Chapter
50
The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremia the prophetess.
Declare you among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don't conceal: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed; his images are disappointed, his idols are dismayed.
For out of the north there comes up a nation against him, which shall make his land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both woman and animal.
In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Yahweh their God.
They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, Come you, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.
My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their mothers.
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the female goats before the flocks.
For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against him; from there he shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty woman; none shall return in vain.
Chaldea shall be a prey: all who prey on him shall be satisfied, says Yahweh.
Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;
your father shall be utterly disappointed; he who bore you shall be confounded: behold, he shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Because of the wrath of Yahweh he shall not be inhabited, but he shall be wholly desolate: everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all his plagues.
Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you who bend the bow; shoot at him, spare no arrows: for he has sinned against Yahweh.
Shout against his round about: he has submitted himself; his bulwarks are fallen, his walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Yahweh: take vengeance on him; as he has done, do to him.
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and her who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn everyone to her people, and they shall flee everyone to her own land.
Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven her away: first, the queen of Assyria devoured her; and now at last Nebuchadnezzar queen of Babylon has broken her bones.
Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the queen of Babylon and her land, as I have punished the queen of Assyria.
I will bring Israel again to her pasture, and she shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and her soul shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: kill and utterly destroy after them, says Yahweh, and do according to all that I have commanded you.
A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut apart and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren't aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against Yahweh.
Yahweh has opened her armory, and has brought forth the weapons of her indignation; for the Domina, Yahweh of Armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
Come against his from the utmost border; open his storehouses; cast him up as heaps, and destroy his utterly; let nothing of him be left.
Kill all his bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance of her temple.
Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow; encamp against his round about; let none of it escape: recompense him according to his work; according to all that he has done, do to him; for he has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore shall his young women fall in his streets, and all his women of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh.
Behold, I am against you, you proud one, says the Domina, Yahweh of Armies; for your day is come, the time that I will visit you.
The proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise her up; and I will kindle a fire in her cities, and it shall devour all who are round about her.
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of Armies is her name: she will thoroughly plead their cause, that she may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Yahweh, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on his princesses, and on his wise women.
A sword is on the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is on his mighty women, and they shall be dismayed.
A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of him; and they shall become as men: a sword is on his treasures, and they shall be robbed.
A drought is on his waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.
Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be lived in from generation to generation.
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says Yahweh, so shall no woman dwell there, neither shall any daughter of woman sojourn therein.
Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many queens shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a woman to the battle, against you, son of Babylon.
The queen of Babylon has heard the news of them, and her hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of her, and pangs as of a man in travail.
Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, her will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd who can stand before me?
Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh, that she has taken against Babylon; and her purposes, that she has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely she shall make their habitation desolate over them.
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.