Jeremiah 50
The full text of Jeremiah 50 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:
2 "Declare among the nations, proclaim it;
raise a banner and proclaim it;
do not conceal it, but say:
'Babylon is captured,
Bel is put to shame,
Marduk is broken in pieces;
her images are put to shame
and her idols are broken in pieces.'
3 For a 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 "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.
5 They 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.
7 Whoever 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 "Flee out of Babylon;
leave the land of the Babylonians,
and be like the goats that lead the flock.
9 For 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.
10 So 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,
12 your 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.
13 Because of the LORD's anger she will not be inhabited
but will be completely desolate.
All who pass Babylon will be appalled 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.
15 Shout 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;
as she has done, do to her.
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower,
and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.
Before the sword of the oppressor
let everyone return to their own people,
let everyone flee to their 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."
18 Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says:
"I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 But 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.
20 In 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.
22 The noise of battle is in the land,
the noise of great destruction!
23 How broken and shattered
is the hammer of the whole earth!
How desolate is Babylon
among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it;
you were found and captured
because you opposed the LORD.
25 The LORD has opened his armory
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Sovereign LORD of hosts
has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.
26 Come against her from afar.
Break open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain.
Completely destroy her
and leave her no remnant.
27 Kill 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.
28 Listen 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.
30 Therefore, 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 of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time for you to be punished.
32 The 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."
33 This is what the LORD of hosts says:
"The people of Israel are oppressed,
and so too are the people of Judah.
All their captors hold them fast,
refusing to let them go.
34 Yet their Redeemer is strong;
the LORD of hosts 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!
36 A sword against her false prophets!
They will become fools.
A sword against her warriors!
They will be filled with terror.
37 A 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.
38 A 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.
40 As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
along with their neighboring towns,
declares the LORD,
so no one will live there;
no human being will reside 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.
42 They 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.
43 The 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 "Like a lion coming up from Jordan's thickets
to a rich pastoreland,
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?"
45 Therefore, 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 horrified because of them.
46 At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth will tremble; its cry will resound among the nations.
Translation notes (18)
- Jeremiah 50:2a Heb. Bel = title of Marduk, Babylon's chief deity (Isa 46:1); Marduk's defeat = theological defeat of Babylon. The proclamation anticipates the fall as already accomplished.
- Jeremiah 50:5a The Hebrew bᵉrît ʿôlām refers to the everlasting covenant (compare Jeremiah 32:40; 31:31-34). The return of the exiles is presented as a renewal of this covenant.
- Jeremiah 50:6a The Hebrew ṣōʾn 'ōbᵉdôt hāyāh ʿammî means 'lost sheep were my people'. This uses the common shepherd-sheep metaphor (compare Ezekiel 34; John 10), indicating that the leaders, acting as shepherds, caused the people to wander.
- Jeremiah 50:9a The Hebrew text refers to the Medes and Persians as 'great nations from the north'. This describes the coalition led by Cyrus that captured Babylon in 539 BC, even though Babylon fell without a major battle.
- Jeremiah 50:11a The Hebrew kî-tiśmᵉḥî kî-tā'ᵉlôzî šōśᵉsay naḥălātî means 'because you rejoice and exult, pillagers of my inheritance'. Babylon's joyful plundering of Israel's land is given as the reason for her judgment.
- Jeremiah 50:15a The Hebrew niqmat YHWH hî means 'it is the vengeance of the LORD'. This applies the principle of "an eye for an eye" (lex talionis) to Babylon on a national scale.
- Jeremiah 50:20a The Hebrew yᵉbuqqaš 'et-ʿăwōn yiśrāʾēl wᵉ'êynennû means 'they will search for Israel's guilt and it will not be there'. This describes a future, complete forgiveness where Israel's sin is entirely removed and cannot be found.
- Jeremiah 50:21a The Hebrew name Merathaim means 'double rebellion', which is a wordplay on māttu marratu, a region in southern Babylon. Pekod means 'punishment', a wordplay on the Babylonian tribe Pukudu and the Hebrew word pāqad, meaning 'to punish'. These are Hebrew wordplays on Babylonian place names.
- Jeremiah 50:23a The Hebrew nišbar wᵉyišābēr paṭṭîš kol-hāʾāreṣ means 'broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth'. This refers to Babylon, which was like a hammer crushing other nations, now itself being shattered.
- Jeremiah 50:25a Heb. pātaḥ YHWH 'et-'ôṣārô — 'the LORD has opened his armory'; God as divine warrior with a celestial armory. Cf. Isa 13:5.
- Jeremiah 50:28a The Hebrew niqmat hêkālô means 'vengeance for his temple'. The destruction of the Jerusalem temple is avenged through Babylon's fall, which serves as the theological reason for Babylon's judgment.
- Jeremiah 50:29a The Hebrew qᵉdôš yiśrāʾēl means 'the Holy One of Israel'. This title, used extensively by Isaiah, emphasizes that Babylon defied Israel's God, and Jeremiah echoes Isaiah in this prophecy.
- Jeremiah 50:31a The Hebrew word zadon means 'arrogance' or 'insolence', which is presented as Babylon's defining sin. The divine phrase 'I am against you' (Hebrew: hinnᵉnî ʿălêkā), also found throughout Ezekiel, is a common way to express God's opposition to an enemy.
- Jeremiah 50:34a The Hebrew gō'ᵃlām ḥāzāq YHWH ṣᵉbāʾôt šᵉmô means 'their Redeemer is strong, YHWH of hosts is his name'. Here, the title gō'ēl, meaning 'kinsman-redeemer', is applied to YHWH as Israel's powerful advocate.
- Jeremiah 50:37a The Hebrew wehāyû lᵉnāšîm means 'they will become women'. This is an ancient idiom for military cowardice, where warriors are described as becoming 'women' to signify their helplessness and loss of fighting capacity, rather than being a slur.
- Jeremiah 50:38a The Hebrew phrase ḥereb ʾel-mêmêhā means 'a sword against her waters'. This could be a wordplay or a textual variant, as the similar Hebrew word ḥōreb means 'drought' while ḥereb means 'sword'. Both meanings make sense in this context.
- Jeremiah 50:39a Heb. ṣiyyîm ve'iyyîm — 'desert creatures and jackals/hyenas'; the animals of desolation that inhabit ruined sites. Cf. Isa 13:20-22; 34:14-15.
- Jeremiah 50:42a Heb. cf. Jer 6:22-23 (nearly identical verses describing the foe from the north against Judah) — now applied to Babylon. The same invader Judah feared is now marching against Babylon.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Jeremiah, is free to read here on the web.
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