Jer 16, Jer 50 | ESV | STEP | The word of the Lord came to me:

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 ^aThey shall die of deadly diseases. ^bThey shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. ^cThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ^dThey shall perish by the sword and by famine, ^eand their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

5 “For thus says the Lord: ^fDo not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land. ^gThey shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or ^hcut himself ⁱor make himself bald for them. 7 No one shall ^jbreak bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^kBehold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ^l‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them: ^m‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and ⁿhave gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, 12 and because ^oyou have done worse than your fathers, for behold, ^pevery one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. 13 Therefore ^qI will hurl you out of this land into ^ra land that neither you nor your fathers have known, ^sand there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

The Lord Will Restore Israel

14 ^t“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ^u‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but ^v‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel ^wout of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For ^xI will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

16 “Behold, ^yI am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out ^zof the clefts of the rocks. 17 For ^aamy eyes are on all their ways. ^abThey are not hidden from me, ^acnor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 But first ^adI will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and ^aehave filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

19 ^afO Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
^agmy refuge in the day of trouble,
^ahto you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
^aiworthless things in which there is no profit.
20 Can man make for himself ^ajgods?
Such are not gods!”
21 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that ^akmy name is the Lord.”

Jeremiah 50

Judgment on Babylon

1 The word that the Lord spoke concerning ^alBabylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, ^amby Jeremiah the prophet:

2 “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
set up a banner and proclaim,
conceal it not, and say:
^an‘Babylon is taken,
^aoBel is put to shame,
Merodach is dismayed.
^apHer images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed.’
3 “For ^aqout of the north a nation has come up against her, ^arwhich shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; ^asboth man and beast shall flee away.

4 ^at“In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, ^authe people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, ^avweeping as they come, and they ^awshall seek the Lord their God. 5 ^axThey shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, ^aysaying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an ^azeverlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

6 ^ba“My people have been lost sheep. ^bbTheir shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. 7 All who found them have devoured them, ^bcand their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for ^bdthey have sinned against the Lord, ^betheir habitation of righteousness, the Lord, ^bfthe hope of their fathers.’

8 ^bg“Flee from the midst of Babylon, ^bhand go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock. 9 For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon ^bia gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. 10 ^bjChaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the Lord.

11 ^bk“Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
and neigh like stallions,
12 your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
^bla wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 ^bmBecause of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited
but shall be an utter desolation;
^bneveryone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
^boand hiss because of all her wounds.
14 ^bpSet yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
^bqall you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
^brfor she has sinned against the Lord.
15 ^bsRaise a shout against her all around;
she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
^bther walls are thrown down.
For ^buthis is the vengeance of the Lord:
take vengeance on her;
^bvdo to her as she has done.
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
^bwbecause of the sword of the oppressor,
^bxevery one shall turn to his own people,
and every one shall flee to his own land.
17 ^by“Israel is a hunted sheep ^bzdriven away by lions. ^caFirst the king of Assyria ^cbdevoured him, and now at last ^ccNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^cdhas gnawed his bones. 18 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, ^ceI am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, ^cfas I punished the king of Assyria. 19 ^cgI will restore Israel to his pasture, and ^chhe shall feed on ^ciCarmel and in ^cjBashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in ^ckGilead. 20 In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, ^cliniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for ^cmI will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, ^{▼▼ Merathaim means double rebellion}
and against the inhabitants of Pekod. ^{▼▼ Pekod means punishment}
Kill, ^cpand devote them to destruction, ^{▼▼That is, set apart ( devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)}

declares the Lord,
and do all that I have commanded you.
22 ^crThe noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction!
23 ^csHow the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
^ctHow Babylon ^cuhas become
a horror among the nations!
24 ^cvI set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
and ^cwyou did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you opposed the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out ^cxthe weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from every quarter;
open her granaries;
^cypile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
let nothing be left of her.
27 Kill all ^czher bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
^dathe time of their punishment.
28 “A voice! They ^dbflee and escape from the land of Babylon, ^dcto declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for ^ddhis temple.

29 ^de“Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. ^dfEncamp around her; let no one escape. ^dgRepay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has ^dhproudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 30 ^diTherefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord.

31 “Behold, I am against you, O ^djproud one,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
^dkfor your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 ^dlThe proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
^dmand I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is around him.
33 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^dnThe people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; ^dothey refuse to let them go. 34 ^dpTheir Redeemer is strong; ^dqthe Lord of hosts is his name. ^drHe will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against ^dsher officials and her ^dtwise men!
36 A sword against the diviners,
that they may become fools!
A sword against her ^duwarriors,
that they may be destroyed!
37 A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
and against all ^dvthe foreign troops in her midst,
that ^dwthey may become women!
^dxA sword against all her treasures,
that they may be plundered!
38 ^dyA drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
^dzFor it is a land of images,
and they are mad over idols.
39 ^ea“Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40 ^ebAs when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, ^ecso no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

41 ^ed“Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
42 They lay hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
against you, O daughter of Babylon!
43 “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in labor.
44 ^ee“Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd ^efcan stand before me? 45 Therefore hear ^egthe plan that the Lord has made against Babylon, ^ehand the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: ^eiSurely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 ^ejAt the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”