Judgement

50 The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 “Declare among the nations,

Proclaim, and [a]set up a standard;

Proclaim—do not conceal it—

Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed.

[b]Merodach is broken in pieces;

Her idols are humiliated,

Her images are broken in pieces.’

3 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 [c]move, they shall depart,

Both man and beast.

4 “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.

5 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.’

6 “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.

7 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.’

8 “Move from the midst of Babylon,

Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;

And be like the [d]rams before the flocks.

9 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 [e]an expert warrior;

None shall return in vain.

10 And Chaldea shall become plunder;

All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

11 “Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,

You destroyers of My heritage,

Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain,

And you [f]bellow like bulls,

12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;

She who bore you shall be ashamed.