Jeremiah 50
50
Prophecy against Babylon
1Yahweh spoke to me this prophecy against mighty Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans: # 50:1 Jeremiah devotes two entire chapters to Yahweh’s message to Babylon (see chs. 50–51; see also Rev. 17–18), the most influential nation on earth at the time of his writing. Inside the nation of Babylon was a subgroup known as the Chaldeans. (Chaldeans possibly means “astrologers” or “occultists.”) They were a tribe of people who settled near the city of Babylon and the city of Ur. The Babylonian Empire (Babylonia) absorbed the Chaldean tribe and created a country of Chaldea in the southern part of their empire. The Chaldeans were known as a violent, fearsome people. Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II was a Chaldean ruler in what became known as the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the Chaldeans gradually became rulers of the empire.
2“Tell the nations the news; proclaim it everywhere.
Publicize it far and wide;
make no secret of it, and declare:
‘Babylon has fallen!
Her god Marduk is greatly humiliated, and his power is broken. # 50:2 Or “Bel is put to shame; Merodach is dismayed.” Bel and Merodach are two names for “Marduk,” the chief god of Babylon.
Her idols are disgraced;
her filthy images # 50:2 The word for “filthy images” (Hb. gillulim) is a somewhat crude word, meaning literally “a ball of excrement.” This is a term frequently applied to foreign gods and their images (in Ezekiel nearly forty times, often translated “idols”). are shattered.’
3For a nation is attacking Babylon from the north # 50:3 That is, Persia. Although Persia is not directly north of Babylon, to the Jews, the north was a colloquialism to describe where enemy invaders came from.
that will reduce her nation to a desert.
People and animals will flee,
and no one will inhabit it.”
Israel’s Return
4Yahweh says:
“When that day comes
the people of Israel and the people of Judah
will go out together with tears streaming down their cheeks
to seek Yahweh their God.
5They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward her, saying to one another,
‘Come, let us bind our hearts to Yahweh
in an eternal covenant,
which we will never break.’
6“My people are like lost sheep;
their shepherds # 50:6 That is, their rulers. led them astray.
They are lost, wandering about in the mountains.
They went from mountain to hill, # 50:6 The implication is that Israel’s leaders led them into spiritual danger by practicing idolatry.
forgetting their resting place.
7Whoever came across them took advantage of them.
Their enemies said, ‘We are not to blame,
for they have sinned against Yahweh, the True Home of Justice, # 50:7 God, the “True Home of Justice,” is the source and fountain of true righteousness, justice, and peace.
against Yahweh, the Living Hope of their ancestors.’
8“My people, flee Babylon # 50:8 See Rev. 18:4. and run from
the land of the Chaldeans.
Be the first ones to leave! # 50:8 Or “Be like he-goats, leading the sheep!” He-goats are known for their characteristic of being the first to push themselves through when a gate is opened. God was encouraging the captives of Judah to push forward and be the first to enjoy their freedom.
9For listen, I am stirring up trouble
out of the north against Babylon,
and raising up a coalition of mighty nations to attack her.
They will take up battle positions against her
and conquer her.
Their arrows are like a skilled soldier who kills
and never returns empty-handed.
10I, Yahweh, declare that Chaldea will be plundered,
and all who plunder her will be satisfied.”
The Fall of Babylon
11“I, Yahweh, say to the people of Babylon:
You rejoiced when you robbed my people, my inheritance.
You had a good time,
making more noise than horses neighing
and frolicking like playful heifers
at the time of the threshing of grain. # 50:11 See Deut. 25:4.
12But your motherland is covered with shame,
and the city that nurtured you like a mother
is totally disgraced.
Now, she is the least of nations,
nothing but a desert, a parched wasteland.
13Because of Yahweh’s anger,
Babylon will become desolate and uninhabited forever.
Everyone who passes by
will be shocked to see what has happened
and will hiss out their scorn.
14Archers! Take your positions against Babylon
and surround her.
Shoot at her! Empty your quiver,
for she has sinned against Yahweh.
15Raise the war cry against her from all sides.
She surrenders!
The attackers have broken down
her fortifications and walls. # 50:15 According to Streane: “This was not done by Cyrus, who, after diverting the river, entered the city beneath its walls by the riverbed. It therefore points to the later capture of Babylon by Darius who ‘having become the master of the place, destroyed the wall, and tore down all the gates.’ Herodotus III, 159.” A. W. Streane, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah: Together with the Lamentations (Cambridge: University Press, 1952), 322.
This is Yahweh’s vengeance! Take revenge on her.
Do to them what they did to others.
16Uproot from Babylon those
who plant fields and harvest crops.
They have all fled from the attacking army
and returned to their homelands.”
Israel’s Return
17“Israel was like straying lambs,
driven away and scattered by lions.
“First, the king of Assyria devoured them, # 50:17 The Assyrians conquered Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, in 722 BC. and now, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed their bones. 18So I, Yahweh, God of Israel, Commander of Angel Armies, say this: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation as I punished the king of Assyria.
19“I will bring Israel back to her own land.
The people will be like sheep eating their fill on Mount Carmel,
in Bashan, in the hill country of Ephraim, and in Gilead.
They will all be satisfied.
20I, Yahweh, declare that at that time,
you may look for Israel’s guilt, but it will disappear,
you may search for Judah’s sins, but you will not find them,
for I will forgive the remnant whose lives I have spared.”
Yahweh’s Message to the Enemies of Babylon
21Yahweh says:
“Now, carry out my instructions to the letter.
Attack the land of Merathaim
and those who live in Pekod! # 50:21 Merathaim means “double-rebellion” or “double-bitterness.” Merathaim could be seen as a sarcastic pun used as a reference to Babylon. See J. Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah and Lamentations, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 410. These two locations represent an untranslatable play on words in Hebrew: Marratim was the name of a district of southern Babylonia at the head of the Persian Gulf (Marratim means “the land of the bitter river”), while Puqudu was the name of a people in the eastern region of the Babylonian Empire. Used together, Merathaim and Pekod make an implied connection between rebellion and punishment.
Kill them and destroy everything they leave behind.
22For the noise of battle fills the land,
and already great destruction is taking place.
23Babylon, you hammered the whole world to pieces,
but now your hammer is broken and shattered to pieces.
Now you are an object of horror to the nations.
24You defied me and fought against me, Babylon,
so I laid a trap for you.
You were caught before you knew it!
25I, Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies,
had a work to do in Babylon,
So, I opened my armory and brought out
the mighty weapons of my wrath.
26Attack it from every side!
Open her granaries.
Pile her up like heaps of grain;
curse her with destruction
until nothing is left of her.
27Slaughter all her warriors; # 50:27 Or “bulls,” a figure of speech for warriors. See Ps. 22:12; Isa. 34:7.
lead them away as cattle to be slaughtered.
Woe to them, for their day of reckoning has come,
their time for being punished is here.
28Listen! Fugitives and refugees
from the country of Babylon arrive in Zion,
proclaiming on Mount Zion
how Yahweh our God has punished the Babylonians
for destroying his temple!”
The Sin of Arrogance
29“Assemble the archers and attack Babylon!
Encamp around her and leave no way of escape.
Treat her as she has treated others
and repay her for all she has done,
for she was arrogant and defiant to Yahweh,
the Holy One of Israel.
30“I, Yahweh, say to you:
On that day, your young men will fall in the streets,
and all your warriors will perish.
31I am against you, O arrogant one!
I, Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, decree:
Your day of reckoning has now come,
the time for me to punish you is here.
32Your proud, arrogant city will stumble and fall
with no one to lift her up.
I will set the cities of Babylon on fire,
and everything around you will go up in flames.”
Yahweh, the Avenger of Israel
33Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, says:
“My people, Israel and Judah, are oppressed,
You hold them fast and will not let them go.
34But their Redeemer # 50:34 This is the Hebrew word gaʾal, which means “kinsman-redeemer.” See Ruth 2:20. is powerful!
My name is Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies.
I will take up their cause and rescue them.
I will give the nation rest
but make the people of Babylon tremble.
35“I, Yahweh, have decreed war against the Chaldeans,
against the people of Babylon,
and against her mighty rulers and advisers.
36I have decreed war against her false prophets.
May they lose their wits!
I have decreed war against her warriors;
let them panic.
37War against her horses, her chariots,
and the foreign troops among them!
Their mighty warriors will become frightened like ordinary citizens. # 50:37 Or “like women.” See 51:30.
May the war result in all their treasure being plundered!
38May a drought # 50:38 The root word for “drought” is the same as that for the word for “sword.” This play on words achieved through the use of the homonym is lost in translation. dry up all their rivers! # 50:38 The city of Babylon was famous for its never-ending source of water, the Euphrates River.
For it is a country full of idols,
and their terrors make them delirious.
39Demons and dark spirits # 50:39 Although the Hebrew can be translated “wild beasts [desert creatures] and hyenas [jackals],” many scholars and commentators see them as metaphors for creatures of the demonic realm. One commentator translates this as “ghouls and goblins.” dwell in Babylon,
and ostriches # 50:39 Or “desert owls.” make their home there.
For all generations, no one will live there again.
40As Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns
were destroyed and left uninhabited,
not one person will ever settle in Babylon again,
for I, Yahweh, have spoken.
41“Look! They’re coming! Warriors approach from the north. # 50:41 See Hab. 1:6–8.
From the remote parts of the earth,
great nations and mighty kings are preparing for war.
42Armed with bows and scimitars,
they are merciless and without compassion.
The sound of their armies riding their horses
is like the roaring sea.
The cavalry is in battle formation
and ready to attack you, Fair Babylon.
43The king of Babylon heard the news, and his strength melted away.
Anguish seized him, like the pain of a woman in labor.
44“Behold, like a lion suddenly comes out of the jungle of the Jordan to a rich pastureland, I will suddenly make the people of Babylon run away, and I will appoint a leader that I choose. For who can be compared to me? Who is able to challenge me? Name the ruler # 50:44 Or “shepherd.” who can stand up to me. 45So now, listen to the plans that I have against you, Babylon. Listen to what I have in store for the land of the Chaldeans. Like little lambs, your children will be dragged away before your own eyes, and everyone will be horrified! # 50:45 Or “they will be appalled because of what has happened to the sheep.” 46The earth will shudder at the sound of Babylon’s downfall as their cry echoes to the nations.”
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Jeremiah 50: TPT
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