The Berean Pursuit
This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:
"Announce and declare to the nations;
lift up a banner and proclaim it;
hold nothing back when you say,
'Babylon is captured;
Bel is put to shame;
Marduk is shattered,
her images are disgraced,
her idols are broken in pieces.'
For a nation from the north will come against her;
it will make her land a desolation.
No one will live in it;
both man and beast will flee."
"In those days and at that time,
declares the LORD,
the children of Israel and the children of Judah
will come together, weeping as they come,
and will seek the LORD their God.
They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and join themselves to the LORD
in an everlasting covenant
that will never be forgotten.
My people are lost sheep;
their shepherds have led them astray,
causing them to roam the mountains.
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
All who found them devoured them,
and their enemies said,
'We are not guilty,
for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,
the LORD, the hope of their fathers.'
Flee from the midst of Babylon;
depart from the land of the Chaldeans;
be like the he-goats that lead the flock.
For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the land of the north.
They will line up against her;
from the north she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like skilled warriors
who do not return empty-handed.
Chaldea will be plundered;
all who plunder her will have their fill,"
declares the LORD.
"Because you rejoice,
because you sing in triumph-
you who plunder My inheritance-
because you frolic like a heifer treading grain
and neigh like stallions,
your mother will be greatly ashamed;
she who bore you will be disgraced.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Because of the wrath of the LORD,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become completely desolate.
All who pass through Babylon will be horrified
and will hiss at all her wounds.
Line up in formation around Babylon,
all you who draw the bow!
Shoot at her! Spare no arrows!
For she has sinned against the LORD.
Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her towers have fallen;
her walls are torn down.
Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,
take out your vengeance upon her;
as she has done,
do the same to her.
Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time.
In the face of the oppressor's sword,
each will turn to his own people,
each will flee to his own land.
Israel is a scattered flock,
chased away by lions.
The first to devour him
was the king of Assyria;
the last to crush his bones
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon."
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.
I will return Israel to his pasture,
and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
his soul will be satisfied
on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.
In those days and at that time,
declares the LORD,
a search will be made for Israel's guilt,
but there will be none,
and for Judah's sins,
but they will not be found;
for I will forgive
the remnant I preserve.
Go up against the land of Merathaim,
and against the residents of Pekod.
Kill them and devote them to destruction.
Do all that I have commanded you,"
declares the LORD.
"The noise of battle is in the land-
the noise of great destruction.
How the hammer of the whole earth
lies broken and shattered!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!
I laid a snare for you, O Babylon,
and you were caught before you knew it.
You were found and captured
because you challenged the LORD.
The LORD has opened His armory
and brought out His weapons of wrath,
for this is the work of the Lord GOD of Hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
Come against her
from the farthest border.
Break open her granaries;
pile her up like mounds of grain.
Devote her to destruction;
leave her no survivors.
Kill all her young bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come-
the time of their punishment.
Listen to the fugitives and refugees
from the land of Babylon,
declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,
the vengeance for His temple.
Summon the archers against Babylon,
all who string the bow.
Encamp all around her;
let no one escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;
do to her as she has done.
For she has defied the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets,
and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,"
declares the LORD.
"Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,"
declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,
"for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
The arrogant one will stumble and fall
with no one to pick him up.
And I will kindle a fire in his cities
to consume all those around him."
This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"The sons of Israel are oppressed,
and the sons of Judah as well.
All their captors hold them fast,
refusing to release them.
Their Redeemer is strong;
the LORD of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case
so that He may bring rest to the earth,
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
A sword is against the Chaldeans,
declares the LORD,
against those who live in Babylon,
and against her officials and wise men.
A sword is against her false prophets,
and they will become fools.
A sword is against her warriors,
and they will be filled with terror.
A sword is against her horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners in her midst,
and they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
A drought is upon her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of graven images,
and the people go mad over idols.
So the desert creatures and hyenas will live there
and ostriches will dwell there.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation.
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
along with their neighbors,"
declares the LORD,
"no one will dwell there;
no man will abide there.
Behold, an army is coming from the north;
a great nation and many kings are stirred up
from the ends of the earth.
They grasp the bow and spear;
they are cruel and merciless.
Their voice roars like the sea,
and they ride upon horses,
lined up like men in formation
against you, O Daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon has heard the report,
and his hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
Behold, one will come up like a lion
from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.
For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land.
Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?
What shepherd can stand against Me?"
Therefore hear the plans
that the LORD has drawn up against Babylon
and the strategies He has devised
against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;
certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.
At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth will quake;
a cry will be heard among the nations.
This is what the LORD says:
"Behold, I will stir up against Babylon
and against the people of Leb-kamai
the spirit of a destroyer.
I will send strangers to Babylon
to winnow her and empty her land;
for they will come against her from every side
in her day of disaster.
Do not let the archer bend his bow
or put on his armor.
Do not spare her young men;
devote all her army to destruction!
And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and pierced through in her streets.
For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned
by their God, the LORD of Hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Israel."
Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives!
Do not be destroyed in her punishment.
For this is the time of the LORD's vengeance;
He will pay her what she deserves.
Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD,
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore the nations have gone mad.
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered.
Wail for her; get her balm for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.
"We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches to the clouds."
"The LORD has brought forth our vindication;
come, let us tell in Zion
what the LORD our God has accomplished."
Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
The LORD has aroused the spirit
of the kings of the Medes,
because His plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the vengeance of the LORD-
vengeance for His temple.
Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon;
post the guard;
station the watchmen;
prepare the ambush.
For the LORD has both devised and accomplished
what He spoke against the people of Babylon.
You who dwell by many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.
The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself:
"Surely I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will shout in triumph over you."
The LORD made the earth by His power;
He established the world by His wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
When He thunders,
the waters in the heavens roar;
He causes the clouds to rise
from the ends of the earth.
He generates the lightning with the rain
and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.
For his molten images are a fraud,
and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work to be mocked.
In the time of their punishment they will perish.
The Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for He is the Maker of all things,
and of the tribe of His inheritance-
the LORD of Hosts is His name.
"You are My war club,
My weapon for battle.
With you I shatter nations;
with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
With you I shatter the horse and rider;
with you I shatter the chariot and driver.
With you I shatter man and woman;
with you I shatter the old man and the youth;
with you I shatter the young man and the maiden.
With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock;
with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen;
with you I shatter the governors and officials.
Before your very eyes I will repay
Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea
for all the evil they have done in Zion,"
declares the LORD.
"Behold, I am against you,
O destroying mountain,
you who devastate the whole earth,
declares the LORD.
I will stretch out My hand against you;
I will roll you over the cliffs
and turn you into a charred mountain.
No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone
or a foundation stone,
because you will become desolate forever,"
declares the LORD.
"Raise a banner in the land!
Blow the ram's horn among the nations!
Prepare the nations against her.
Summon the kingdoms against her-
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a captain against her;
bring up horses like swarming locusts.
Prepare the nations for battle against her-
the kings of the Medes,
their governors and all their officials,
and all the lands they rule.
The earth quakes and writhes
because the LORD's intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting;
they sit in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become like women.
Babylon's homes have been set ablaze,
the bars of her gates are broken.
One courier races to meet another,
and messenger follows messenger,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured from end to end.
The fords have been seized,
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers are terrified."
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
"The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled.
In just a little while
her harvest time will come."
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he filled his belly with my delicacies
and vomited me out.
May the violence done to me
and to my flesh
be upon Babylon,"
says the dweller of Zion.
"May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,"
says Jerusalem.
Therefore this is what the LORD says:
"Behold, I will plead your case
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea
and make her springs run dry.
Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a haunt for jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,
without inhabitant.
They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
While they are flushed with heat,
I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk
so that they may revel;
then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up,
declares the LORD.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
How Sheshach has been captured!
The praise of all the earth has been seized.
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!
The sea has come up over Babylon;
she is covered in turbulent waves.
Her cities have become a desolation,
a dry and arid land,
a land where no one lives,
where no son of man passes through.
I will punish Bel in Babylon.
I will make him spew out what he swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him;
even the wall of Babylon will fall.
Come out of her, My people!
Save your lives, each of you,
from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Do not let your heart grow faint,
and do not be afraid
when the rumor is heard in the land;
for a rumor will come one year-
and then another the next year-
of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Her entire land will suffer shame,
and all her slain will lie fallen within her.
Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon
because the destroyers from the north
will come against her,"
declares the LORD.
"Babylon must fall
on account of the slain of Israel,
just as the slain of all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.
You who have escaped the sword,
depart and do not linger!
Remember the LORD from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to mind."
"We are ashamed because we have heard reproach;
disgrace has covered our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the LORD's house."
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming,"
declares the LORD,
"when I will punish her idols,
and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
the destroyers I send will come against her,"
declares the LORD.
"The sound of a cry
comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans!
For the LORD will destroy Babylon;
He will silence her mighty voice.
The waves will roar like great waters;
the tumult of their voices will resound.
For a destroyer is coming against her-
against Babylon.
Her warriors will be captured,
and their bows will be broken,
for the LORD is a God of retribution;
He will repay in full.
I will make her princes and wise men drunk,
along with her governors, officials, and warriors.
Then they will fall asleep forever
and not wake up,"
declares the King,
whose name is the LORD of Hosts.
This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Babylon's thick walls will be leveled,
and her high gates consumed by fire.
So the labor of the people will be for nothing;
the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames."
This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the quartermaster Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon-all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, and say, 'O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain-neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.'
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates. Then you are to say, 'In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.'?"
Here end the words of Jeremiah.