- 1The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
- 2Declare 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; her images are disappointed, her idols are dismayed.
- 3For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and animal.
- 4In those days, and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek the Lord their God.
- 5They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, Come, and join yourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.
- 6My 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.
- 7All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of righteousness, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.
- 8Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats before the flocks.
- 9For, 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 her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; no one shall return in vain.
- 10Chaldea shall be a prey: all who prey on her shall be satisfied, says the Lord.
- 11Because 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;
- 12your mother shall be utterly disappointed; she who bore you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
- 13Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
- 14Set 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.
- 15Shout against her all around: she has submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.
- 16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn everyone to his people, and they shall flee everyone to his own land.
- 17Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.
- 18Therefore 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 Assyria.
- 19I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
- 20In those days, and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be no one; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
- 21Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: kill and utterly destroy after them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you.
- 22A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
- 23How is the hammer of the whole earth cut apart and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
- 24I 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 the Lord.
- 25The Lord has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
- 26Come against her from the utmost border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.
- 27Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day has come, the time of their visitation.
- 28The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple.
- 29Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her all around; let none of it escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
- 30Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says the Lord.
- 31Behold, I am against you, you proud one, says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.
- 32The proud one shall stumble and fall, and no one shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are around him.
- 33Thus says the Lord of Hosts: 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.
- 34Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of Hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
- 35A sword is on the Chaldeans, says the Lord, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on her princes, and on her wise men.
- 36A sword is on the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.
- 37A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures, and they shall be robbed.
- 38A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.
- 39Therefore 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.
- 40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says the Lord, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein.
- 41Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
- 42They 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 man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.
- 43The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labor.
- 44Behold, 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, him 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?
- 45Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.
- 46At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.