days and in that time,’ ” declares[fn] Yahweh, “the people[fn] of Israel will come,
  • they and the people[fn] of Judah together.
• Weeping as they go ,[fn] they will go,
  • and Yahweh their God they will seek.
  • 5 They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there.
• They will come and join themselves to Yahweh
  • by an everlasting covenant[fn] that will not be forgotten.
  • 6 My people have become lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray.
• They led them away to the mountains.
• From mountain to hill they have gone,
  • they have forgotten their resting place.
  • 7 All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty,
• because[fn] they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture ,[fn]
  • even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’[fn]
  • 8 Flee from the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans.
• Go out and be like he-goats
  • before[fn] the flock.
  • 9 For look, I am going to stir up, and I am going to bring against Babylon
• a contingent of great nations
  • from the land of the north.
• And they will draw up a battle formation against her,
  • from there she will be captured.
• Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success,
  • he does not return without success.
  • 10 And Chaldea will be as booty, all those who plunder her will be satisfied,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 11 “Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my inheritance,
• though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass,
  • and you neigh like the powerful stallions,
  • 12 your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.[fn]
• Look, she will be the least of the nations,
  • a desert,[fn] dry land, and wilderness.[fn]
  • 13 Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited, but she will be a wasteland, all of her.
• Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled
  • and will hiss because of all her wounds.
  • 14 Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around, all those who bend the bow, shoot at her.
• You must not spare arrows,[fn]
  • for she has sinned against Yahweh.
  • 15 Raise a war cry against her on all sides. She has surrendered .[fn]
• Her towers have fallen,
  • her walls are ruined.
• For this is the vengeance of Yahweh.
  • Take revenge on her.
• As she has done to others,
  • so do to her.
  • 16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest.
• Because of[fn] the sword of the oppressor
  • each one will turn to their people,
  • and each one will flee to their land.
  • 17 Israel is a sheep scattered, lions drove them away.
• The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria,
  • and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones.”
• 18 Therefore[fn] thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land
  • just as I punished the king of Assyria.
  • 19 And I will restore Israel to its pasture, and it will feed on Carmel, and in Bashan,
• and on the hills[fn] of Ephraim, and in Gilead
  • its hunger will be satisfied.
  • 20 In those days and at that time,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none,
• and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found,
  • for I will forgive those I left behind.
  • 21 To the land of Merathaim, go up against her,
• and against the inhabitants of Pekod,
  • massacre and destroy them,” declares[fn] Yahweh,
• “and do according to all that I have commanded you.
  • 22 The sound of battle is in the land, and great destruction.
  • 23 How the blacksmith’s hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!
  • 24 I laid a bird snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon. But you yourself did not know.
• You were discovered and seized,
  • because with Yahweh you measured yourself.
  • 25 Yahweh has opened his armory, and he has brought out the weapons of his wrath,
• for it is a word for my Lord Yahweh of hosts
  • in the land of the Chaldeans.
  • 26 Come against her from the end, open her granaries.
• Pile her up like heaps and destroy her.
  • Let there be no remnant for her.
  • 27 Massacre all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughtering.
• Woe to them, for their day has come,
  • the time of their punishment.
  • 28 There is the sound of fugitives and survivors from the land of Babylon,
• to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God,
  • the vengeance for his temple.
  • 29 Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow.
• Encamp all around her,
  • there must not be for her an escape.
• Take revenge on her according to her deeds.
  • According to all that she has done, so do to her.
• For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently,
  • against the Holy One of Israel.
  • 30 Therefore[fn] her young men will fall in her public squares, and all her soldiers[fn] will perish on that day,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 31 “Look, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares[fn] Lord Yahweh of hosts,
• “for your day has come,
  • the time when I will punish you.
  • 32 And the arrogant one will stumble and fall, and there is no one who raises him up.
• And I will kindle a fire in his cities,
  • and it will devour everything around him.”
• 33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:“The people[fn] of Israel are oppressed,
  • and the people[fn] of Judah likewise,
• for[fn] all their captors have seized them,
  • they refuse to let them go free.
  • 34 Their redeemer is strong, his name is Yahweh of hosts.
• Surely he will plead their case,
  • in order to make peace for the earth,
• but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
  • 35 A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
• and against her officials,
  • and against her wise men.
  • 36 A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish.
• A sword against her warriors,
  • and they will be filled with terror.
  • 37 A sword against his horses, and against his chariots,[fn]
• and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her,
  • so that they may become as women.
• A sword against her treasures,
  • so that they may be plundered.
  • 38 A drought will come against her waters, and they will dry up,
• for it is a land of images,
  • and because of the frightful objects, they act like madmen.
  • 39 Therefore[fn] desert creatures will live there[fn] with jackals, and daughters of ostriches[fn] will inhabit her.
• And she will not be inhabited again forever ,[fn]
  • and she will not be dwelt in for all generations .[fn]
  • 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” declares[fn] Yahweh,
• “no one will live there,
  • and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in her.
  • 41 Look, a people is about to come from the north,
• and a great nation and many kings are woken up
  • from the remotest part of the earth.
  • 42 They keep hold of bow and short sword. They are cruel and they have no mercy.
• Their sound is like the sea, it roars,
  • and upon horses they ride.
• Drawn up for battle as a man for the battle,
  • against you, O daughter of Babylon.
  • 43 The king of Babylon heard their report and his hands grew slack.
• Anxiety has seized him,
  • fear and pain like the woman who gives birth.
  • 44 Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets[fn] of the Jordan against a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream ,[fn]
• so I will chase them away quickly[fn] from her,
  • and I will appoint whoever is chosen over her.
• For who is like me, and who can summon me,
  • and who is this shepherd who can stand before me ?[fn]
  • 45 Therefore[fn] hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Babylon,
• and his plans
  • that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans.
• Surely[fn] they will drag them away,
  • the little ones of the flock.
• Surely[fn] he will cause their grazing place
  • to be desolate over them.
  • 46 At the sound, ‘Babylon has been captured,’ the earth will quake,
• and a cry for help among the nations
  • will be heard.”
• 51 Thus says Yahweh:“Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon
  • and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.
  • 2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her,
• and they will lay waste her land,
  • for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.
  • 3 Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow, and let him not rise high in his body armor.
• And you must not spare her young men;
  • destroy her whole army.
  • 4 And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.
  • 5 For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God, from Yahweh of hosts,
• though their land is full of guilt
  • against the Holy One of Israel.”
  • 6 Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life. You must not perish because of her guilt.
• For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh,
  • he will repay her what is deserved.
  • 7 Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh, making drunk all the earth.
• The nations drank of her wine.
  • Therefore[fn] the nations acted like madmen.
  • 8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her!
• Take balm for her wounds,
  • perhaps she may be healed.
  • 9 We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country,
• for her judgment has reached to the heavens,
  • and it has been lifted up to the skies.
  • 10 Yahweh has brought forth our vindication. Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
  • 11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
• Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it,
  • for that is the vengeance of Yahweh,
  • the vengeance for his temple.
  • 12 Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; post a strong watch ,[fn] post watchmen, prepare the ambushes,
• for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed
  • what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
  • 13 O you who live by mighty waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your life .[fn]
  • 14 Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, “Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts,[fn]
  • and they will sing over you a war cry.”
  • 15 He is the one who made the earth by his power, the one who created the world by his wisdom,
  • and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
  • 16 At the giving of his voice there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
• and he causes the patches of mist
  • to go up from the end of the earth.
• He makes lightning for the rain,
  • and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
  • 17 All humankind turns out to be stupid, without knowledge.
• Every goldsmith is put to shame
  • by the divine image.
• For his cast image is a lie,
  • and there is no breath in them.
  • 18 They are worthless, a work of mockery.
• At the time of their punishment,
  • they will perish.
  • 19 The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the creator of everything ,[fn]
  • and the tribe of his inheritance.
• Yahweh of hosts is his name.
  • 20 He says, “You are a war club for me, a weapon of battle,
• and I smash nations with you,
  • and I destroy kingdoms with you.
  • 21 And I smash the horse with you, and its rider,
• and I smash the chariot with you,
  • and its rider.
  • 22 And I smash man and woman with you, and I smash the old man and the boy with you,
  • and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.
  • 23 And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you, and I smash the farmer and his team with you,
  • and I smash the governors and the officials with you.
  • 24 And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea,
• all their wickedness that they have done in Zion
  • before your eyes,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 25 “Look, I am against you, O mountain of the destruction,” declares[fn] Yahweh,
  • “the one that destroys the whole earth.
• And I will stretch out my hand against you,
  • and I will roll you down from the cliffs,
  • and I will make you as a mountain burned away.
  • 26 They will not take from you a stone for a corner,
• and a stone for a foundation,
  • for you will be an everlasting desolation ,”[fn] declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 27 Raise a banner in the land; blow a horn among the nations;
• prepare for holy war against her;
  • summon the nations against her,
• the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
  • summon against her an official;
  • bring up horses[fn] like bristling creeping locusts.[fn]
  • 28 Prepare the nations for holy war against her, the kings of the Medes,
• with their governors and all their officials,
  • and every land of their dominion.
  • 29 And the land quakes and writhes, for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
• to make the land of Babylon as a horror,
  • without[fn] inhabitant.
  • 30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they remain in the strongholds,
• their power has dried up,
  • they have become as women.
• Her dwelling places are set on fire,
  • her bars are broken.
  • 31 one runner runs to meet another runner, and one messenger to meet another messenger,
• to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured,
  • from end to end .[fn]
  • 32 And the fords have been seized, and the reed marshes have been burned with fire,
  • and the soldiers[fn] are horrified.
• 33 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
  • at the time it is trodden down,
• just a little while[fn]
  • and the time of the harvest will come for her.”
  • 34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me and sucked me dry;
• he has made me an empty vessel;
  • he has swallowed me like the sea monster;
• he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
  • he has rinsed me.
  • 35 “ May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,” the inhabitants[fn] of Zion will say;
• and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
  • Jerusalem will say.
• 36 Therefore[fn] thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am going to contend your case,
  • and I will avenge your vengeance,
• and I will cause her sea to dry up,
  • and I will cause her fountain to dry up.
  • 37 And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals,
• an object of horror, and an object of hissing,
  • without[fn] inhabitants.
  • 38 They will roar together like the young lions, they will growl like the cubs of lions.
  • 39 At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk,
• so that they will fall into a swoon,
  • and they will sleep an everlasting sleep ,[fn]
  • and they will not wake up,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 40 “I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter, like rams and goats.
  • 41 How Sheshach is captured, and the glory of all the earth is seized!
• How Babylon has become as an object of horror
  • among the nations!
  • 42 The sea has risen over Babylon, she has been covered by the roar of its waves.
  • 43 Her cities have become as an object of horror, a dry land and a wilderness,[fn]
• a land in which no person lives,
  • nor does a son of humankind pass through it.
  • 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will wrench out from his mouth what he has swallowed .[fn]
• And the nations will not stream towards him any longer
  • what’s worse ,[fn] the wall of Babylon has fallen.
  • 45 Come out from her midst, my people, and save each one his life
  • from the burning anger of[fn] Yahweh.
  • 46 Now so that you are not fainthearted ,[fn] and you are afraid at the rumors[fn] that are heard in the land—
• and in the year the rumor comes,
  • and in the year after it the rumor,
• and violence is in the land,
  • with ruler against ruler—
  • 47 therefore[fn] look, days are coming, and I will punish the images of Babylon,
• and all her land will be put to shame,
  • and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.
  • 48 Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon,
• for from the north
  • the destroyers will come to it,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 49 Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel, but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.
  • 50 Survivors of the sword, go! You must not linger!
• Remember Yahweh from far away,
  • and let Jerusalem come to your mind .[fn]
  • 51 We are ashamed, for we have heard taunts,[fn]
• disgrace covers our faces,
  • for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.
  • 52 “ Therefore[fn] look, days are coming,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “and I will punish her images,
  • and the fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.
  • 53 Though Babylon goes up to the heavens, and though she fortifies the high place of her strength,
  • from me destroyers will come to her,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 54 The sound of a cry for help from Babylon, and a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.
  • 55 For Yahweh is devastating Babylon, and he obliterates her loud noise[fn] from her.
• Their waves roar like mighty waters,
  • the roar of their voices[fn] resounds.
  • 56 For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, and her warriors are captured.
• Their bows are broken;
  • for Yahweh is a God of recompense,
  • certainly he will repay.
  • 57 “And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men, her governors, and her officials, and her warriors,
• and they will sleep an everlasting sleep ,[fn]
  • and they will not wake up,”
• declares[fn] the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.
• 58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:“The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished,
  • and her high gates will burn with fire,
• and the peoples will labor for nothing ,[fn]
  • and the nations for fire ,[fn]
• and they will grow weary.”