The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
“Declare among the nations and proclaim, and set up a banner; proclaim and do not conceal. Say, ‘Babylon will be captured , Bel will be disappointed, Merodach will be dismayed. Her images will be disappointed and her idols will be dismayed.’
For out of the north a nation will come up against her that will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it; they will flee, they will be gone, both man and animal.
In those days and in that time, says Yahweh, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God.
They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
My people have 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 resting place.
All who found them have devoured them, and their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.’
Flee out of the middle of Babylon and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.
For behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country, and they will set themselves in battle formation against her. From there she will be taken; their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man; none will return in vain.
Chaldea will be a prey; all who prey on her will be satisfied, says Yahweh.
Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses,
your mother will be utterly disappointed; she who bore you will be confounded, behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
Because of the wrath of Yahweh she will not be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate; everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss because of all her wounds.
Set yourselves in battle formation against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.
Shout against her all around; she has submitted herself. Her bulwarks will fall, her walls will be thrown down, for it is the vengeance of Yahweh. Take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword everyone will return to his people, and everyone will flee to his own land.
Israel is a hunted sheep, the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.
Therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I have punished the king of Assyria.
I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
In those days and in that time, says Yahweh, people will search for the iniquity of Israel but there will be none, and they will search for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, because I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill, and devote them to destruction, says Yahweh, 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 is cut apart and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
I have laid a snare for you, and you will be caught, Babylon, and you will not know it; you will be found, and also caught, because you have opposed Yahweh.
Yahweh has opened his armory and has brought out the weapons of his wrath, because the Lord Yahweh of Armies has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
Come against her from the most distant places. Open her storehouses; pile her up like heaps of grain and devote her to destruction. Let nothing be left of her.
Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.
A voice! It is of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance for destroying his Temple.
Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around; let no one escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh.
Behold, I am against you, you proud one, says the Lord Yahweh of Armies, for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.
The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.
This is what Yahweh of Armies says: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together, and all who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of Armies is his name. He will plead, yes, plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land but disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Yahweh, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on her officials and on her wise men.
A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
A sword is on their horses and on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of her, and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed.
A drought is on her waters and they will be dried up, because it is a land of engraved images and they go mad because of their idols that cause terror.
Therefore the wild animals of the desert along with the jackals will dwell there, and the ostriches will dwell in it, and it will be no longer inhabited—forever— and it will not be lived in from generation to generation.
Just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says Yahweh, so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live in it.
Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, each one set in formations like a man for battle against you, daughter Babylon.
The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands grow feeble; anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labor.
Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation, for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him I will appoint over it. For who is like me? And who will appoint me a time? And who is the shepherd who can stand against me?
Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh that he has taken against Babylon, and his purposes that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he will make their habitation desolate because of them.
At the noise of the capture of Babylon the earth will tremble, and her cry will be heard among the nations.”