Parallel Bible results for "jeremiah 50"

Jeremiah 50

The Message Bible MSG

1 The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:

2 "Get the word out to the nations! Preach it! Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide: Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame, god-Marduk exposed as a fraud. All her god-idols shuffling in shame, all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.

3 For a nation will come out of the north to attack her, reduce her cities to rubble. Empty of life - no animals, no people - not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.

4 "In those days, at that time" - God's Decree - "the people of Israel will come, And the people of Judah with them. Walking and weeping, they'll seek me, their God.

5 They'll ask directions to Zion and set their faces toward Zion. They'll come and hold tight to God, bound in a covenant eternal they'll never forget.

6 "My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of home, couldn't remember where they came from.

7 Everyone who met them took advantage of them. Their enemies had no qualms: 'Fair game' they said. 'They walked out on God. They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.'

8 "But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Be rid of that Babylonian country. On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don't you be led. Lead the way home!

9 Do you see what I'm doing? I'm rallying a host of nations against Babylon. They'll come out of the north, attack and take her. Oh, they know how to fight, these armies. They never come home empty-handed.

10 Babylon is ripe for picking! All her plunderers will fill their bellies!" God's Decree.

11 "You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn't you? You lived it up, exploiting and using my people, Frisky calves romping in lush pastures, wild stallions out having a good time!

12 Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you. The woman who bore you wouldn't be pleased. Look at what's come of you! A nothing nation! Rubble and garbage and weeds!

13 Emptied of life by my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown.

14 Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down! Throw everything you have against her. Hold nothing back. Knock her flat. She's sinned - oh, how she's sinned, against me!

15 Shout battle cries from every direction. All the fight has gone out of her. Her defenses have been flattened, her walls smashed. 'Operation God's Vengeance.' Pile on the vengeance! Do to her as she has done. Give her a good dose of her own medicine!

16 Destroy her farms and farmers, ravage her fields, empty her barns. And you captives, while the destruction rages, get out while the getting's good, get out fast and run for home.

17 "Israel is a scattered flock, hunted down by lions. The king of Assyria started the carnage. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Has completed the job, gnawing the bones clean."

18 And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, has to say: "Just watch! I'm bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land, the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.

19 But Israel I'll bring home to good pastures. He'll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan, On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead. He will eat to his heart's content.

20 In those days and at that time" - God's Decree - "they'll look high and low for a sign of Israel's guilt - nothing; Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah's sin - nothing. These people that I've saved will start out with a clean slate.

21 "Attack Merathaim, land of rebels! Go after Pekod, country of doom! Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep." God's Decree. "These are my orders. Do what I tell you.

22 "The thunderclap of battle shakes the foundations!

23 The Hammer has been hammered, smashed and splintered, Babylon pummeled beyond recognition.

24 I set out a trap and you were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap! That's what you get for taking on God.

25 "I, God, opened my arsenal. I brought out my weapons of wrath. The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, has a job to do in Babylon.

26 Come at her from all sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave nothing! Leave no one!

27 Kill all her young turks. Send them to their doom! Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday! The clock has finally run out on them.

28 And here's a surprise: Runaways and escapees from Babylon Show up in Zion reporting the news of God's vengeance, taking vengeance for my own Temple.

29 "Call in the troops against Babylon, anyone who can shoot straight! Tighten the noose! Leave no loopholes! Give her back as good as she gave, a dose of her own medicine! Her brazen insolence is an outrage against God, The Holy of Israel.

30 And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets, her soldiers dead, silent forever." God's Decree.

31 "Do you get it, Mister Pride? I'm your enemy!" Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies. "Time's run out on you: That's right: It's Doomsday.

32 Mister Pride will fall flat on his face. No one will offer him a hand. I'll set his towns on fire. The fire will spread wild through the country."

33 And here's more from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: "The people of Israel are beaten down, the people of Judah along with them. Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel. They won't let go.

34 But the Rescuer is strong: God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Yes, I will take their side, I'll come to their rescue. I'll soothe their land, but rough up the people of Babylon.

35 "It's all-out war in Babylon" - God's Decree - "total war against people, leaders, and the wise!

36 War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all! War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!

37 War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders! War to the death on her banks - looted!

38 War to the death on her water supply - drained dry! A land of make-believe gods gone crazy - hobgoblins!

39 The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions, night-owls and vampire bats. No one will ever live there again. The land will reek with the stench of death.

40 It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, the cities I did away with." God's Decree. "No one will live there again. No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.

41 "And now, watch this! People pouring out of the north, hordes of people, A mob of kings stirred up from far-off places.

42 Flourishing deadly weapons, barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless. Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers, they come riding fierce stallions, In battle formation, ready to fight you, Daughter Babylon!

43 Babylon's king hears them coming. He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag. Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby.

44 "And now watch this: Like a lion coming up from the thick jungle of the Jordan, Looking for prey in the mountain pastures, I'll take over and pounce. I'll take my pick of the flock - and who's to stop me? All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me."

45 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he's prepared for dealing with Chaldea: Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable - mere lambs and kids - will be dragged off. Believe it or not, the flock in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.

46 When the shout goes up, "Babylon's down!" the very earth will shudder at the sound. The news will be heard all over the world.

New Living Translation NLT

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.

6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray and turned them loose in the mountains. They have lost their way and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.

7 All who found them devoured them. Their enemies said, ‘We did nothing wrong in attacking them, for they sinned against the LORD, their true place of rest, and the hope of their ancestors.’

8 “But now, flee from Babylon! Leave the land of the Babylonians. Like male goats at the head of the flock, lead my people home again.

9 For I am raising up an army of great nations from the north. They will join forces to attack Babylon, and she will be captured. The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark; they will not miss!

10 Babylonia will be looted until the attackers are glutted with loot. I, the LORD, have spoken!

11 “You rejoice and are glad, you who plundered my chosen people. You frisk about like a calf in a meadow and neigh like a stallion.

12 But your homeland will be overwhelmed with shame and disgrace. You will become the least of nations— a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.

13 Because of the LORD ’s anger, Babylon will become a deserted wasteland. All who pass by will be horrified and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

14 “Yes, prepare to attack Babylon, all you surrounding nations. Let your archers shoot at her; spare no arrows. For she has sinned against the LORD .

15 Shout war cries against her from every side. Look! She surrenders! Her walls have fallen. It is the LORD ’s vengeance, so take vengeance on her. Do to her as she has done to others!

16 Take from Babylon all those who plant crops; send all the harvesters away. Because of the sword of the enemy, everyone will run away and rush back to their own lands.

17 “The Israelites are like sheep that have been scattered by lions. First the king of Assyria ate them up. Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon cracked their bones.”

18 Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring Israel home again to its own land, to feed in the fields of Carmel and Bashan, and to be satisfied once more in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days,” says the LORD, “no sin will be found in Israel or in Judah, for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.

21 “Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim and against the people of Pekod. Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them, as I have commanded you,” says the LORD .

22 “Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction.

23 Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth, lies broken and shattered. Babylon is desolate among the nations!

24 Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you. You are caught, for you have fought against the LORD .

25 The LORD has opened his armory and brought out weapons to vent his fury. The terror that falls upon the Babylonians will be the work of the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

26 Yes, come against her from distant lands. Break open her granaries. Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble. Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!

27 Destroy even her young bulls— it will be terrible for them, too! Slaughter them all! For Babylon’s day of reckoning has come.

28 Listen to the people who have escaped from Babylon, as they tell in Jerusalem how the LORD our God has taken vengeance against those who destroyed his Temple.

29 “Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon. Surround the city so none can escape. Do to her as she has done to others, for she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

30 Her young men will fall in the streets and die. Her soldiers will all be killed,” says the LORD .

31 “See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,” says the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Your day of reckoning has arrived— the day when I will punish you.

32 O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall, and no one will raise you up. For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylon that will burn up everything around them.”

33 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged. Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.

34 But the one who redeems them is strong. His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. He will defend them and give them rest again in Israel. But for the people of Babylon there will be no rest!

35 “The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,” says the LORD . “It will strike the people of Babylon— her officials and wise men, too.

36 The sword will strike her wise counselors, and they will become fools. The sword will strike her mightiest warriors, and panic will seize them.

37 The sword will strike her horses and chariots and her allies from other lands, and they will all become like women. The sword will strike her treasures, and they all will be plundered.

38 A drought will strike her water supply, causing it to dry up. And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols, and the people are madly in love with them.

39 “Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas. It will be a home for owls. Never again will people live there; it will lie desolate forever.

40 I will destroy it as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns,” says the LORD . “No one will live there; no one will inhabit it.

41 “Look! A great army is coming from the north. A great nation and many kings are rising against you from far-off lands.

42 They are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. As they ride forward on horses, they sound like a roaring sea. They are coming in battle formation, planning to destroy you, Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about the enemy, and he is weak with fright. Pangs of anguish have gripped him, like those of a woman in labor.

44 “I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan, leaping on the sheep in the pasture. I will chase Babylon from its land, and I will appoint the leader of my choice. For who is like me, and who can challenge me? What ruler can oppose my will?”

45 Listen to the LORD ’s plans against Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep, and their homes will be destroyed.

46 The earth will shake with the shout, “Babylon has been taken!” and its cry of despair will be heard around the world.