Judgement on Babylon

Jeremiah 50

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

“Y’all are to announce and proclaim among the nations, lifting up a banner, proclaiming and not concealing; Y’all are to 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.

 

“In those days, and in that time,” says YHWH, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek YHWH their God. They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Y’all must come and join with YHWH 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 YHWH, the habitation of righteousness, even YHWH, the hope of their fathers.’

 

“Y’all must flee from Babylon! Y’all must go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats before the flocks. For look! I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country. They will set themselves in array against her. She will be taken from there. Their arrows will be like a skilled warrior. None of them will return in vain. Chaldea will be a prey. All who prey on her will be satisfied,” says YHWH.

 

“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, Y’all’s mother will be greatly shamed. She who bore y’all will be confounded. Look! She will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. Because of YHWH’s wrath she won’t be inhabited, but she will be completely desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and scoff at all her wounds. Y’all should line up in battle around Babylon, all those armed with bows. Y’all must shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against YHWH. Y’all shout against her on every side. She has thrown up her hands in surrender. Her pillars have fallen. Her walls have been thrown down, for it is the vengeance of YHWH. Y’all are to take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her. Y’all must cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who wields 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.

 

“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 YHWH Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“Look! 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 YHWH, “search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none, also the sins of Judah, but they won’t be found, for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.

 

“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them,” says YHWH, “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 YHWH. YHWH has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, YHWH Almighty, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. Y’all come against her from the farthest border. Y’all must open her storehouses, and cast her up as heaps. Y’all are to completely destroy her. and leave no one alive. Y’all are to 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 fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of YHWH our God, the vengeance of his temple.

 

“Y’all call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Y’all are to encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Y’all must pay her back according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her, for she has been proud against YHWH, 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 YHWH. “See, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, YHWH Almighty; “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.” YHWH Almighty 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. YHWH Almighty is his name. He will plead-plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

 

“A sword is on the Chaldeans,” says YHWH, “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 YHWH, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.

 

“Look! 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. Look, 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 y’all must listen to the counsel of YHWH what ʜᴇ has planned against Babylon; and ʜɪꜱ purposes that ʜᴇ has devised 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.