50The Message of GOD through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:H1697H3068H1696H894H776H3778H3027H3414H50302"Get the word out to the nations! Preach it! Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide: Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame, god-Marduk exposed as a fraud. All her god-idols shuffling in shame, all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.H5046H1471H8085H5375H5251H8085H3582H559H894H3920H1078H3001H4781H2865H6091H3001H1544H28653For a nation will come out of the north to attack her, reduce her cities to rubble. Empty of life—no animals, no people— not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.H6828H5927H1471H7896H776H8047H3427H5110H1980H120H9294"In those days, at that time"—GOD's Decree— "the people of Israel will come, And the people of Judah with them. Walking and weeping, they'll seek me, their GOD.H3117H6256H5002H3068H1121H3478H935H1121H3063H3162H1980H1058H3212H1245H3068H4305They'll ask directions to Zion and set their faces toward Zion. They'll come and hold tight to GOD, bound in a covenant eternal they'll never forget.H7592H1870H6726H6440H2008H935H3867H3068H5769H1285H79116"My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of home, couldn't remember where they came from.H5971H6H6629H7462H8582H7725H7726H2022H1980H2022H1389H7911H72587Everyone who met them took advantage of them. Their enemies had no qualms: 'Fair game' they said. 'They walked out on GOD. They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.'H4672H398H6862H559H816H2398H3068H5116H6664H3068H4723H18"But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Be rid of that Babylonian country. On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don't you be led. Lead the way home!H5110H8432H894H3318H3318H776H3778H6260H6440H66299Do you see what I'm doing? I'm rallying a host of nations against Babylon. They'll come out of the north, attack and take her. Oh, they know how to fight, these armies. They never come home empty-handed.H5782H5927H894H6951H1419H1471H6828H776H6186H3920H2671H1368H7919H7921H7725H738710Babylon is ripe for picking! All her plunderers will fill their bellies!" GOD's Decree.H3778H7998H7997H7646H5002H306811"You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn't you? You lived it up, exploiting and using my people, Frisky calves romping in lush pastures, wild stallions out having a good time!H8055H5937H8154H5159H6335H5697H1877H1758H6670H4712Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you. The woman who bore you wouldn't be pleased. Look at what's come of you! A nothing nation! Rubble and garbage and weeds!H517H3966H954H3205H2659H319H1471H4057H6723H616013Emptied of life by my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown.H7110H3068H3427H8077H5674H894H8074H8319H434714Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down! Throw everything you have against her. Hold nothing back. Knock her flat. She's sinned—oh, how she's sinned, against me!H6186H894H5439H1869H7198H3034H2550H2671H2398H306815Shout battle cries from every direction. All the fight has gone out of her. Her defenses have been flattened, her walls smashed. 'Operation GOD's Vengeance.' Pile on the vengeance! Do to her as she has done. Give her a good dose of her own medicine!H7321H5439H5414H3027H803H5307H2346H2040H5360H3068H5358H6213H621316Destroy her farms and farmers, ravage her fields, empty her barns. And you captives, while the destruction rages, get out while the getting's good, get out fast and run for home.H3772H2232H894H8610H4038H6256H7105H6440H3238H2719H6437H376H5971H5127H376H77617"Israel is a scattered flock, hunted down by lions. The king of Assyria started the carnage. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Has completed the job, gnawing the bones clean."H3478H6340H7716H738H5080H7223H4428H804H398H314H5019H4428H894H610518And now this is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, has to say: "Just watch! I'm bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land, the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H6485H4428H894H776H6485H4428H80419But Israel I'll bring home to good pastures. He'll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan, On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead. He will eat to his heart's content.H7725H3478H7725H5116H7462H3760H1316H5315H7646H2022H669H156820In those days and at that time"—GOD's Decree— "they'll look high and low for a sign of Israel's guilt—nothing; Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah's sin—nothing. These people that I've saved will start out with a clean slate.H3117H6256H5002H3068H5771H3478H1245H2403H3063H4672H5545H760421"Attack Merathaim, land of rebels! Go after Pekod, country of doom! Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep." GOD's Decree. "These are my orders. Do what I tell you.H5927H776H4850H3427H6489H2717H2763H310H5002H3068H6213H668022"The thunderclap of battle shakes the foundations!H6963H4421H776H1419H766723The Hammer has been hammered, smashed and splintered, Babylon pummeled beyond recognition.H6360H776H1438H7665H894H8047H147124I set out a trap and you were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap! That's what you get for taking on GOD.H3369H3920H894H3045H4672H8610H1624H306825"I, GOD, opened my arsenal. I brought out my weapons of wrath. The Master, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, has a job to do in Babylon.H3068H6605H214H3318H3627H2195H4399H136H3069H6635H776H377826Come at her from all sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave nothing! Leave no one!H935H7093H6605H3965H5549H6194H2763H761127Kill all her young turks. Send them to their doom! Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday! The clock has finally run out on them.H2717H6499H3381H2874H1945H3117H935H6256H648628And here's a surprise: Runaways and escapees from Babylon Show up in Zion reporting the news of GOD's vengeance, taking vengeance for my own Temple.H6963H5127H6405H776H894H5046H6726H5360H3068H430H5360H196429"Call in the troops against Babylon, anyone who can shoot straight! Tighten the noose! Leave no loopholes! Give her back as good as she gave, a dose of her own medicine! Her brazen insolence is an outrage against GOD, The Holy of Israel.H8085H7228H894H1869H7198H2583H5439H6413H7999H6467H6213H6213H2102H3068H6918H347830And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets, her soldiers dead, silent forever." GOD's Decree.H970H5307H7339H582H4421H1826H3117H5002H306831"Do you get it, Mister Pride? I'm your enemy!" Decree of the Master, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. "Time's run out on you: That's right: It's Doomsday.H2087H5002H136H3069H6635H3117H935H6256H648532Mister Pride will fall flat on his face. No one will offer him a hand. I'll set his towns on fire. The fire will spread wild through the country."H2087H3782H5307H6965H3341H784H5892H398H543933And here's more from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies: "The people of Israel are beaten down, the people of Judah along with them. Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel. They won't let go.H559H3068H6635H1121H3478H1121H3063H6231H3162H7617H2388H3985H797134But the Rescuer is strong: GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. Yes, I will take their side, I'll come to their rescue. I'll soothe their land, but rough up the people of Babylon.H1350H2389H3068H6635H8034H7378H7378H7379H7280H776H7264H3427H89435"It's all-out war in Babylon"—GOD's Decree— "total war against people, leaders, and the wise!H2719H3778H5002H3068H3427H894H8269H245036War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all! War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!H2719H907H2973H2719H1368H286537War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders! War to the death on her banks—looted!H2719H5483H7393H6153H8432H802H2719H214H96238War to the death on her water supply—drained dry! A land of make-believe gods gone crazy—hobgoblins!H2721H4325H3001H776H6456H1984H36739The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions, night-owls and vampire bats. No one will ever live there again. The land will reek with the stench of death.H6728H338H3427H1323H3284H3427H3427H5331H7931H1755H175540It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, the cities I did away with." GOD's Decree. "No one will live there again. No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.H430H4114H5467H6017H7934H5002H3068H376H3427H1121H120H148141"And now, watch this! People pouring out of the north, hordes of people, A mob of kings stirred up from far-off places.H5971H935H6828H1419H1471H7227H4428H5782H3411H77642Flourishing deadly weapons, barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless. Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers, they come riding fierce stallions, In battle formation, ready to fight you, Daughter Babylon!H2388H7198H3591H394H7355H6963H1993H3220H7392H5483H6186H376H4421H1323H89443Babylon's king hears them coming. He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag. Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby.H4428H894H8085H8088H3027H7503H6869H2388H2427H320544"And now watch this: Like a lion coming up from the thick jungle of the Jordan, Looking for prey in the mountain pastures, I'll take over and pounce. I'll take my pick of the flock—and who's to stop me? All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me."H5927H738H1347H3383H5116H386H7323H7280H7323H7323H977H6485H3259H7462H5975H644045So, listen to this plan that GOD has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he's prepared for dealing with Chaldea: Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable—mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off. Believe it or not, the flock in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.H8085H6098H3068H3289H894H4284H2803H776H3778H6810H6629H5498H5116H807446When the shout goes up, "Babylon's down!" the very earth will shudder at the sound. The news will be heard all over the world.H6963H8610H894H776H7493H2201H8085H1471
Dublin, OH
