Jeremiah 50:2-12

2 "Declare ye among the nations, and proclaim and set up a standard; proclaim and conceal not. Say, `Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces! Her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces!'

3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; they shall be removed, they shall depart, both man and beast.

4 "In those days and in that time," saith the LORD, "the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces turned thitherward, saying, `Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.'

6 My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go 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 offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.'

8 "Depart out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the hegoats before the flocks.

9 For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall set themselves in array against her. From thence she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be as of a mighty destroyer; none shall return in vain.

10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil; all that despoil her shall be satisfied," saith the LORD.

11 "Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls,

12 your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.

Jeremiah 50:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 50

This and the following chapter contain a long prophecy concerning the destruction of Babylon; and which is expressed in such language, that it may be, and is to be, accommodated to the destruction of mystical Babylon; and several passages in the book of the Revelation are borrowed from hence; and it is intermixed with promises and prophecies of the deliverance of God's people from thence, and of the conversion of the Jews, and the restoration of them to their own which will be at that time; see Jer 50:4,5,8,19,20,33,34. The destruction of Babylon in general is proclaimed and declared, and the manner and cause of it, Jer 50:1-13; then the enemies of Babylon are stirred up and animated to proceed against her, and execute the judgments of God upon her, Jer 50:14-30. Next follows the Lord's controversy with her, because of her pride and oppression of his people; and threatens her with the sword, drought, and utter destruction, Jer 50:31-40; and then a description is given of her enemies, that should be the instruments of her destruction, Jer 50:41-44; and the chapter is closed with observing, that this is all according to the counsel and purpose of God, Jer 50:45,46.