HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1084
J EREMIA H 5 0
Because of the sword of the enemy,
everyone will run away and rush back
to their own lands.
Hope for God’s People
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.
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how the Lord our God has taken vengeance
against those who destroyed his Temple.
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The LORD’s Judgment on Babylon
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
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“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.
Her young men will fall in the streets
and die.
Her soldiers will all be killed,”
says the Lord.
“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.
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.”
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.
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!
“The sword of destruction will strike the
Babylonians,”
says the Lord.
“It will strike the people of Babylon—
her officials and wise men, too.
The sword will strike her wise counselors,
and they will become fools.
The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,
and panic will seize them.
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.
A drought* will strike her water supply,
causing it to dry up.
50:17 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of
Nebuchadnezzar. 50:21 The Hebrew term used here refers
to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord,
either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
50:38 Or sword; the Hebrew words for drought and sword are
very similar.