Jeremiah 50 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

50 The word that the Lord spoke ^(A)against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

² “Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and ^[a]set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is ^(B)taken, ^(C)Bel is shamed.
^[b]Merodach is broken in pieces;
^(D)Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
^{3 (E)}For out of the north ^(F)a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall ^[c]move, they shall depart,
Both man and beast.

⁴ “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The children of Israel shall come,
^(G)They and the children of Judah together;
^(H)With continual weeping they shall come,
^(I)And seek the Lord their God.
⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion,
With their faces toward it, saying,
‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
In ^(J)a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’

⁶ “My people have been ^(K)lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them ^(L)astray;
They have turned them away on ^(M)the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
⁷ All who found them have ^(N)devoured them;
And ^(O)their adversaries said, ^(P)‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, ^(Q)the habitation of justice,
The Lord, ^(R)the hope of their fathers.’

⁸ “Move^(S) from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the ^[d]rams before the flocks.
^{9 (T)}For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of ^[e]an expert warrior;
^(U)None shall return in vain.
¹⁰ And Chaldea shall become plunder;
^(V)All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

¹¹ “Because^(W) you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat ^(X)like a heifer threshing grain,
And you ^[f]bellow like bulls,
¹² Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a ^(Y)wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
¹³ Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
^(Z)But she shall be wholly desolate.
^(AA)Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴ “Put^(AB) yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
All you who bend the bow;
Shoot at her, spare no arrows,
For she has sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵ Shout against her all around;
She has ^(AC)given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
^(AD)Her walls are thrown down;
For ^(AE)it is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her.
As she has done, so do to her.
¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
^(AF)Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷ “Israel is like ^(AG)scattered sheep;
^(AH)The lions have driven him away.
First ^(AI)the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this ^(AJ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

¹⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
As I have punished the king of ^(AK)Assyria.
^{19 (AL)}But I will bring back Israel to his home,
And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
²⁰ In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
^(AM)“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;
For I will pardon those ^(AN)whom I preserve.

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of ^(AO)Pekod.
^[g]Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do ^(AP)according to all that I have commanded you.
^{22 (AQ)}A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
²³ How ^(AR)the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
²⁴ I have laid a snare for you;
You have indeed been ^(AS)trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have ^(AT)contended against the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out ^(AU)the weapons of His indignation;
For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶ Come against her from the farthest border;
Open her storehouses;
Cast her up as heaps of ruins,
And destroy her utterly;
Let nothing of her be left.
²⁷ Slay all her ^(AV)bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of ^(AW)their punishment.
²⁸ The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
^(AX)Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
The vengeance of His temple.

²⁹ “Call together the archers against Babylon.
All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;
Let none of them ^[h]escape.
^(AY)Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
^(AZ)For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
^{30 (BA)}Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,
And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
³¹ “Behold, I am against you,
O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;
“For your day has come,
^[i]The time that I will punish you.
³² The most ^(BB)proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
^(BC)I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”

³³ Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
^{34 (BD)}Their Redeemer is strong;
^(BE)The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their ^(BF)case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵ “A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,
“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,
And ^(BG)against her princes and ^(BH)her wise men.
³⁶ A sword is ^(BI)against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.
A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
³⁷ A sword is against their horses,
Against their chariots,
And against all ^(BJ)the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And ^(BK)they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
^{38 (BL)}A ^[j]drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.
For it is the land of carved images,
And they are insane with their idols.

³⁹ “Therefore^(BM) the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
^(BN)It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
^{40 (BO)}As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man ^(BP)dwell in it.

⁴¹ “Behold,^(BQ) a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
^{42 (BR)}They shall hold the bow and the lance;
^(BS)They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
^(BT)Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³ “The king of Babylon has ^(BU)heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in ^(BV)childbirth.

⁴⁴ “Behold,^(BW) he shall come up like a lion from the ^[k]floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will make them suddenly run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And ^(BX)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

⁴⁵ Therefore hear ^(BY)the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His ^(BZ)purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
^(CA)Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
^{46 (CB)}At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 50:2 lift
2. Jeremiah 50:2 Or Marduk; a Babylonian god
3. Jeremiah 50:3 Or wander
4. Jeremiah 50:8 male goats
5. Jeremiah 50:9 So with some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr.; MT, Tg., Vg. a warrior who makes childless
6. Jeremiah 50:11 Or neigh like steeds
7. Jeremiah 50:21 Or Attack with the sword
8. Jeremiah 50:29 Qr., some Heb. mss., LXX, Tg. add to her
9. Jeremiah 50:31 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. The time of your punishment
10. Jeremiah 50:38 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; Syr. sword; LXX omits A drought is
11. Jeremiah 50:44 Or thicket

Cross references

1. Jeremiah 50:1 : Gen. 10:10; 11:9; 2 Kin. 17:24; Is. 13:1; 47:1; Dan. 1:1; Rev. 14:8
2. Jeremiah 50:2 : Is. 21:9
3. Jeremiah 50:2 : Is. 46:1; Jer. 51:44
4. Jeremiah 50:2 : Jer. 43:12, 13
5. Jeremiah 50:3 : Jer. 51:48; Dan. 5:30, 31
6. Jeremiah 50:3 : Is. 13:17, 18, 20
7. Jeremiah 50:4 : Ezra 2:1; Is. 11:12, 13; Jer. 3:18; 31:31; 33:7; Hos. 1:11
8. Jeremiah 50:4 : Ezra 3:12, 13; [Ps. 126:5]; Jer. 31:9; [Zech. 12:10]
9. Jeremiah 50:4 : Hos. 3:5
10. Jeremiah 50:5 : Jer. 31:31
11. Jeremiah 50:6 : Is. 53:6; [Ezek. 34:15, 16]; Matt. 9:36; 10:6; 1 Pet. 2:25
12. Jeremiah 50:6 : Jer. 23:1; Ezek. 34:2
13. Jeremiah 50:6 : [Jer. 2:20; 3:6, 23]
14. Jeremiah 50:7 : Ps. 79:7
15. Jeremiah 50:7 : Jer. 40:2, 3; Zech. 11:5
16. Jeremiah 50:7 : Jer. 2:3; Dan. 9:16
17. Jeremiah 50:7 : [Ps. 90:1; 91:1]
18. Jeremiah 50:7 : Ps. 22:4; Jer. 14:8; 17:13
19. Jeremiah 50:8 : Is. 48:20; Jer. 51:6, 45; Zech. 2:6, 7; [Rev. 18:4]
20. Jeremiah 50:9 : Jer. 15:14; 51:27
21. Jeremiah 50:9 : 2 Sam. 1:22
22. Jeremiah 50:10 : [Rev. 17:16]
23. Jeremiah 50:11 : Is. 47:6
24. Jeremiah 50:11 : Hos. 10:11
25. Jeremiah 50:12 : Jer. 51:43
26. Jeremiah 50:13 : Jer. 25:12
27. Jeremiah 50:13 : Jer. 49:17
28. Jeremiah 50:14 : Jer. 51:2
29. Jeremiah 50:15 : 1 Chr. 29:24; 2 Chr. 30:8; Lam. 5:6; Ezek. 17:18
30. Jeremiah 50:15 : Jer. 51:58
31. Jeremiah 50:15 : Jer. 51:6, 11
32. Jeremiah 50:16 : Is. 13:14; Jer. 51:9
33. Jeremiah 50:17 : 2 Kin. 24:10, 14
34. Jeremiah 50:17 : Jer. 2:15
35. Jeremiah 50:17 : 2 Kin. 15:29; 17:6; 18:9–13
36. Jeremiah 50:17 : 2 Kin. 24:10–14; 25:1–7
37. Jeremiah 50:18 : Is. 10:12; Ezek. 31:3, 11, 12; Nah. 3:7, 18, 19
38. Jeremiah 50:19 : Is. 65:10; Jer. 33:12; Ezek. 34:13
39. Jeremiah 50:20 : Num. 23:21; Is. 43:25; [Jer. 31:34; Mic. 7:19]
40. Jeremiah 50:20 : Is. 1:9
41. Jeremiah 50:21 : Ezek. 23:23
42. Jeremiah 50:21 : 2 Sam. 16:11; 2 Kin. 18:25; 2 Chr. 36:23; Is. 10:6; 44:28; 48:14
43. Jeremiah 50:22 : Jer. 51:54
44. Jeremiah 50:23 : Is. 14:6; Jer. 51:20–24
45. Jeremiah 50:24 : Jer. 51:8, 31; Dan. 5:30
46. Jeremiah 50:24 : [Is. 45:9]
47. Jeremiah 50:25 : Is. 13:5
48. Jeremiah 50:27 : Ps. 22:12; Is. 34:7; Jer. 46:21
49. Jeremiah 50:27 : Ps. 37:13; Jer. 48:44; Ezek. 7:7
50. Jeremiah 50:28 : Ps. 149:6–9; Jer. 51:10
51. Jeremiah 50:29 : Ps. 137:8; Jer. 51:56; [2 Thess. 1:6]; Rev. 18:6
52. Jeremiah 50:29 : [Is. 47:10]
53. Jeremiah 50:30 : Is. 13:18; Jer. 49:26; 51:4
54. Jeremiah 50:32 : Is. 26:5; Mal. 4:1
55. Jeremiah 50:32 : Jer. 21:14
56. Jeremiah 50:34 : Prov. 23:11; Is. 43:14; Jer. 15:21; 31:11; Rev. 18:8
57. Jeremiah 50:34 : Is. 47:4
58. Jeremiah 50:34 : Jer. 51:36; Mic. 7:9
59. Jeremiah 50:35 : Dan. 5:30
60. Jeremiah 50:35 : Is. 47:13; Jer. 51:57
61. Jeremiah 50:36 : Is. 44:25; Jer. 48:30
62. Jeremiah 50:37 : Jer. 25:20; Ezek. 30:5
63. Jeremiah 50:37 : Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13
64. Jeremiah 50:38 : Is. 44:27; Jer. 51:36; Rev. 16:12
65. Jeremiah 50:39 : Is. 13:21, 22; 34:14; Jer. 51:37; Rev. 18:2
66. Jeremiah 50:39 : Is. 13:20; Jer. 25:12
67. Jeremiah 50:40 : Gen. 19:24, 25; Is. 13:19; Jer. 49:18; [Luke 17:28–30]; 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7
68. Jeremiah 50:40 : Is. 13:20
69. Jeremiah 50:41 : Is. 13:2–5; Jer. 6:22; 25:14; 51:27
70. Jeremiah 50:42 : Jer. 6:23
71. Jeremiah 50:42 : Is. 13:18
72. Jeremiah 50:42 : Is. 5:30
73. Jeremiah 50:43 : Jer. 51:31
74. Jeremiah 50:43 : Jer. 6:24
75. Jeremiah 50:44 : Jer. 49:19–21
76. Jeremiah 50:44 : Job 41:10; Jer. 49:19
77. Jeremiah 50:45 : [Ps. 33:11; Is. 14:24]; Jer. 51:10, 11
78. Jeremiah 50:45 : Jer. 51:29
79. Jeremiah 50:45 : Jer. 49:19, 20
80. Jeremiah 50:46 : Rev. 18:9