50:1 THE WORD OF THE Yehovah WHICH HE SPOKE
AGAINST BABYLON.
50:2 Proclaim ye among the Gentiles, and cause the tidings to be heard, and
suppress [them] not: say ye, Babylon is taken, Belus is confounded; the
fearless, the luxurious Maerodach is delivered up.
50:3 For a nation has come up against her from the north, he shall utterly
ravage her land, and there shall be none to dwell in it, neither man nor
beast.
50:4 In those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come,
they and the children of Judah together; they shall proceed, weeping as they
go, seeking Yehovah their Elohim.
50:5 They shall ask the way till [they come to] Zion, for that way shall
they set their face; and they shall come and flee for refuge to Yehovah
their Elohim; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten.
50:6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds thrust them out, they
caused them to wander on the mountains: they went from mountain to hill,
they forgot their resting-place.
50:7 All that found them consumed them: their enemies said, Let us not leave
them alone, because they have sinned against Yehovah: he that gathered
their fathers [had] a pasture of righteousness.
50:8 Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans,
and go forth, and be as serpents before sleep.
50:9 For, behold, I stir up against Babylon the gatherings of nations out of
the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her:
thence shall she be taken, as the dart of an expert warrior shall not return
empty.
50:10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied.
50:11 Because ye rejoiced, and boasted, [while] plundering mine heritage;
because ye exulted as calves in the grass, and pushed with the horn as
bulls.
50:12 Your mother is greatly ashamed; your mother that bore you for
prosperity is confounded: [she is] the last of the nations, desolate,
50:13 by reason of Yehovah's anger: it shall not be inhabited, but it shall
be all a desolation; and every one that passes through Babylon shall scowl,
and they shall hiss at all her plague.
50:14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend
the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows,
50:15 and prevail against her: her hands are weakened, her bulwarks are
fallen, and her wall is broken down: for it is vengeance from Elohim: take
vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her.
50:16 Utterly destroy seed out of Babylon, [and] him that holds a sickle in
time of harvest: for fear of the Grecian sword, they shall return every one
to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
50:17 Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king
of Assyria firsts devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon [has
gnawed] his bones.
50:18 Therefore thus saith Yehovah; Behold, I [will] take vengeance on the
king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of
Assyria.
50:19 And I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel
and on mount Ephraim and in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied.
50:20 In those days, and at that time, they shall seek for the iniquity of
Israel, and there shall be none; and for the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found: for I will be merciful to them that are left
50:21 on the land, saith Yehovah. Go up against it roughly, and against
them that dwell on it: avenge, O sword, and destroy utterly, saith Yehovah,
and do according to all that I command thee.
50:22 A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans!
50:23 How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed! How is
Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
50:24 They shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know it, Babylon, that
thou wilt even be taken captive: thou art found and taken, because thou
didst resist Yehovah.
50:25 Yehovah has opened his treasury, and brought forth the weapons of his
anger: for Yehovah Elohim [has] a work in the land of the Chaldeans.
50:26 For her times are come: open ye her storehouses: search her as a cave,
and utterly destroy her: let there be no remnant of her.
50:27 Dry ye up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe
to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution.
50:28 A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to
declare to Zion the vengeance [that comes] from Yehovah our Elohim.
50:29 Summon many against Babylon, [even] every one that bends the bow: camp
against her round about; let no one of her [people] escape: render to her
according to her works; according to all that she has done, do to her: for
she has resisted Yehovah, the Holy Elohim of Israel.
50:30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her
warriors shall be cast down, saith Yehovah.
50:31 Behold, I am against thee the haughty one, saith Yehovah: for thy day
is come, and the time of thy retribution.
50:32 And thy pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set
it up again: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all
things round about her.
50:33 Thus saith Yehovah; The children of Israel and the children of Judah
have been oppressed: all they that have taken them captive have oppressed
them together; for they would not let them go.
50:34 But their Redeemer is strong; Yehovah Almighty is his name: he will
enter into judgment with his adversaries, that he may destroy the earth;
50:35 and he will sharpen a sword against the Chaldeans, and against the
inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her nobles and upon her wise men;
50:36 a sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened: a sword upon
their horses, and upon their chariots:
50:37 a sword upon their warriors and upon the mixed people in the midst of
her; and they shall be as women: a sword upon the treasures, and they shall
be scattered upon her water,
50:38 and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven [images]; and in
the islands, where they boasted.
50:39 Therefore shall idols dwell in the islands, and the young of monsters
shall dwell in it: it shall not be inhabited any more for ever.
50:40 As Elohim overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities bordering upon
them, saith Yehovah: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall
sojourn there.
50:41 Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation, and many
kings shall be stirred up from the end of the earth; holding bow and dagger:
50:42 [the people] is fierce, and will have no mercy: their voices shall
sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire,
against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
50:43 The king of Babylon heard the sound of them, and his hands were
enfeebled: anguish overcame him, pangs as of a woman in travail.
50:44 Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gaethan; for I will
speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her: for
who is like me? and who will resist me? and who is this shepherd who will
stand before me?
50:45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of Yehovah, which he has taken against
Babylon; and his devices, which he has devised upon the Chaldeans inhabiting
[it]: surely lambs of their flock shall be destroyed: surely pasture shall
be cut off from them.
50:46 or at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a
cry shall be heard among the nations. |
50:1 The word that Yehovah spake against
Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
50:2 Declare ye 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.
50:3 For out of the north there cometh 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.
50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith Yehovah, the children of Israel
shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they
shall go, and seek Yehovah their Elohim.
50:5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying,
Come, and let us join ourselves to Yehovah in a perpetual covenant that
shall not be forgotten.
50:6 My people hath 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 restingplace.
50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We
offend not, because they have sinned against Yehovah, the habitation of
justice, even Yehovah, the hope of their fathers.
50:8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the
Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
50:9 For, lo, 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 thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as
of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
50:10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied,
saith Yehovah.
50:11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine
heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as
bulls;
50:12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be
ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry
land, and a desert.
50:13 Because of the wrath of Yehovah it shall not be inhabited, but it
shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be
astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
50:14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend
the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the
Yehovah.
50:15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance
of Yehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
50:16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth 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.
50:17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the
king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon hath broken his bones.
50:18 Therefore thus saith Yehovah of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; Behold, I
will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of
Assyria.
50:19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on
Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and
Gilead.
50:20 In those days, and in that time, saith Yehovah, 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.
50:21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the
inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith Yehovah,
and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
50:22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
50:23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is
Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
50:24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and
thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast
striven against Yehovah.
50:25 Yehovah hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons
of his indignation: for this is the work of Yehovah GOD of hosts in the
land of the Chaldeans.
50:26 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.
50:27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto
them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
50:28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to
declare in Zion the vengeance of Yehovah our Elohim, the vengeance of his
temple.
50:29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow,
camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her
according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for
she hath been proud against Yehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.
50:30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of
war shall be cut off in that day, saith Yehovah.
50:31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith Yehovah GOD of
hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.
50:32 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.
50:33 Thus saith Yehovah 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.
50:34 Their Redeemer is strong; Yehovah of hosts is his name: he shall
throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet
the inhabitants of Babylon.
50:35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith Yehovah, and upon the
inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
50:36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her
mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
50:37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all
the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as
women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
50:38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is
the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
50:39 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 dwelt in from generation to
generation.
50:40 As Elohim overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof,
saith Yehovah; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man
dwell therein.
50:41 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.
50:42 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.
50:43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed
feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
50:44 Behold, 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 that shepherd that will
stand before me?
50:45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of Yehovah, that he hath taken against
Babylon; and his 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.
50:46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry
is heard among the nations. |