Jeremia - Kapitel 50 Kap. 50 - Jeremia
[1] The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
[2] Declare you among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
[3] For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. ¶
[4] In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
[5] They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
[6] My people has 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.
[7] All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
[8] Remove out of the middle of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. ¶
[9] For, see, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
[10] And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, says the LORD.
[11] Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O you destroyers of my heritage, because you are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
[12] Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
[13] Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
[14] Put 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.
[15] Shout against her round about: she has given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.
[16] Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. ¶
[17] Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.
[18] Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
[19] And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on mount Ephraim and Gilead.
[20] In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve. ¶
[21] Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded you.
[22] A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
[23] How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
[24] I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against the LORD.
[25] The LORD has opened his armory, and has brought forth the 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: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.
[27] Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
[28] The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
[29] Call together the archers against Babylon: all you that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
[30] Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD.
[31] Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, says the Lord GOD of hosts: for your day is come, the time that I will visit you.
[32] And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. ¶
[33] Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
[34] Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. ¶
[35] A sword is on the Chaldeans, says the LORD, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on her princes, and on her wise men.
[36] A sword is on the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is on her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
[37] A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mingled people that are in the middle of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
[38] A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad on their idols.
[39] Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelled in from generation to generation.
[40] As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, says the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
[41] Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a 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 show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.
[43] The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
[44] Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to 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 that shepherd that will stand before me?
[45] Therefore hear you the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has 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] At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.