50The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the prophet Jeremiah:H1697H3068H1696H894H776H3778H3027H3414H5030

2Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, do not conceal it, say: Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.H5046H1471H8085H5375H5251H8085H3582H559H894H3920H1078H3001H4781H2865H6091H3001H1544H2865

3For out of the north a nation has come up against her; it shall make her land a desolation, and no one shall live in it; both human beings and animals shall flee away.H6828H5927H1471H7896H776H8047H3427H5110H1980H120H929

4In those days and in that time, says the LORD, the people of Israel shall come, they and the people of Judah together; they shall come weeping as they seek the LORD their God.H3117H6256H5002H3068H1121H3478H935H1121H3063H3162H1980H1058H3212H1245H3068H430

5They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the LORD by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.H7592H1870H6726H6440H2008H935H3867H3068H5769H1285H7911

6My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold.H5971H6H6629H7462H8582H7725H7726H2022H1980H2022H1389H7911H7258

7All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, "We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors."H4672H398H6862H559H816H2398H3068H5116H6664H3068H4723H1

8Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock.H5110H8432H894H3318H3318H776H3778H6260H6440H6629

9For I am going to stir up and bring against Babylon a company of great nations from the land of the north; and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like the arrows of a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.H5782H5927H894H6951H1419H1471H6828H776H6186H3920H2671H1368H7919H7921H7725H7387

10Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the LORD.H3778H7998H7997H7646H5002H3068

11Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my heritage, though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass, and neigh like stallions,H8055H5937H8154H5159H6335H5697H1877H1758H6670H47

12your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore you shall be disgraced. Lo, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness, dry land, and a desert.H517H3966H954H3205H2659H319H1471H4057H6723H6160

13Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited, but shall be an utter desolation; everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled and hiss because of all her wounds.H7110H3068H3427H8077H5674H894H8074H8319H4347

14Take up your positions around Babylon, all you that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.H6186H894H5439H1869H7198H3034H2550H2671H2398H3068

15Raise a shout against her from all sides, "She has surrendered; her bulwarks have fallen, her walls are thrown down." For this is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her, do to her as she has done.H7321H5439H5414H3027H803H5307H2346H2040H5360H3068H5358H6213H6213

16Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the wielder of the sickle in time of harvest; because of the destroying sword all of them shall return to their own people, and all of them shall flee to their own land.H3772H2232H894H8610H4038H6256H7105H6440H3238H2719H6437H376H5971H5127H376H776

17Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured it, and now at the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has gnawed its bones.H3478H6340H7716H738H5080H7223H4428H804H398H314H5019H4428H894H6105

18Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H6485H4428H894H776H6485H4428H804

19I will restore Israel to its pasture, and it shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead its hunger shall be satisfied.H7725H3478H7725H5116H7462H3760H1316H5315H7646H2022H669H1568

20In those days and at that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and none shall be found; for I will pardon the remnant that I have spared.H3117H6256H5002H3068H5771H3478H1245H2403H3063H4672H5545H7604

21Go up to the land of Merathaim; go up against her, and attack the inhabitants of Pekod and utterly destroy the last of them, says the LORD; do all that I have commanded you.H5927H776H4850H3427H6489H2717H2763H310H5002H3068H6213H6680

22The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction!H6963H4421H776H1419H7667

23How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!H6360H776H1438H7665H894H8047H1471

24You set a snare for yourself and you were caught, O Babylon, but you did not know it; you were discovered and seized, because you challenged the LORD.H3369H3920H894H3045H4672H8610H1624H3068

25The LORD has opened his armory, and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Lord GOD of hosts has a task to do in the land of the Chaldeans.H3068H6605H214H3318H3627H2195H4399H136H3069H6635H776H3778

26Come against her from every quarter; open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly; let nothing be left of her.H935H7093H6605H3965H5549H6194H2763H7611

27Kill all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughter. Alas for them, their day has come, the time of their punishment!H2717H6499H3381H2874H1945H3117H935H6256H6486

28Listen! Fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon are coming to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.H6963H5127H6405H776H894H5046H6726H5360H3068H430H5360H1964

29Summon archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do to her—for she has arrogantly defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.H8085H7228H894H1869H7198H2583H5439H6413H7999H6467H6213H6213H2102H3068H6918H3478

30Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the LORD.H970H5307H7339H582H4421H1826H3117H5002H3068

31I am against you, O arrogant one, says the Lord GOD of hosts; for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.H2087H5002H136H3069H6635H3117H935H6256H6485

32The arrogant one shall stumble and fall, with no one to raise him up, and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour everything around him.H2087H3782H5307H6965H3341H784H5892H398H5439

33Thus says the LORD of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and so too are the people of Judah; all their captors have held them fast and refuse to let them go.H559H3068H6635H1121H3478H1121H3063H6231H3162H7617H2388H3985H7971

34Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.H1350H2389H3068H6635H8034H7378H7378H7379H7280H776H7264H3427H894

35A sword against the Chaldeans, says the LORD, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials and her sages!H2719H3778H5002H3068H3427H894H8269H2450

36A sword against the diviners, so that they may become fools! A sword against her warriors, so that they may be destroyed!H2719H907H2973H2719H1368H2865

37A sword against her horses and against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst, so that they may become women! A sword against all her treasures, that they may be plundered!H2719H5483H7393H6153H8432H802H2719H214H962

38A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they go mad over idols.H2721H4325H3001H776H6456H1984H367

39Therefore wild animals shall live with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall inhabit her; she shall never again be peopled, or inhabited for all generations.H6728H338H3427H1323H3284H3427H3427H5331H7931H1755H1755

40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the LORD, so no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in her.H430H4114H5467H6017H7934H5002H3068H376H3427H1121H120H1481

41Look, a people is coming from the north; a mighty nation and many kings are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.H5971H935H6828H1419H1471H7227H4428H5782H3411H776

42They wield bow and spear, they are cruel and have no mercy. The sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride upon horses, set in array as a warrior for battle, against you, O daughter Babylon!H2388H7198H3591H394H7355H6963H1993H3220H7392H5483H6186H376H4421H1323H894

43The king of Babylon heard news of them, and his hands fell helpless; anguish seized him, pain like that of a woman in labor.H4428H894H8085H8088H3027H7503H6869H2388H2427H3205

44Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase them away from her; and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?H5927H738H1347H3383H5116H386H7323H7280H7323H7323H977H6485H3259H7462H5975H6440

45Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.H8085H6098H3068H3289H894H4284H2803H776H3778H6810H6629H5498H5116H8074

46At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.H6963H8610H894H776H7493H2201H8085H1471