1
The LORD gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.
2
This is what the LORD says: “Tell the whole world, and keep nothing back. Raise a signal flag to tell everyone that Babylon will fall! Her images and idols will be shattered. Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced.
3
For a nation will attack her from the north and bring such destruction that no one will live there again. Everything will be gone; both people and animals will flee.
4
“In those coming days,” says the LORD, “the people of Israel will return home together with the people of Judah. They will come weeping and seeking the LORD their God.
5
They will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the LORD with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.