50 *The word that the Lord spake aagainst Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans †by Jeremiah the prophet.

2  Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and †bset up a standard;

Publish, and conceal not:

Say, cBabylon is taken, dBel is confounded, eMerodach is broken in pieces;

fHer idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

3  For gout of the north there cometh up a nation against her,

hWhich shall make her land desolate,

And inone shall dwell therein:

They shall remove, they shall depart, kboth man and beast.

4  In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord,

The children of Israel shall come,

lThey and the children of Judah together,

mGoing and weeping: they shall go,

And nseek the Lord their God.

5  oThey shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, psaying,

Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord

In qa perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

6  rMy people hath been slost sheep:

Their shepherds have caused them to go astray, tthey have turned them away uon the mountains:

uThey have gone from mountain to hill,

They have forgotten their †vrestingplace.

7  All that found them whave devoured them:

And xtheir adversaries said, yWe offend not,

Because they have sinned against the Lord, zthe habitation of justice,

Even the Lord, athe hope of their fathers.

8  bRemove cout of the midst of Babylon,

And cgo forth out of the land of the Chaldeans,

And be as dthe he goats before the flocks.

9  For, lo, eI will raise and cause to come up against Babylon

fAn assembly of great nations fgfrom the north country:

And hthey shall set themselves in array against her;

From thence she shall be taken:

iTheir arrows shall be as kof a mighty ||lexpert man;

mNone shall return in vain.

10  And Chaldea shall be a spoil:

All that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.

11  nBecause ye were glad, because ye rejoiced,

O ye destroyers of omine heritage,

Because ye are grown †fat pas the heifer qat grass,

And ||bellow as tbulls;

12  Your mother shall be sore confounded;

She that bare you shall be ashamed:

Behold, the hindermost of the nations

Shall be ua wilderness, ua dry land, and ua desert.

13  Because of the wrath of the Lord vit shall not be inhabited,

wBut it shall be wholly desolate: xevery one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished,

xAnd hiss at all her plagues.

14  yPut yourselves in array against Babylon zround about:

aAll ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows:

For bshe hath sinned against the Lord.

15  cShout against her zround about:

dShe hath given her hand:

ddHer foundations are fallen, eher walls are thrown down:

fFor it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance upon her;

gAs she hath done, do unto her.

16  Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him that handleth the ||hsickle in the time of harvest:

iFor fear of the oppressing sword

kThey shall turn every one to his people,

And kthey shall flee every one to his own land.

17  Israel is la scattered sheep;

mThe lions have driven him away:

nFirst the king of Assyria nnhath devoured him;

And olast this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon oohath broken his bones.

18  Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;

Behold, I will ppunish the king of Babylon and his land,

qAs I have ppunished the king of Assyria.

19  And rI will bring Israel again to his habitation,

And rhe shall feed on stCarmel and suBashan,

And his soul shall be satisfied upon vmount Ephraim and swGilead.

20  In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord,

xzThe iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, yand there shall be none;

And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found:

For zI will pardon them awhom I reserve.

21  Go up against the land ||of bMerathaim, even against it,

And against the inhabitants of ||bcPekod:

Waste and dutterly destroy after them, saith the Lord,

And do eaccording to all that I have commanded thee.

22  fA sound of battle is in the land,

And of great destruction.

23  How is gthe hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!

hHow is Babylon ibecome a desolation among the nations!

24  kI have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,

And lthou wast not aware:

Thou art found, and also caught,

Because thou hast mstriven against the Lord.

25  The Lord hath opened his armoury,

And hath brought forth nthe weapons of his indignation:

For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

26  Come against her †from the utmost border,

Open her storehouses:

||oCast her up as pheaps, and ddestroy her utterly:

ppLet nothing of her be left.

27  Slay all her qbullocks; qqlet them go down to the slaughter:

Woe unto them! for rtheir day is come,

sThe time of their visitation.

28  The voice of tthem that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon,

To ttdeclare in Zion uvthe vengeance of the Lord our God,

uThe vengeance of whis temple.

29  Call together xthe archers against Babylon:

yAll ye that bend the bow, camp against it yround about;

ppLet none thereof escape:

zRecompense her according to her work;

According to all that she hath done, do unto her:

aFor she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

30  bTherefore shall her young men fall in the streets,

bAnd all her men of war cshall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord.

31  Behold, I am against thee, O thou †most proud,

Saith the Lord God of hosts:

dFor thy day is come, dethe time that I will visit thee.

32  And †the most proud shall stumble and fall,

And none shall raise him up:

fAnd gI will kindle a fire in his cities,

fAnd it shall devour all round about him.

33  Thus saith the Lord of hosts;

hThe children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together:

And all that took them captives held them fast;

iThey refused to let them go.

34  jTheir Redeemer is kstrong;

lThe Lord of hosts is his name:

mHe shall throughly plead their cause,

That he may give rest to the land,

And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35  A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord,

And upon the inhabitants of Babylon,

And noupon her princes, and upon opher wise men.

36  A sword is upon the ||†qliars; and they shall rdote:

A sword is upon oher mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

37  A sword is upon stheir horses, and upon stheir chariots,

And upon all tthe mingled people that are in the midst of her;

And uthey shall become as women:

A sword is upon vher treasures; and they shall be robbed.

38  A wdrought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up:

For it is the land of xgraven images,

And ythey are mad upon their idols.

39  Therefore zthe wild beasts of the desert

With zthe wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there,

And zthe owls shall dwell therein:

And it ashall be no more inhabited for ever;

aNeither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

40  bAs God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

bAnd the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord;

bSo shall no man abide there,

Neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

41  cBehold, a people shall come dfrom the north,

And ea great nation, and many kings

Shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

42  They shall hold the bow and the lance:

They are cruel, and will not shew mercy:

Their voice shall roar like the sea,

And they shall ride upon horses,

Every one put in array, like a man to the battle,

Against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

43  The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them,

And his hands waxed feeble:

fAnguish took hold of him,

And pangs as of a woman in travail.

44  gBehold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan

Unto the habitation 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? and who will ||appoint me the time?

And who is hthat shepherd that will stand before me?

45  Therefore hear ye ithe counsel of the Lord,

That he hath taken against Babylon;

And ihis purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans:

Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out:

Surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

46  kAt the noise of the taking of Babylon lthe earth is moved,

And mthe cry is heard among the nations.