Original Meaning

46:1.9 THERE ARE two prophecies against Egypt:10 46:2–12 and 46:14–26. Only the first one is dated. The fourth year of Jehoiakim was 605 B.C., the year of the fateful battle at Carchemish (in northern Syria) between the forces of Pharaoh Neco and of Nebuchadnezzar (mentioned explicitly in 46:26). The Egyptians were routed, and Babylon began the process of claiming hegemony over the states in the eastern Mediterranean. Egyptian demise is predicted as part of the judgment in the historical process but not the end of the Egyptians themselves.

46:2–12. This oracle is directed to the army of Pharaoh Neco. In 609 B.C. Pharaoh’s army had marched from Egypt toward Syria in order to join forces with the remnants of the Assyrian army and to oppose the emerging power of Babylon. At that time Josiah had attempted to head off the Egyptian army at Megiddo and was mortally wounded in the unsuccessful effort to thwart the Egyptian advance (2 Kings 23:29–30; 2 Chron. 35:20–24).

As noted above, the date of this oracle against the Egyptian army is the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 B.C.). Jehoiakim was the Egyptian choice among Josiah’s sons to follow his father in rule. The martial language of the oracle depicts elements of the Egyptian army preparing to fight and then fleeing in terror. Furthermore, the boastful pride of the Egyptians is described in imperialistic terms (v. 8), only to be reversed by divine judgment on a day that “belongs to the LORD” (v. 10). It is a day of vengeance to be directed against the Lord’s foes, of which Egypt is one. In fact, the language of judgment on that decisive day is described in sacrificial terms.

Egypt is also described in familial terms as “Virgin Daughter” (v. 11). She who seeks a balm in Gilead will find that there is no healing for her.

46:13–26. Verse 13 is a prose introduction to the prophecy that follows. Unlike the companion oracle in 46:2–12, this prophecy is undated. Nebuchadnezzar did not invade Egypt until 570 B.C., late in his reign, but there were periodic encounters of various kinds between Egypt and Babylon throughout Jeremiah’s lifetime. Essentially the prophecy announces that Babylon will work God’s judgment on Egypt. At a basic interpretive level, such a claim is little different from those Jeremiah directed at Judah. In both instances Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar serve as the rod of historical judgment used by the Lord.

The disastrous event is a day in the future (v. 21). For some in Egypt it will be defeat and exile. As in the previous oracle, Egypt is personified as a female (“Daughter … Egypt,” v. 24),11 who will be put to shame by a people from the north. Part of the judgment to come is directed at Amon, one of the Egyptian deities (v. 25). Judgment, however, is not the end of Egypt as a nation; it will again be inhabited (v. 26).

46:27–28. Following the oracles against Egypt is a prediction of the restoration of God’s people. Those on whom God’s judgment has fallen have been disciplined justly, but in his mercy God will not make an end of them. Correspondingly, those whom God used to discipline his people (such as the Egyptians) will suffer the fate of those whose hubris, cruelty, and idolatry have kept them from acknowledging the work of God.

47:1–7. The Philistines12 lived in some of the cities on the coast of Palestine. They had been neighbors and often enemies of Judah since the days of the judges. They were immigrants to the area, having come from some of the Aegean islands and southwestern Turkey in the twelfth century B.C.

Two Philistine cities are named here: Gaza and Ashkelon. The occasion for the oracle against the Philistines possibly comes with Nebuchadnezzar’s preparations to attack Gaza (cf. v. 2, “waters … rising in the north”). No extrabiblical records survive of a Babylonian attack on Gaza, but it is completely understandable that the Babylonians either fought against Gaza and subdued it or received the city’s surrender. Gaza was a trading center and an important point of contact between Egypt, the states immediately to the north and east (e.g., Judah, Moab), and the Arab tribes from Sinai and the fringes of sedentary existence.

The assault in question could have been perpetrated by the Egyptians between 609 B.C., when Necho moved from Egypt to north Syria and 605, when the Egyptians were defeated at Carchemish. A first reading of 47:1 refers explicitly to an attack by an unnamed Pharaoh. There are two problems with this interpretation, although neither are insurmountable: (1) The Greek version of this verse omits the reference to the Pharaoh; (2) there is no record of an Egyptian attack on Gaza or Ashkelon in the period 609 and later. According to Herodotus (Histories 2.157) the Pharaoh before Necho did attack the Philistine city of Ashdod at some point before 610 B.C. At the present state of knowledge, therefore, it is difficult to place this oracle in a specific historical context, but there are several plausible options because of frequent military actions in the region.

In form and vocabulary, the oracle against the Philistines is similar to the preceding oracles against Egypt. The Philistines will be defeated on some future day (v. 4). People will mourn for Gaza and Ashkelon. God’s historical judgment is personified through a poetic address to his sword (v. 6).

48:1–25. The Moabites13 receive an extensive address in 48:1–47 that preserves a significant knowledge of geography. Over twenty different cities (settlements) are named in the poetic indictment of Judah’s eastern neighbor. Moab occupied much of the tableland east of the Dead Sea. According to Genesis 19:30–38, a drunken Lot slept with his two daughters, and as a result they bore Moab and Ben-Ammi.14 The child named Moab is the ancestor of the Moabite people. Thus the Moabites and Israelites were distant relatives. Later, David’s family was related to the Moabites through Ruth, his great-grandmother (Ruth 4:13–22). Solomon married a Moabite princess and built for her a temple to Chemosh, the chief Moabite deity, on the hill east of the temple mount in Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7).

The repetition of a concluding prophetic formula (“declares the LORD”) in 48:25, 30, 35, 38, 43, 44, 47 suggests that more than one prophetic announcement has been collected in Jeremiah 48. Correspondingly, Isaiah 15–16 has lengthy prophecies against Moab, from which some of this material in Jeremiah has been derived and elaborated upon.

Apart from 48:1a and the last phrase of verse 25, this long section does not have introductory or concluding formulae to break up the sequence of verses. It is possible that 48:1b–25 is a single unit of speech, offering mourning language, prediction of judgment and exile, and sarcasm in poetry, all designed to humiliate Moab.

Verse 7 mentions Chemosh. One way to refer to Moab was to call them “the people of Chemosh” (Num. 21:29). He, like his people, will suffer defeat and go into exile. In the future Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as Israel was ashamed when trusting Bethel (v. 13). The name “Bethel” here likely refers to a deity rather than a place. He is known from Assyrian, Babylonian, and Jewish sources.15

Some of the judgment language in this section is frightful. There are references to salt (v. 9), an agent that ruins agricultural products, and to curses (v. 10) on whoever is lax in doing the Lord’s work of execution. As with Egypt and Judah, Jeremiah uses familial language for Moab as a daughter (NIV has “Daughter of Dibon”). Her cities will be ruined, and she will wail a funeral lament. Even physical mutilation is mentioned. Moab’s “horn,” a metaphor for strength, will be cut off and her arm broken.

48:26–47. These prophecies continue the depiction of Moab’s humiliation and degradation. As with the previous oracle, the language is graphic. Moab will wallow in vomit (v. 26), cries of dereliction will be heard (vv. 34, 38), fire will scorch the country (v. 45), and the children of the nation will be taken into exile (v. 46).

So moved is the prophet by the intensity of depicting Moab’s downfall that he portrays himself in mourning (vv. 31–32). The historical agent of all this destruction is not named explicitly (see comments below). Moab will be judged because “she defied the LORD” (v. 42).

The last line of these intricate poetic prophecies is one of restoration: God “will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come” (v. 47). This is the same phrase God uses elsewhere in predicting the restoration of Israel.16

49:1–6. The oracle against the Ammonites17 is much briefer than the one against Moab. According to Genesis 19:30–38, Ben-Ammi, the ancestor of the Ammonites, was the incestuous son of Lot. The country of Ammon is located immediately north of Moab and east of the Jordan River. Ammon’s chief deity was Milcom. Solomon married an Ammonite princess and built a temple for its worship on the hill east of the temple mount in Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7). Baalis, king of Ammon at the time of Jerusalem’s fall, plotted with Ishmael to murder Gedaliah, the Judean governor appointed by the Babylonians (Jer. 40–41).

Rabbah is the capital city of Ammon. Its remains form part of the impressive citadel at the heart of modern day Amman, Jordan. The judgment to come on Ammon is depicted as defeat and exile. No biblical or Babylonian accounts exist to document an official defeat of Ammon (or Moab), but both states fell under the control of Babylon.18

In verses 1 and 3 the NIV refers to “Molech” as having taken possession of Gad and then being sent into exile with his priests and officials. Elsewhere in Jeremiah, Molech is the name of the deity to whom child sacrifices are offered in Judah (32:35; cf. Lev. 20:2–5; 2 Kings 23:10). The NIV translators have rendered the Hebrew term malkam (lit., “their king”) in 49:1, 3 as Molech, based on the reference to Molech as the Ammonite deity in 1 Kings 11:7 (but cf. NIV note). This seemingly logical move, however, concerns a complicated matter over which considerable uncertainty remains.

As a name, Molech is a polemical hybrid because it combines the consonants of the word king (m-l-k) with the vowels from the word “shame.” Molech and Milcom have the same consonants. In comparing the biblical references to Molech, it is not clear whether Milcom is the same deity as Molech. Jeremiah also refers to the deity of child sacrifice as Baal (Jer. 19:5). In brief, the Hebrew term malkam in 49:1, 3 can be rendered “their king,” “Milcom,” or (by inference from 1 Kings 11:7) “Molech.”19

As with Moab (with whom the Ammonites are sometimes linked), the Lord promises to restore the fortunes of Ammon.20

49:7–22. Edom21 lies south of Moab in a high and remote region of Transjordan. It too will fall in judgment. Like Ammon and Moab, the Edomites are related to God’s people—in their case, through Esau (Gen. 36). Esau is mentioned explicitly in Jeremiah 49:8, 10 as a synonym for Edom. The bitterness reflected in the relationship between Jacob and Esau was reflected later in the relationship between Judah and Edom in the days of Jeremiah and into the postexilic period. According to the lamentation of Psalm 137:7, Edom gleefully celebrated the fall of Jerusalem. A main goal of the short prophetic book of Obadiah is the announcement of judgment on Edom (cf. Mal. 1:2–5). Unlike the prophecies to Moab and Ammon, Jeremiah makes no reference to Edom’s restoration.22

The polemic against Edom begins with a reference to wisdom. Those who lived east of Palestine were celebrated as wise (cf. Job 1:3). Jeremiah’s polemic against the Edomites depicts its day of judgment as the loss or failure of its wisdom. The region of Dedan (v. 8) is in the Arabian desert, but its inhabitants were linked with Edom through trade.

Bozrah (vv. 13, 22) is the capital city of Edom. Its ruins are located near the modern Jordanian village of Buseirah. Bozrah will drink the cup of wrath.23 Edom’s strongholds on mountains and in cliffs will not save them from destruction. Verse 19 depicts God as a lion coming upon Edom. His plan is to destroy them, which will come on a day that strikes fear into the heart of a warrior.

49:23–27. Damascus24 (i.e., the capital of Aramean southern Syria) is another object of prophetic judgment. Perhaps Damascus is named among the oracles because of the Aramean raids reported in 2 Kings 24:2. Damascus suffered devastating attacks from the Assyrians in the ninth and eighth centuries because it was a persistent ringleader in the region for anti-Assyrian activities. History repeated itself when Babylon took Damascus.

Hamath and Arpad, two cities in northern Syria, are named in this oracle as regional cities who will be dismayed by the bad news of judgment to fall on the area. Damascus is personified as a weak woman with pain like that which comes with labor. The reference to Ben-Hadad (v. 27) comes in an “update” of Amos’s prophecy (Amos 1:3–4) against Damascus. Hadad is a well-known Aramean deity, and the name Ben-Hadad designates a king as the adopted “son” (ben means “son”) of the deity. Several kings from Damascus had this name/title (e.g., 2 Kings 6:24).

49:28–33. Kedar25 is a region of northern Arabia; the Kedarites are mentioned in Psalm 120:5 and Isaiah 42:11. Hazor is something of a mystery since no location with that name is known in northern Arabia.26 In any case, Kedar and Hazor most likely refer to Arab tribesmen who were attacked by the Babylonians in Nebuchadnezzar’s sixth year (winter of 599 B.C.).27 The “people of the East” are associated with Kedar. They live in tents, travel using camels, and keep sheep and goats. These peoples are known in other sources as Arabs.28

49:34–39. The prophecy against Elam29 is dated early in the reign of Zedekiah. Just why Elam is singled out is a mystery. In the Greek version of the oracles, Elam comes first. Perhaps the reason Elam is cited is that it was the object of a campaign by Nebuchadnezzar. If so, only suggestive evidence survives regarding the campaign. Elam will also be restored by God. As with other matters of grace, no merit or reason is cited for this announcement.

Bridging Contexts

THEOLOGY BEHIND THE ORACLES. The fact that the oracles against the nations are collected together and placed at the end of the book of Jeremiah suggests that they are preserved as witnesses to God’s sovereign justice and are to be read and pondered by those who come after the prophet. They demonstrate that Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations. Some of the things they announce (e.g., Egypt’s capitulation to Babylon or Moab’s forced acceptance of foreign domination) give evidence for the ongoing efficacy of God’s Word in shaping and interpreting history. Other elements (e.g., the hubris of Ammon) indicate what kind of attitudes and activities are displeasing to the Lord.

With proper acknowledgment of the contingent and the particular, these oracles continue to bear witness to the outworking of God’s Word and against the corporate character traits that God disdains. They are valuable for more than simply compiling a checklist to see how and when, or if, judgment befell the nations addressed. Like all announcements of judgment, these oracles get the attention of audiences and warn them; they may serve other tasks than as simple predictors of what must unalterably come to pass.

Two assumptions of the oracles can be transferred to different times and places. (1) They assume without argument that God is the Creator of the broader historical process in which the nations find themselves. This is tantamount to the claim that God is Creator of the world, since creation in the Bible is not simply about a past act but about the ongoing interaction with God and the historical process. For example, God may employ the Egyptians for purposes unknown by them, and he may work through them to accomplish future plans.

(2) The oracles assume that there are recognized standards of conduct to which any group may be held accountable. God has the right to judge the nations, his standards are just, and he may restore the nations as part of a future in which his mercy is as surprising as his judgment.

Prophecy in this mode plays the role of protest against institutional injustice. It is Egypt as a nation and Ammon as a collection of tribes who are judged by God. In some ways the oracles against nations are the most public form of theological discourse in the Old Testament because they use moral standards by which to evaluate public policies and state-sponsored activities on an international scale.

Restoration possible. The oracles against the nations in Jeremiah should be read in light of other prophetic oracles against nations and also in light of the missionary concern of the New Testament that the gospel be preached among all nations.30 Thus, one function of the Old Testament oracles is to indicate the “fallen” condition of institutional life and the need for both moral strictures and a mercy that leads to repentance and new life.

Even though the predominant note of the oracles in the Old Testament toward the nations is negative—that is, they have been weighed in the balance of divine justice and found wanting—it is crucial to note that the redeemed in John’s vision come from every tribe and tongue (Rev. 5:9–10; cf. Dan. 7:14). God’s sovereignty over the nations does not leave them without hope and fit only for retributive justice; in the good news of the New Testament (anticipated by the mysterious restoration passages in the oracles against the nations) the nations find healing for their sicknesses and spiritual strength to overcome the horrors of their inhumanity.

Contemporary Significance

PUBLIC MORALITY. Early in 1999 NATO forces made the decision to attack Yugoslavia because of charges that Serbian forces sponsored by Yugoslavia were involved in the “ethnic cleansing” of the Kosovo province where ethnic Albanians live. The Kosovo Albanians are predominantly Muslim in religion while the Serbs are predominately Orthodox Christians. The government rhetoric emanating from Washington was harsh on the Serbs and the Yugoslavian president, Slobodan Milosevic. We can debate the accuracy of the charges made by NATO or the Serbs, but the rhetoric is instructive in the ways in which standards of behavior are publicly and internationally judged.

A broad debate in the United States over the behavior of President Clinton centered around the issue of private versus public morality. The charges against the Serbs was that they had violated international standards of conduct and that their treatment of persons in their country could not be considered a private matter. To be sure, there are differences between the behavior of one public figure with citizens and that of an army against its own citizens, but the debate over moral standards and their application to public policies was similar.

Christians may differ over the degree to which they wanted President Clinton to answer for his indiscretions and over the way in which they wished to hold President Milosevic accountable in the international arena for actions taken against his own people. But Christians cannot give in to the argument that private indiscretions or internal oppressions are off-limits to broader scrutiny and evaluation. God is a moral Judge, and there are no “purely” private acts or internal policies that lack wider implications.

Interestingly, in the fall of 2000 Yugoslavian citizens took to the streets to denounce the way that Milosevic had attempted to thwart a democratic election process. Eventually he was forced out of the presidency. Many churches in Yugoslavia supported the nonviolent protests against Milosevic. Justice in corporate terms is never perfect or final, but because God is committed to it, God’s people should be committed to it.

Christians in North America must face up to the fact that it is increasingly difficult (some would say philosophically and practically impossible) to have public discussions about the moral nature of public acts. It is difficult enough to have the discussion in the church! In broader society the pluralism is so vast that discussion is very, very difficult. The long tradition of oracles against the nations in the Old Testament are reminders, however, that God is not mocked. The wheels of justice employed by God may grind slowly and leave much unanswered from the limited vantage point of any generation, but a glance at the long histories of Egypt or Rome are solemn reminders that political power itself is no guarantee of right or continuing might.

For all of their particularity and stridency, the oracles against the nations are a good catalyst for the kind of discussions that Christians need to have about public values and their place in institutional life. The oracles put the emphasis on God, who evaluates rather than seeks an easy consensus on what the values are. Perhaps in North American society one cannot get consensus on the values, but this should not stop Christians from claiming that normative values exist and that they play an important role in the moral evaluation that history (and ultimately God) provides of nations. History, in this sense, is a penultimate method used by God to bring down the proud and the cruel.

Restoration. Mysterious affirmations come at the end of the oracles against Egypt, Moab, Ammon, and Elam, which proclaim restoration after their judgment. The good news is that God’s judgment is often in the service of a wider saving purpose. His church will be comprised of people from every nation. In heaven this joyful fact is part of a song sung by the redeemed (Rev. 5). Should this not also be a song of the church on earth?

After prayer and study, a local congregation in Texas has adopted a plan to engage in mission work in the former Soviet province of Kazakhstan. There are few churches in this large area, which is located to the south of Russia and east of the Caspian Sea. To put it bluntly, the history of the region has been bleak in recent centuries. Most of the inhabitants are nominally Muslim, but the practice of religion was not encouraged in the region when the former USSR controlled it and sought to exploit its resources. When one thinks of the grim history of this broad section of Asia, it is easy to shudder and to wonder about moral purpose and justice in history. Christians, however, are called to look past the failures and dashed hopes that inhabit the region; they are called on to acknowledge the mysteries of God’s judgment and rule, but most importantly, to believe that God’s glory is to be revealed among the nations.

Attempts to discern meaning and purpose in the fate of nations is a most difficult task. Read any of the oracles against the nations in Jeremiah and one is reminded instantly that injustice and cruelty are constant historical companions. But so are the words of grace and future hope. The Texas congregation that has committed itself to mission work in Kazakhstan is seeking to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and to be part of the work to which God has called all his people.

Jeremiah 50:1–51:64

Jeremiah 50:1–51:64

1THIS IS THE WORD the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:

2“Announce and proclaim among the nations,

lift up a banner and proclaim it;

keep nothing back, but say,

‘Babylon will be captured;

Bel will be put to shame,

Marduk filled with terror.

Her images will be put to shame

and her idols filled with terror.’

3A nation from the north will attack her

and lay waste her land.

No one will live in it;

both men and animals will flee away.

4“In those days, at that time,”

declares the LORD,

“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together

will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.

5They will ask the way to Zion

and turn their faces toward it.

They will come and bind themselves to the LORD

in an everlasting covenant

that will not be forgotten.

6“My people have been lost sheep;

their shepherds have led them astray

and caused them to roam on the mountains.

They wandered over mountain and hill

and forgot their own resting place.

7Whoever found them devoured them;

their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,

for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,

the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

8“Flee out of Babylon;

leave the land of the Babylonians,

and be like the goats that lead the flock.

9For I will stir up and bring against Babylon

an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.

They will take up their positions against her,

and from the north she will be captured.

Their arrows will be like skilled warriors

who do not return empty-handed.

10So Babylonia will be plundered;

all who plunder her will have their fill,”

declares the LORD.

11“Because you rejoice and are glad,

you who pillage my inheritance,

because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain

and neigh like stallions,

12your mother will be greatly ashamed;

she who gave you birth will be disgraced.

She will be the least of the nations—

a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.

13Because of the LORD’s anger she will not be inhabited

but will be completely desolate.

All who pass Babylon will be horrified and scoff

because of all her wounds.

14“Take up your positions around Babylon,

all you who draw the bow.

Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,

for she has sinned against the LORD.

15Shout against her on every side!

She surrenders, her towers fall,

her walls are torn down.

Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,

take vengeance on her;

do to her as she has done to others.

16Cut off from Babylon the sower,

and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.

Because of the sword of the oppressor

let everyone return to his own people,

let everyone flee to his own land.

17“Israel is a scattered flock

that lions have chased away.

The first to devour him

was the king of Assyria;

the last to crush his bones

was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

18Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land

as I punished the king of Assyria.

19But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture

and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan;

his appetite will be satisfied

on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

20In those days, at that time,”

declares the LORD,

“search will be made for Israel’s guilt,

but there will be none,

and for the sins of Judah,

but none will be found,

for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

21“Attack the land of Merathaim

and those who live in Pekod.

Pursue, kill and completely destroy them,”

declares the LORD.

“Do everything I have commanded you.

22The noise of battle is in the land,

the noise of great destruction!

23How broken and shattered

is the hammer of the whole earth!

How desolate is Babylon

among the nations!

24I set a trap for you, O Babylon,

and you were caught before you knew it;

you were found and captured

because you opposed the LORD.

25The LORD has opened his arsenal

and brought out the weapons of his wrath,

for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do

in the land of the Babylonians.

26Come against her from afar.

Break open her granaries;

pile her up like heaps of grain.

Completely destroy her

and leave her no remnant.

27Kill all her young bulls;

let them go down to the slaughter!

Woe to them! For their day has come,

the time for them to be punished.

28Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon

declaring in Zion

how the LORD our God has taken vengeance,

vengeance for his temple.

29“Summon archers against Babylon,

all those who draw the bow.

Encamp all around her;

let no one escape.

Repay her for her deeds;

do to her as she has done.

For she has defied the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel.

30Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets;

all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,”

declares the LORD.

31“See, I am against you, O arrogant one,”

declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

“for your day has come,

the time for you to be punished.

32The arrogant one will stumble and fall

and no one will help her up;

I will kindle a fire in her towns

that will consume all who are around her.”

33This is what the LORD Almighty says:

“The people of Israel are oppressed,

and the people of Judah as well.

All their captors hold them fast,

refusing to let them go.

34Yet their Redeemer is strong;

the LORD Almighty is his name.

He will vigorously defend their cause

so that he may bring rest to their land,

but unrest to those who live in Babylon.

35“A sword against the Babylonians!”

declares the LORD—

“against those who live in Babylon

and against her officials and wise men!

36A sword against her false prophets!

They will become fools.

A sword against her warriors!

They will be filled with terror.

37A sword against her horses and chariots

and all the foreigners in her ranks!

They will become women.

A sword against her treasures!

They will be plundered.

38A drought on her waters!

They will dry up.

For it is a land of idols,

idols that will go mad with terror.

39“So desert creatures and hyenas will live there,

and there the owl will dwell.

It will never again be inhabited

or lived in from generation to generation.

40As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

along with their neighboring towns,”

declares the LORD,

“so no one will live there;

no man will dwell in it.

41“Look! An army is coming from the north;

a great nation and many kings

are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.

42They are armed with bows and spears;

they are cruel and without mercy.

They sound like the roaring sea

as they ride on their horses;

they come like men in battle formation

to attack you, O Daughter of Babylon.

43The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,

and his hands hang limp.

Anguish has gripped him,

pain like that of a woman in labor.

44Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets

to a rich pastureland,

I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?

Who is like me and who can challenge me?

And what shepherd can stand against me?”

45Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Babylon,

what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians:

The young of the flock will be dragged away;

he will completely destroy their pasture because of them.

46At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble;

its cry will resound among the nations.

51:1This is what the LORD says:

“See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer

against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.

2I will send foreigners to Babylon

to winnow her and to devastate her land;

they will oppose her on every side

in the day of her disaster.

3Let not the archer string his bow,

nor let him put on his armor.

Do not spare her young men;

completely destroy her army.

4They will fall down slain in Babylon,

fatally wounded in her streets.

5For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken

by their God, the LORD Almighty,

though their land is full of guilt

before the Holy One of Israel.

6“Flee from Babylon!

Run for your lives!

Do not be destroyed because of her sins.

It is time for the LORD’s vengeance;

he will pay her what she deserves.

7Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand;

she made the whole earth drunk.

The nations drank her wine;

therefore they have now gone mad.

8Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.

Wail over her!

Get balm for her pain;

perhaps she can be healed.

9“‘We would have healed Babylon,

but she cannot be healed;

let us leave her and each go to his own land,

for her judgment reaches to the skies,

it rises as high as the clouds.’

10“‘The LORD has vindicated us;

come, let us tell in Zion

what the LORD our God has done.’

11“Sharpen the arrows,

take up the shields!

The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes,

because his purpose is to destroy Babylon.

The LORD will take vengeance,

vengeance for his temple.

12Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon!

Reinforce the guard,

station the watchmen,

prepare an ambush!

The LORD will carry out his purpose,

his decree against the people of Babylon.

13You who live by many waters

and are rich in treasures,

your end has come,

the time for you to be cut off.

14The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself:

I will surely fill you with men, as with a swarm of locusts,

and they will shout in triumph over you.

15“He made the earth by his power;

he founded the world by his wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

16When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.

He sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

17“Every man is senseless and without knowledge;

every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.

His images are a fraud;

they have no breath in them.

18They are worthless, the objects of mockery;

when their judgment comes, they will perish.

19He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the Maker of all things,

including the tribe of his inheritance—

the LORD Almighty is his name.

20“You are my war club,

my weapon for battle—

with you I shatter nations,

with you I destroy kingdoms,

21with you I shatter horse and rider,

with you I shatter chariot and driver,

22with you I shatter man and woman,

with you I shatter old man and youth,

with you I shatter young man and maiden,

23with you I shatter shepherd and flock,

with you I shatter farmer and oxen,

with you I shatter governors and officials.

24“Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.

25“I am against you, O destroying mountain,

you who destroy the whole earth,”

declares the LORD.

“I will stretch out my hand against you,

roll you off the cliffs,

and make you a burned-out mountain.

26No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,

nor any stone for a foundation,

for you will be desolate forever,”

declares the LORD.

27“Lift up a banner in the land!

Blow the trumpet among the nations!

Prepare the nations for battle against her;

summon against her these kingdoms:

Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.

Appoint a commander against her;

send up horses like a swarm of locusts.

28Prepare the nations for battle against her—

the kings of the Medes,

their governors and all their officials,

and all the countries they rule.

29The land trembles and writhes,

for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand—

to lay waste the land of Babylon

so that no one will live there.

30Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;

they remain in their strongholds.

Their strength is exhausted;

they have become like women.

Her dwellings are set on fire;

the bars of her gates are broken.

31One courier follows another

and messenger follows messenger

to announce to the king of Babylon

that his entire city is captured,

32the river crossings seized,

the marshes set on fire,

and the soldiers terrified.”

33This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

at the time it is trampled;

the time to harvest her will soon come.”

34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,

he has thrown us into confusion,

he has made us an empty jar.

Like a serpent he has swallowed us

and filled his stomach with our delicacies,

and then has spewed us out.

35May the violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon,”

say the inhabitants of Zion.

“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”

says Jerusalem.

36Therefore, this is what the LORD says:

“See, I will defend your cause

and avenge you;

I will dry up her sea

and make her springs dry.

37Babylon will be a heap of ruins,

a haunt of jackals,

an object of horror and scorn,

a place where no one lives.

38Her people all roar like young lions,

they growl like lion cubs.

39But while they are aroused,

I will set out a feast for them

and make them drunk,

so that they shout with laughter—

then sleep forever and not awake,”

declares the LORD.

40“I will bring them down

like lambs to the slaughter,

like rams and goats.

41“How Sheshach will be captured,

the boast of the whole earth seized!

What a horror Babylon will be

among the nations!

42The sea will rise over Babylon;

its roaring waves will cover her.

43Her towns will be desolate,

a dry and desert land,

a land where no one lives,

through which no man travels.

44I will punish Bel in Babylon

and make him spew out what he has swallowed.

The nations will no longer stream to him.

And the wall of Babylon will fall.

45“Come out of her, my people!

Run for your lives!

Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.

46Do not lose heart or be afraid

when rumors are heard in the land;

one rumor comes this year, another the next,

rumors of violence in the land

and of ruler against ruler.

47For the time will surely come

when I will punish the idols of Babylon;

her whole land will be disgraced

and her slain will all lie fallen within her.

48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them

will shout for joy over Babylon,

for out of the north

destroyers will attack her,”

declares the LORD.

49“Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,

just as the slain in all the earth

have fallen because of Babylon.

50You who have escaped the sword,

leave and do not linger!

Remember the LORD in a distant land,

and think on Jerusalem.”

51“We are disgraced,

for we have been insulted

and shame covers our faces,

because foreigners have entered

the holy places of the LORD’s house.”

52“But days are coming,” declares the LORD,

“when I will punish her idols,

and throughout her land

the wounded will groan.

53Even if Babylon reaches the sky

and fortifies her lofty stronghold,

I will send destroyers against her,”

declares the LORD.

54“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

the sound of great destruction

from the land of the Babylonians.

55The LORD will destroy Babylon;

he will silence her noisy din.

Waves of enemies will rage like great waters;

the roar of their voices will resound.

56A destroyer will come against Babylon;

her warriors will be captured,

and their bows will be broken.

For the LORD is a God of retribution;

he will repay in full.

57I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

her governors, officers and warriors as well;

they will sleep forever and not awake,”

declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

58This is what the LORD Almighty says:

“Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled

and her high gates set on fire;

the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,

the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”

59This is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. 60Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62Then say, ‘O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’ 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.’”

The words of Jeremiah end here.