Jeremiah:50:1-51

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* The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet . * "Declare among the nations , Proclaim , and set up a standard ; Proclaim--do not conceal it -- Say , "Babylon is taken , Bel is shamed . Merodach is broken in pieces ; Her idols are humiliated , Her images are broken in pieces .' * For out of the north a nation comes up against her , Which shall make her land desolate , And no one shall dwell therein . They shall move , they shall depart , Both man and beast . * "In those days and in that time ," says the LORD , "The children of Israel shall come , They and the children of Judah together ; With continual weeping they shall come , And seek the LORD their God . * They shall ask the way to Zion , With their faces toward it , saying , "Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD In a perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten .' * "My people have been lost sheep . Their shepherds have led them astray ; They have turned them away on the mountains . They have gone from mountain to hill ; They have forgotten their resting place . * All who found them have devoured them ; And their adversaries said , "We have not offended , Because they have sinned against the LORD , the habitation of justice , The LORD , the hope of their fathers .' * "Move from the midst of Babylon , Go out of the land of the Chaldeans ; And be like the rams before the flocks . * For behold , I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country , And they shall array themselves against her ; From there she shall be captured . Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior ; None shall return in vain . * And Chaldea shall become plunder ; All who plunder her shall be satisfied ," says the LORD . * "Because you were glad , because you rejoiced , You destroyers of My heritage , Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain , And you bellow like bulls , * Your mother shall be deeply ashamed ; She who bore you shall be ashamed . Behold , the least of the nations shall be a wilderness , A dry land and a desert . * Because of the wrath of the LORD She shall not be inhabited , But she shall be wholly desolate . Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified And hiss at all her plagues . * "Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around , All you who bend the bow ; Shoot at her , spare no arrows , For she has sinned against the LORD . * Shout against her all around ; She has given her hand , Her foundations have fallen , Her walls are thrown down ; For it is the vengeance of the LORD . Take vengeance on her . As she has done , so do to her . * Cut off the sower from Babylon , And him who handles the sickle at harvest time . For fear of the oppressing sword Everyone shall turn to his own people , And everyone shall flee to his own land . * "Israel is like scattered sheep ; The lions have driven him away . First the king of Assyria devoured him ; Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones ." * 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 . * But I will bring back Israel to his home , And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan ; His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead . * In those days and in that time ," says the LORD , "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought , but there shall be none ; And the sins of Judah , but they shall not be found ; For I will pardon those whom I preserve . * "Go up against the land of Merathaim , against it , And against the inhabitants of Pekod . Waste and utterly destroy them ," says the LORD , "And do according to all that I have commanded you . * A sound of battle is in the land , And of great destruction . * How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken ! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations ! I have laid a snare for you ; * You have indeed been trapped , O Babylon , And you were not aware ; You have been found and also caught , Because you have contended against the LORD . * The LORD has opened His armory , And has brought out the weapons of His indignation ; For this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts In the land of the Chaldeans . * Come against her from the farthest border ; Open her storehouses ; Cast her up as heaps of ruins , And destroy her utterly ; Let nothing of her be left . * Slay all her bulls , Let them go down to the slaughter . Woe to them ! For their day has come , the time of their punishment . * The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon Declares in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God , The vengeance of His temple . * "Call together the archers against Babylon . All you who bend the bow , encamp against it all around ; Let none of them escape . Repay her according to her work ; According to all she has done , do to her ; For she has been proud against the LORD , Against the Holy One of Israel . * Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets , And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day ," says the LORD . * "Behold , I am against you , O most haughty one !" says the Lord GOD of hosts ; "For your day has come , The time that I will punish you . * The most proud shall stumble and fall , And no one will raise him up ; I will kindle a fire in his cities , And it will devour all around him ." * Thus says the LORD of hosts : "The children of Israel were oppressed , Along with the children of Judah ; All who took them captive have held them fast ; They have refused to let them go . * Their Redeemer is strong ; The LORD of hosts is His name . He will thoroughly plead their case , That He may give rest to the land , And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon . * "A sword is against the Chaldeans ," says the LORD , "Against the inhabitants of Babylon , And against her princes and her wise men . * A sword is against the soothsayers , and they will be fools . A sword is against her mighty men , and they will be dismayed . * A sword is against their horses , Against their chariots , And against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst ; And they will become like women . A sword is against her treasures , and they will be robbed . * A drought is against her waters , and they will be dried up . For it is the land of carved images , And they are insane with their idols . * "Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals , And the ostriches shall dwell in it . It shall be inhabited no more forever , Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation . * As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors ," says the LORD , "So no one shall reside there , Nor son of man dwell in it . * "Behold , a people shall come from the north , And a great nation and many kings Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth . * They shall hold the bow and the lance ; They are cruel and shall not show mercy . Their voice shall roar like the sea ; They shall ride on horses , Set in array , like a man for the battle , Against you , O daughter of Babylon . * "The king of Babylon has heard the report about them , And his hands grow feeble ; Anguish has taken hold of him , Pangs as of a woman in childbirth . * "Behold , he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan Against the dwelling place 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 ? Who will arraign Me ? And who is that shepherd Who will withstand Me ?" * Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Babylon , And His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans : Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out ; Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them . * At the noise of the taking of Babylon The earth trembles , And the cry is heard among the nations .

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