Jeremiah 50 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Judgment on Babylon

Jer 50:1The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:

Jer 50:2“Declare among the nations and proclaim,
set up a banner and proclaim,
conceal it not, and say:
‘Babylon is taken,
Bel is put to shame,
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed.’

Jer 50:3

Jer 50:3“For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

Jer 50:4

Jer 50:4“In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God.

Jer 50:5

Jer 50:5They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

Jer 50:6

Jer 50:6“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.

Jer 50:7

Jer 50:7All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

Jer 50:8

Jer 50:8“Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock.

Jer 50:9

Jer 50:9For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.

Jer 50:10

Jer 50:10Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the LORD.

Jer 50:11

Jer 50:11“Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
and neigh like stallions,

Jer 50:12

Jer 50:12your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

Jer 50:13

Jer 50:13Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited
but shall be an utter desolation;
everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
and hiss because of all her wounds.

Jer 50:14

Jer 50:14Set 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.

Jer 50:15

Jer 50:15Raise a shout against her all around;
she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
her walls are thrown down.
For this is the vengeance of the LORD:
take vengeance on her;
do to her as she has done.

Jer 50:16

Jer 50:16Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
because of the sword of the oppressor,
every one shall turn to his own people,
and every one shall flee to his own land.

Jer 50:17

Jer 50:17“Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.

Jer 50:18

Jer 50:18Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria.

Jer 50:19

Jer 50:19I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

Jer 50:20

Jer 50:20In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

Jer 50:21

Jer 50:21“Go up against the land of Merathaim,[fn]
and against the inhabitants of Pekod.[fn]
Kill, and devote them to destruction,[fn]
declares the LORD,
and do all that I have commanded you.

Jer 50:22

Jer 50:22The noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction!

Jer 50:23

Jer 50:23How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!

Jer 50:24

Jer 50:24I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
and you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you opposed the LORD.

Jer 50:25

Jer 50:25The LORD has opened his armory
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord GOD of hosts has a work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.

Jer 50:26

Jer 50:26Come against her from every quarter;
open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
let nothing be left of her.

Jer 50:27

Jer 50:27Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.

Jer 50:28

Jer 50:28“A voice! They flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.

Jer 50:29

Jer 50:29“Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

Jer 50:30

Jer 50:30Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the LORD.

Jer 50:31

Jer 50:31“Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
declares the Lord GOD of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.

Jer 50:32

Jer 50:32The proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is around him.

Jer 50:33

Jer 50:33“Thus says the LORD of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go.

Jer 50:34

Jer 50:34Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

Jer 50:35

Jer 50:35“A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the LORD,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against her officials and her wise men!

Jer 50:36

Jer 50:36A sword against the diviners,
that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
that they may be destroyed!

Jer 50:37

Jer 50:37A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
that they may become women!
A sword against all her treasures,
that they may be plundered!

Jer 50:38

Jer 50:38A drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
and they are mad over idols.

Jer 50:39

Jer 50:39“Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon,[fn] and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations.

Jer 50:40

Jer 50:40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the LORD, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

Jer 50:41

Jer 50:41“Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

Jer 50:42

Jer 50:42They lay hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
against you, O daughter of Babylon!

Jer 50:43

Jer 50:43“The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in labor.

Jer 50:44

Jer 50:44“Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?

Jer 50:45

Jer 50:45Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.

Jer 50:46

Jer 50:46At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(50:21)

Merathaim means double rebellion

(50:21)

Pekod means punishment

(50:21)

That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)

(50:39)

Hebrew lacks in Babylon

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.