| NET Bible | New International Version |
| 1The LORD spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah. | 1This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians: |
| 2"Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: 'Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon's idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed. | 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.' |
| 3For a nation from the north will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.' | 3A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both people and animals will flee away. |
| 4"When that time comes," says the LORD, "the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together. They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the LORD their God. | 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; they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. | 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 allow them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place. | 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. |
| 7All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said, 'We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture. They have sinned against the LORD in whom their ancestors trusted.' | 7Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, 'We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their verdant pasture, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.' |
| 8"People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly! Leave the land of Babylonia! Be the first to depart! Be like the male goats that lead the herd. | 8"Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock. |
| 9For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed. | 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. |
| 10Babylonia will be plundered. Those who plunder it will take all they want," says the LORD. | 10So Babylonia will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill," declares the LORD. |
| 11"People of Babylonia, you plundered my people. That made you happy and glad. You frolic about like calves in a pasture. Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion. | 11"Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions, |
| 12But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert. | 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. |
| 13After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. | 13Because of the LORD's anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be appalled; they will scoff because of all her wounds. |
| 14"Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! For she has sinned against the LORD. | 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 the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the LORD, am wreaking revenge, take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done! | 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. |
| 16Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army. | 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 their own people, let everyone flee to their own land. |
| 17"The people of Israel are like scattered sheep which lions have chased away. First the king of Assyria devoured them. Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones. | 17"Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria; the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon." |
| 18So I, the LORD God of Israel who rules over all, say: 'I will punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria. | 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 restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture. They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan. They will eat until they are full on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead. | 19But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture, and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan; their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. |
| 20When that time comes, no guilt will be found in Israel. No sin will be found in Judah. For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. I, the LORD, affirm it!'" | 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. |
| 21The LORD says, "Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them! Do just as I have commanded you! | 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 can be heard in the land of Babylonia. There is the sound of great destruction. | 22The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction! |
| 23Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that 'hammer' has been broken and shattered! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! | 23How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations! |
| 24I set a trap for you, Babylon; you were caught before you knew it. You fought against me. So you were found and captured. | 24I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD. |
| 25I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. For I, the Lord GOD who rules over all, have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia. | 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 from far away and attack Babylonia! Open up the places where she stores her grain! Pile her up in ruins! Destroy her completely! Do not leave anyone alive! | 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 soldiers! Let them be slaughtered! They are doomed, for their day of reckoning has come, the time for them to be punished." | 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! Fugitives and refugees are coming from the land of Babylon. They are coming to Zion to declare there how the LORD our God is getting revenge, getting revenge for what they have done to his temple. | 28Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion how the LORD our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for his temple. |
| 29"Call for archers to come against Babylon! Summon against her all who draw the bow! Set up camp all around the city! Do not allow anyone to escape! Pay her back for what she has done. Do to her what she has done to others. For she has proudly defied me, the Holy One of Israel. | 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. |
| 30So her young men will fall in her city squares. All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time," says the LORD. | 30Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day," declares the LORD. |
| 31"Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city," says the Lord GOD who rules over all. "Indeed, your day of reckoning has come, the time when I will punish you. | 31"See, I am against you, you arrogant one," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty, "for your day has come, the time for you to be punished. |
| 32You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you." | 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." |
| 33The LORD who rules over all says, "The people of Israel are oppressed. So too are the people of Judah. All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free. | 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. |
| 34But the one who will rescue them is strong. He is known as the LORD who rules over all. He will strongly champion their cause. As a result he will bring peace and rest to the earth, but trouble and turmoil to the people who inhabit Babylonia. | 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"Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians," says the LORD. "They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia, against her leaders and her men of wisdom. | 35"A sword against the Babylonians!" declares the LORD-- "against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men! |
| 36Destructive forces will come against her false prophets; they will be shown to be fools! Destructive forces will come against her soldiers; they will be filled with terror! | 36A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror. |
| 37Destructive forces will come against her horses and her chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; they will be as frightened as women! Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder! | 37A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become weaklings. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered. |
| 38A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up. All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. Her people act like madmen because of those idols they fear. | 38A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror. |
| 39Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there. Ostriches will dwell in it too. But no people will ever live there again. No one will dwell there for all time to come. | 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. |
| 40I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it," says the LORD. | 40As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns," declares the LORD, "so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it. |
| 41"Look! An army is about to come from the north. A mighty nation and many kings are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth. | 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. |
| 42Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses. Lined up in formation like men going into battle, they are coming against you, fair Babylon! | 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, Daughter Babylon. |
| 43The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming. Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. | 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. |
| 44"A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me. | 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?" |
| 45So listen to what I, the LORD, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. | 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; their pasture will be appalled at their fate. |
| 46The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured. Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations." | 46At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth will tremble; its cry will resound among the nations. |
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