Jeremiah 50 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

A Message about Babylon

Jer 50:1The LORD gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.[fn]

Jer 50:2This 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 idols[fn] will be shattered.
Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced.

Jer 50:3

Jer 50:3For 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

Jer 50:4

Jer 50:4“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.

Jer 50:5

Jer 50:5They will ask the way to Jerusalem[fn]
and will start back home again.
They will bind themselves to the LORD
with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.

Jer 50:6

Jer 50:6“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.

Jer 50:7

Jer 50:7All 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.’

Jer 50:8

Jer 50:8“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.

Jer 50:9

Jer 50:9For 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!

Jer 50:10

Jer 50:10Babylonia[fn] will be looted
until the attackers are glutted with loot.
I, the LORD, have spoken!

Babylon’s Sure Fall

Jer 50:11

Jer 50:11“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.

Jer 50:12

Jer 50:12But your homeland[fn] will be overwhelmed
with shame and disgrace.
You will become the least of nations—
a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.

Jer 50:13

Jer 50:13Because 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.

Jer 50:14

Jer 50:14“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.

Jer 50:15

Jer 50:15Shout 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!

Jer 50:16

Jer 50:16Take 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

Jer 50:17

Jer 50:17“The Israelites are like sheep
that have been scattered by lions.
First the king of Assyria ate them up.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar[fn] of Babylon cracked their bones.”

Jer 50:18

Jer 50:18Therefore, 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.

Jer 50:19

Jer 50:19And 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.

Jer 50:20

Jer 50:20In 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

Jer 50:21

Jer 50:21“Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim
and against the people of Pekod.
Pursue, kill, and completely destroy[fn] them,
as I have commanded you,” says the LORD.

Jer 50:22

Jer 50:22“Let the battle cry be heard in the land,
a shout of great destruction.

Jer 50:23

Jer 50:23Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth,
lies broken and shattered.
Babylon is desolate among the nations!

Jer 50:24

Jer 50:24Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you.
You are caught, for you have fought against the LORD.

Jer 50:25

Jer 50:25The 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.

Jer 50:26

Jer 50:26Yes, 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!

Jer 50:27

Jer 50:27Destroy even her young bulls—
it will be terrible for them, too!
Slaughter them all!
For Babylon’s day of reckoning has come.

Jer 50:28

Jer 50:28Listen 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.

Jer 50:29

Jer 50:29“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.

Jer 50:30

Jer 50:30Her young men will fall in the streets and die.
Her soldiers will all be killed,”
says the LORD.

Jer 50:31

Jer 50:31“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.

Jer 50:32

Jer 50:32O 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.”

Jer 50:33

Jer 50:33This 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.

Jer 50:34

Jer 50:34But 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!

Jer 50:35

Jer 50:35“The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,”
says the LORD.
“It will strike the people of Babylon—
her officials and wise men, too.

Jer 50:36

Jer 50:36The sword will strike her wise counselors,
and they will become fools.
The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,
and panic will seize them.

Jer 50:37

Jer 50:37The 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.

Jer 50:38

Jer 50:38The sword will even 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.

Jer 50:39

Jer 50:39“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.

Jer 50:40

Jer 50:40I will destroy it as I[fn] destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns,” says the LORD.
“No one will live there;
no one will inhabit it.

Jer 50:41

Jer 50:41“Look! A great army is coming from the north.
A great nation and many kings
are rising against you from far-off lands.

Jer 50:42

Jer 50:42They 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.

Jer 50:43

Jer 50:43The 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.

Jer 50:44

Jer 50:44“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?”

Jer 50:45

Jer 50:45Listen 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.

Jer 50:46

Jer 50:46The earth will shake with the shout, “Babylon has been taken!”
and its cry of despair will be heard around the world.

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

NLT Footnotes

(50:1)

Or Chaldeans; also in 50:8, 25, 35, 45.

(50:2)

The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.

(50:5)

Hebrew Zion; also in 50:28.

(50:10)

Or Chaldea.

(50:12)

Hebrew your mother.

(50:17)

Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.

(50:21)

The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.

(50:40)

Hebrew as God.

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

Jeremiah Chapter 50 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Jeremiah 50 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

NLT Footnotes

Jeremiah Chapter 50 — Additional Translations:

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