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Moff JER Chapter 50

◄ JER 50 ► ║ ©

50 The Eternal’s message for the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:

Tell the nations and proclaim it,

let the news go free,

that Babylon is captured,

her idols are disgraced,

her blocks of gods are in dismay,

Bel in disgrace and Marduk in dismay!

A foe from the north has attacked her,

to lay waste her land,

till not a man dwells there,

till man and beast are gone.

And then, says the Eternal, at that hour

the Israelites return,

they and the men of Judah,

wending their way weeping

in search of the Eternal their God,

asking the way to Sion,

their faces turned to it,

calling each other to join the Eternal

in a lasting compact,

never to be forgotten.

My people have been lost sheep,

for their shepherds led them astray,

and turned them loose on the bare hills;

where up and down they wandered,

all forgetful of the fold.

Those who caught them all devoured them;

“ ’Tis no sin,” said their foes,

“for they have offended the Eternal One,

their true Fold and their father’s Hope.”

Fly now from Babylon, leave Chaldea,

lead those who leave, like he- goats.

For here am I rousing against. Babylon

a horde of nations from the north,

to battle with her mightily

until they master her,

shooting like expert archers,

who never go empty-handed;

no, Chaldea, shall be their booty,

her plunderers shall all get their fill.

Though you rejoice now and exult,

you Babylonians, plundering my own people,

though you wanton like calves at the grass,

and neigh like lusty stallions,

your mother-city shall be sore disgraced,

and she who bore you shall be shamed--

left in the rear of all the nations,

a land deserted, desolate, and dry;

an empty ruin shall she lie,

under the wrath of the Eternal,

till all whistle in horror, passing by,

appalled at all the blows that beat down Babylon.

Set upon Babylon, all round,

all ye who bend the bow;

spare not your arrows, shoot at her--

she has offended the Eternal.

Raise the war-cry round her--

she gives way,

her bastions are stormed,

her walls are down!

’Tis the Eternal’s vengeance on her;

take your revenge,

treat her as she treated others!

Tear from Babylon every sower,

every reaper with his sickle;

let her foreigners all flee,

each scurrying home to his own land,

to escape the sweep of the sword.

A scattered flock is Israel,

harried by lions,

mauled first by the Assyrian king,

now gnawed by Nebuchadrezzar,

by the king of Babylon.

Therefore, the Lord of hosts declares,

the God of Israel,

I punish Babylon, king and land,

as I punished the Assyrian king;

I bring back Israel to his homestead,

to pasture on Karmel and Bashan,

till he can eat his fill

in Gilead and on Ephraim’s hill.

Then, the Eternal promises, at that hour,

no guilt in Israel shall be discovered,

nor any sin detected within Judah;

for whom I spare, I pardon.

21 Move against Merathaim,

press hard the men of Pekod,

slay them, devastate their land--

so carrying out the Eternal’s own command.

Listen, there is the war-cry!

Chaldea crashes!

What a hammering and shattering

for the Hammer of the world!

What a spectacle of horror

has Babylon become!

Aha! I have trapped you, Babylon,

taken you unawares!

I have tracked you, I have caught you,

for defying the Eternal!

The Eternal has opened his arsenal

and brought out his arms of wrath;

for the Lord, the Lord of hosts,

has work before him in Chaldea.

Rush at her from every quarter,

rifle her granaries,

pile up her stores of grain,

and devastate all of her,

leaving no trace of her.

Slay her bulls of warriors,

butcher every one of them!

Woe betide them, their hour has come,

their day of doom!

Listen to the waifs escaping

from the land of Babylon,

to tell in Sion how our God,

how the Eternal has avenged his temple.

Summon archers against Babylon,

all who bend the bow;

beleaguer her,

let not a man escape.

Requite her for her crimes,

treat her as she treated others--

she and her insolence to the Eternal,

the Majestic One of Israel!

So shall her youth fall in the open street,

and all her warriors in death be silenced.

I am attacking you, Queen Insolence,

says the Lord, the Lord of hosts;

your hour has come,

the day for me to doom you.

Queen Insolence falls down,

and her no one shall raise;

I set her forest ablaze,

till the flames shall burn her thickets.

33 The Lord of hosts proclaims:

“Israelites and men of Judah

are trampled down together;

their captors hold them fast,

and will not let them go.

But theirs is a strong champion,

his name the Lord of hosts;

he will take their part,

and daunt the Babylonians,

that the world may live at peace.”

Sword, strike the Chaldeans (the Eternal orders),

strike all the folk of Babylon,

her nobles and her sages!

Sword, strike the soothsayers,

and they shall play the fool!

Sword, strike her soldiers,

and they shall be in terror!

Sword, strike her chariots and horses,

and all her foreign crowd,

and they shall be weak as women!

Sword, strike her treasures,

and they shall be robbed!

Sword, strike her streams,

and they shall be dried up!

For it is a land of images,

and the folk boast of their idols;

so wolves and wildcats shall live there,

ostriches shall quarter there;

never shall it be tenanted,

forlorn from age to age.

It shall be as when God once overthrew

Sodom, Gomorrah, and the towns around;

not a soul shall live there,

not a man shall dwell there.

A people is coming,

out of the north-land,

a power is stirring, a host of kings,

from the far ends of earth!

Bow and javelin they seize,

they are cruel, pitiless;

their din is like the roaring sea,

they ride on horses,

mustering like one man to fight you,

maiden Babylon.

The king of Babylon hears the news,

his hands are limp,

panic seizes him,

pain like a woman’s in travail.

Like shepherds when the lion leaves

the jungle of Jordan for the pasture,

I will chase them away suddenly,

and seize their rarest rams.

Who can match me? Who dare challenge me?

What shepherd can face me?

Hear, then, the Eternal’s plan against Babylon,

his purpose for the Chaldeans:

their shepherd lads shall be dragged away,

and the farm appalled at their fate!

Earth trembles at the crash of Babylon’s capture,

the noise resounds all through the nations.

◄ JER 50 ► ║ ©

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