The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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Yahweh gave to Jeremiah the prophet a message about Babylon and the country of Babylonia.

This is what Yahweh says: “Proclaim a message among the nations; do not withhold any of it; raise up a signal flag to announce that Babylon will be captured. Its chief god Marduk, whose other name is Bel, will be completely disgraced, and all the other statues and idols will be shattered.

The army of a nation will come from the north to attack Babylon and destroy the city very thoroughly, with the result that no one will live there again. Both people and animals will run away.”

Hope for Israel and Judah

“But I, Yahweh, say that in the future, when that is about to happen, the people of Israel and the people of Judah will join together. They will be weeping and wanting to worship me, their God.

They will inquire about the road to Jerusalem, and then they will start traveling toward it. They will say to each other, ‘We must return to Yahweh again!’ They will make an everlasting agreement with me that they will never forget.

My people have been like lost sheep. Their leaders have caused them to abandon me like shepherds who have allowed their sheep to wander in the hills and mountains. My people are like sheep that do not know the path to return to the sheepfold.

All their enemies who found them attacked them. They said, ’We did not sin by attacking them, because they sinned against Yahweh; he is the one who provides what they need; he is the one to whom they should have remained faithful; he is the one whom their ancestors confidently expected to help them.’

But now, I say to the leaders of my people, ’Depart from Babylon! Leave the land of Babylonia! Act like male goats that go in front of the rest of the flock; lead my people back to their own land.

Do that because I am going to gather an army of great nations to the north of Babylon. They will join together to attack Babylon and will capture it. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors that always hit what they are aiming at.

Babylonia will be conquered, and those who conquer it will take away everything they want. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.’”

Babylon’s Fall Is Certain

“You people of Babylon who plundered my chosen people, now you are very happy. You run around joyfully like a calf in a meadow, and are happy like stallions are happy when they are neighing.

But soon your people will be very disgraced as a result of being conquered. Your country will be the most insignificant nation; it will be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert plain.

Because I, Yahweh, am angry with you people of Babylon, I will cause your city to become completely deserted. All who pass by will be horrified and will gasp because of the destruction there.

All you nations that surround Babylon, prepare to attack it! Tell your archers to shoot at their enemies; shoot all of your arrows at them and do not hold back, because the people of Babylon have sinned against me, Yahweh.

Shout victorious war cries against Babylon from all sides of the city. The soldiers of Babylon will surrender; the towers and walls will be torn down. It is I, Yahweh, who will be getting revenge on the people of Babylon, and I will use you to get revenge. Do to the people of Babylon what they have done to others!

Take away from Babylon those who plant crops and those who reap the harvests! Because of the swords carried by those who will attack Babylon, the people in Babylon who have come from other countries should all run away; they should go back to their own countries.”

Redemption for God’s People

“The Israelite people are like sheep that have been scattered by lions. First the army of the king of Assyria defeated them. Then the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon smashed them.

So this is what I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, say: ’Now I will punish the king of Babylon and the people of his land, like I punished the king of Assyria.

And I will bring the people of Israel back to their own land where they will eat the food that grows in the fields of the regions of Carmel and Bashan, and the people in the hill areas of Ephraim and Gilead will have all they want to eat.

At that time, there will not be people in Israel and in Judah who are still guilty for having sinned, because I will forgive the small group of people whom I enable to still be alive.’”

The Destruction of Babylon

“So, I, Yahweh, say to the enemies of Babylonia, ’Attack the people who live in the region of Merathaim and the people in the region of Pekod of Babylonia. Pursue them to kill them, and completely get rid of every single one of them, as I have commanded you to do.

Shout your battle cries throughout the land; shout when you are causing great destruction.

The army of Babylon is like the most powerful hammer on the earth, but it will be completely shattered. Babylon, one of the nations, will be a complete ruin.’

You people of Babylon, listen, because I have set a trap for you without your awareness; you will be caught in that trap, because you fought against me.

It is as though I have opened the place where I store my weapons, and I have brought out all the weapons to use against the people with whom I am angry. I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, have a lot of work to do to punish the people of Babylonia.

So, you enemies of Babylonia, come from distant lands and attack it. Break open the places where they store the grain, and pile up the rubble like heaps of grain. Destroy everything completely; do not leave anything that is not destroyed.

Destroy all the young warriors who are as strong as bulls; take them to where you will slaughter them. It will be terrible for them, because it will be time for them to be punished.

Listen to the people who have fled and escaped from Babylon while they tell in Jerusalem how I, Yahweh, have gotten revenge against those who destroyed my temple in Jerusalem.

Summon archers to come to attack Babylon; surround the city in order that no one will escape. Do to the people of Babylon what they have done to others, because they have defied me, the Holy One of the Israelite people.

The young men of Babylon will fall in the streets; all their soldiers will be killed in one day. This will happen because I, Yahweh, have declared it!

I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, say this: ’You arrogant people, it is now the time; it is the day when I will punish you.

Your land is full of proud people, but you will stumble and fall, and no one will lift you up again. I will light a fire in the cities of Babylonia that will burn up everything that is nearby.’

I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, also say this: ’The people of Israel and Judah were oppressed; those who captured them guarded them carefully and would not allow them to leave Babylon.

But Yahweh is strong, and he will free them. Yahweh is the Commander of the angel armies; He will defend his people and enable them to return to their land where they will have peace, but the people of Babylonia will not have peace.

He will send enemy soldiers carrying swords to strike the people of Babylonia; they will strike the officials and wise men and all the other people who live in Babylon.

They will strike their false prophets with swords and they will become foolish. They will strike the strongest warriors of Babylonia, and they will all be terrified.

They will strike their horses and chariots and the foreign mercenaries who are in the army of Babylonia, and they will all become as weak as women. They will seize all the valuable things there in Babylon and take them away.

Yahweh will cause the streams to become dry. He will do all those things because the entire land of Babylonia is filled with idols, and those horrible idols have caused the people who worship them to become crazy.

Soon only jackals and other wild creatures will live there; and it will be a place where ostriches live. People will never live there again; it will be uninhabited forever.

Yahweh God will destroy Babylon like he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns; no one will ever live there again.

Look! A great army will come from the north. A great nation far away with many kings is preparing to attack you people of Babylon.

Their army has bows and arrows and spears; they are very cruel, and do not act mercifully to anyone. As they ride along on their horses, the sound of the horses’ hooves is like the roaring of the ocean waves; they are riding in battle formation to attack you, you people of Babylon.

The king of Babylon heard their report, “The enemy is approaching.” So he was frightened and became weak. Fear and anguish gripped him, like a woman who is about to give birth to a baby.”

I, Yahweh, will come to Babylon suddenly like a lion comes out of the jungle and leaps on the sheep that are eating the good pastureland. I will quickly chase the people of Babylonia from their land. And then I will appoint for them a leader whom I will choose; I will do that because there is no one like me who can say that what I have done is not right. No ruler can oppose me.

Listen to what I have planned to do to the people of Babylon city and the rest of Babylonia: Even the little children will be dragged away, and I will completely destroy the people who live there.

When Babylon is destroyed, the noise will be extremely loud, with the result that the earth will shake, and the wailing of the people will be heard by the people of other nations.’”

The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

“Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal; say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’

For a nation comes up out of the north against her, which will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it. They have fled. They are gone, both man and animal.

Hope for Israel and Judah

“In those days, and in that time,” says the LORD, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek the LORD their God.

They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will 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. 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.’

“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male 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 will set themselves in array against her. She will be taken from there. Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man. None of them will return in vain.

Chaldea will be a prey. All who prey on her will be satisfied,” says the LORD.

Babylon’s Fall Is Certain

“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 mother will be utterly disappointed. She who bore you will be confounded. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

Because of the LORD’s wrath she won’t be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

Set 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.

Shout against her all around. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks have fallen. Her walls have been thrown down, for it is the vengeance of the LORD. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her.

Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword, they will each return to their own people, and they will each flee to their own land.

Redemption for God’s People

“Israel 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.”

Therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

In those days, and in that time,” says the LORD, “the iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none, also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.

The Destruction of Babylon

“Go 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.

A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has 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 fought against the LORD.

The LORD has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, the LORD of Armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.

Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps. Destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left.

Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.

Listen to 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.

“Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back 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.

Therefore her young men will fall in her streets. All her men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says the LORD.

“Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, the LORD of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.

The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.”

The LORD of Armies says: “The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together. All who took them captive hold them fast. They refuse to let them go.

Their Redeemer is strong. The LORD of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

“A sword is on the Chaldeans,” says the LORD, “and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes, and on her wise men.

A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed.

A drought is on her waters, and they will 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 will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein. It will be inhabited no more forever, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation.

As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says the LORD, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.

“Behold, a people comes from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

They take up bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea. They ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.

The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labor.

Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it. Whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it, for who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?”

Therefore 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 will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.

The earth trembles at the noise of the taking of Babylon. The cry is heard among the nations.