The Powered Access Bible:
Passage Lookup

Jeremiah 50, RSV

50:1 The word which the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chalde'ans, by Jeremiah the prophet:

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, Mer'odach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.'

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.

50:4 "In those days and in that time, says 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.

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

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.

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

50:8 "Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chalde'ans, and be as he-goats before the flock.

50:9 For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a company 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.

50:10 Chalde'a shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the LORD.

50:11 "Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my heritage, though you are wanton as a heifer at grass, and neigh like stallions,

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

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

50:14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.

50:15 Raise a shout against her round about, 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.

50:16 Cut 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.

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

50:18 Therefore, 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.

50:19 I 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 E'phraim and in Gilead.

50:20 In those days and in that time, says 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.

50:21 "Go up against the land of Meratha'im, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Slay, and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD, and do all that I have commanded you.

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

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

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

50:25 The 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 Chalde'ans.

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

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

50:28 "Hark! they flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.

50:29 "Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp round about her; let no one escape. Requite 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.

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

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

50:32 The 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 round about him.

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.

50:34 Their 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.

50:35 "A sword upon the Chalde'ans, says the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes and her wise men!

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

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

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

50:39 "Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her; she shall be peopled no more for ever, nor inhabited for all generations.

50:40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomor'rah and their neighbor cities, says the LORD, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

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

50:42 They 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 upon horses, arrayed as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Babylon!

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 travail.

50:44 "Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a strong sheepfold, 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?

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

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

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Terms of Use