New King James Version

New Living Translation

Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

1

A Message about Babylon

The LORD gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.a

2

“Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and [a]set up a standard;
Proclaim — do not conceal it —
Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed.
[b]Merodach is broken in pieces;
Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’

2

This is what the LORD says:
“Tell the whole world,
and keep nothing back.
Raise a signal flag
to tell everyone that Babylon will fall!
Her images and idolsb will be shattered.
Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced.

3

For out of the north 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.

3

For a nation will attack her from the north
and bring such destruction that no one will live there again.
Everything will be gone;
both people and animals will flee.
Hope for Israel and Judah

4

“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The children of Israel shall come,
They and the children of Judah together;
With continual weeping they shall come,
And seek the Lord their God.

4

“In those coming days,”
says the LORD,
“the people of Israel will return home
together with the people of Judah.
They will come weeping
and seeking 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 a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’

5

They will ask the way to Jerusalemc
and will start back home again.
They will bind themselves to the LORD
with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.

6

“My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.

6

“My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray
and turned them loose in the mountains.
They have lost their way
and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.

7

All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice,
The Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

7

All who found them devoured them.
Their enemies said,
‘We did nothing wrong in attacking them,
for they sinned against the LORD,
their true place of rest,
and the hope of their ancestors.’

8

“Move from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the [d]rams before the flocks.

8

“But now, flee from Babylon!
Leave the land of the Babylonians.
Like male goats at the head of the flock,
lead my people home again.

9

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;
None shall return in vain.

9

For I am raising up an army
of great nations from the north.
They will join forces to attack Babylon,
and she will be captured.
The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark;
they will not miss!

10

And Chaldea shall become plunder;
All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

10

Babyloniad will be looted
until the attackers are glutted with loot.
I, the LORD, have spoken!
Babylon’s Sure Fall

11

“Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain,
And you [f]bellow like bulls,

11

“You rejoice and are glad,
you who plundered my chosen people.
You frisk about like a calf in a meadow
and neigh like a stallion.

12

Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.

12

But your homelande will be overwhelmed
with shame and disgrace.
You will become the least of nations —
a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.

13

Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
But she shall be wholly desolate.
Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.

13

Because of the LORD’s anger,
Babylon will become a deserted wasteland.
All who pass by will be horrified
and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

14

“Put 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.

14

“Yes, prepare to attack Babylon,
all you surrounding nations.
Let your archers shoot at her; spare no arrows.
For she has sinned against the LORD.

15

Shout against her all around;
She has given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
Her walls are thrown down;
For it is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her.
As she has done, so do to her.

15

Shout war cries against her from every side.
Look! She surrenders!
Her walls have fallen.
It is the LORD’s vengeance,
so take vengeance on her.
Do to her as she has done to others!

16

Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.

16

Take from Babylon all those who plant crops;
send all the harvesters away.
Because of the sword of the enemy,
everyone will run away and rush back to their own lands.
Hope for God’s People

17

“Israel is like scattered sheep;
The lions have driven him away.
First the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

17

“The Israelites are like sheep
that have been scattered by lions.
First the king of Assyria ate them up.
Then King Nebuchadnezzarf of Babylon cracked their 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 Assyria.

18

Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
the God of Israel, says:
“Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
just as I punished the king of Assyria.

19

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.

19

And I will bring Israel home again to its own land,
to feed in the fields of Carmel and Bashan,
and to be satisfied once more
in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.

20

In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“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 whom I preserve.

20

In those days,” says the LORD,
“no sin will be found in Israel or in Judah,
for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.
The LORD’s Judgment on Babylon

21

“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of Pekod.
[g]Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do according to all that I have commanded you.

21

“Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim
and against the people of Pekod.
Pursue, kill, and completely destroyg them,
as I have commanded you,” says the LORD.

22

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

22

“Let the battle cry be heard in the land,
a shout of great destruction.

23

How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

23

Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth,
lies broken and shattered.
Babylon is desolate among the nations!

24

I have laid a snare for you;
You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have contended against the Lord.

24

Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you.
You are caught, for you have fought against the LORD.

25

The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out the weapons of His indignation;
For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.

25

The LORD has opened his armory
and brought out weapons to vent his fury.
The terror that falls upon the Babylonians
will be the work of the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

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.

26

Yes, come against her from distant lands.
Break open her granaries.
Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble.
Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!

27

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

27

Destroy even her young bulls —
it will be terrible for them, too!
Slaughter them all!
For Babylon’s day of reckoning has come.

28

The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
The vengeance of His temple.

28

Listen to the people who have escaped from Babylon,
as they tell in Jerusalem
how the LORD our God has taken vengeance
against those who destroyed 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.
Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.

29

“Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon.
Surround the city so none can escape.
Do to her as she has done to others,
for she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

30

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.

30

Her young men will fall in the streets and die.
Her soldiers will all be killed,”
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.

31

“See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,”
says the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
“Your day of reckoning has arrived —
the day when I will punish you.

32

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

32

O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall,
and no one will raise you up.
For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylon
that will burn up everything around them.”

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.

33

This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says:
“The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged.
Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.

34

Their Redeemer is strong;
The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

34

But the one who redeems them is strong.
His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
He will defend them
and give them rest again in Israel.
But for the people of Babylon
there will be no rest!

35

“A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,
“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,
And against her princes and her wise men.

35

“The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,”
says the LORD.
“It will strike the people of Babylon —
her officials and wise men, too.

36

A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.
A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

36

The sword will strike her wise counselors,
and they will become fools.
The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,
and panic will seize them.

37

A sword is against their horses,
Against their chariots,
And against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.

37

The sword will strike her horses and chariots
and her allies from other lands,
and they will all become like women.
The sword will strike her treasures,
and they all will be plundered.

38

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.

38

A droughth will strike her water supply,
causing it to dry up.
And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols,
and the people are madly in love with them.

39

“Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

39

“Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas.
It will be a home for owls.
Never again will people live there;
it will lie desolate forever.

40

As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man dwell in it.

40

I will destroy it as Ii destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns,” says the LORD.
“No one will live there;
no one will inhabit it.

41

“Behold, a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.

41

“Look! A great army is coming from the north.
A great nation and many kings
are rising against you from far-off lands.

42

They shall hold the bow and the lance;
They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
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.

42

They are armed with bows and spears.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
As they ride forward on horses,
they sound like a roaring sea.
They are coming in battle formation,
planning to destroy you, Babylon.

43

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

43

The king of Babylon has heard reports about the enemy,
and he is weak with fright.
Pangs of anguish have gripped him,
like those of a woman in labor.

44

“Behold, 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 who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

44

“I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan,
leaping on the sheep in the pasture.
I will chase Babylon from its land,
and I will appoint the leader of my choice.
For who is like me, and who can challenge me?
What ruler can oppose my will?”

45

Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.

45

Listen to the LORD’s plans against Babylon
and the land of the Babylonians.
Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep,
and their homes will be destroyed.

46

At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.

46

The earth will shake with the shout, “Babylon has been taken!”
and its cry of despair will be heard around the world.

Parallel

New King James Version

New Living Translation

Jeremiah 50

Jeremiah 50