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A
Message About Babylon
50:1 The word that the LORD 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 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.
50:5 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.
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 the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD,
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 the LORD.
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 the LORD 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 LORD.
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 the LORD: 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 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.
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 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.
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 the LORD, 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 the LORD.
50:25 The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought
forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work
of the Lord 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 the
LORD our God, 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 the LORD, 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
the LORD.
50:31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith
the Lord 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 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.
50:34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour
cities thereof, saith the LORD; 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 the LORD, 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. |
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