1The word that YHWH spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.
2Declare among the nations, and proclaim, and lift up a banner; proclaim, do not conceal it; say, "Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is shattered; her images are put to shame, her idols are shattered."
3For a nation has come up against her from the north; it shall make her land a desolation, and there shall be no inhabitant in it; from man (adam) even to beast they have fled, they are gone.
4In those days, and at that time, declares YHWH, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together; going and weeping they shall go, and YHWH their God they shall seek.
5They shall ask the way to Zion, their faces toward it: "Come, and let us join ourselves to YHWH in an everlasting covenant (berit) that shall not be forgotten."
6My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, on the mountains they turned them away; from mountain to hill they went, they forgot their resting place.
7All who found them have devoured them, and their adversaries said, "We are not guilty," because they have sinned against YHWH, the habitation of righteousness, the hope of their fathers, YHWH.
8Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans, and be like he-goats before the flock.
9For behold, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be captured; their arrows shall be like a skilled mighty man, none shall return empty.
10And Chaldea shall become a spoil; all who spoil her shall be satisfied, declares YHWH.
11Because you rejoice, because you exult, O plunderers of my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer treading grain, and neigh like stallions,
12your mother is greatly ashamed, she who bore you is disgraced; behold, the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13Because of the wrath of YHWH she shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly a desolation; everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled and hiss at all her plagues.
14Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrow; for against YHWH she has sinned.
15Shout against her all around; she has given her hand; her foundations have fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of YHWH. Take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her.
16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest; from before the oppressing sword, each man (ish) to his own people they shall turn, and each man (ish) to his own land they shall flee.
17Israel is a scattered sheep; lions have driven him away; the first to devour him was the king of Assyria, and this last one has gnawed his bones, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
18Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts (tzevaot), the God of Israel: Behold, I am visiting punishment on the king of Babylon and on his land, as I visited punishment on the king of Assyria.
19And I will bring Israel back to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and on the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead his soul (nephesh) shall be satisfied.
20In those days, and at that time, declares YHWH, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
21Against the land of Merathaim, go up against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod; slay and devote them to destruction after them, declares YHWH, and do according to all that I have commanded you (tzivvah).
22A sound of battle is in the land, and great destruction.
23How is the hammer of all the earth cut down and broken! How has Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
24I have laid a snare for you, and you also are caught, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you are found and also seized, because you have contended against YHWH.
25YHWH has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his indignation; for it is a work for my Lord (Adonai) YHWH of hosts (tzevaot) in the land of the Chaldeans.
26Come against her from every quarter, open her granaries, pile her up like heaps, and devote her to destruction; let nothing of her be left.
27Slay all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter; woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their visitation.
28A sound of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of YHWH our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29Summon archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow; encamp against her all around, let none of her escape; repay her according to her work, according to all that she has done, do to her; for she has acted arrogantly against YHWH, against the Holy One of Israel.
30Therefore her young men shall fall in her broad places, and all her men (ish) of war shall be silenced in that day, declares YHWH.
31Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one, declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH of hosts (tzevaot); for your day has come, the time that I punish you.
32And the arrogant one shall stumble and fall, and there shall be none to raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are around him.
33Thus says YHWH of hosts (tzevaot): The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together; and all who took them captive hold them fast, they refuse to let them go.
34Their Redeemer is strong, YHWH of hosts (tzevaot) is his name; he will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35A sword against the Chaldeans, declares YHWH, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes, and against her wise men!
36A sword against the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword against her mighty men, and they shall be shattered!
37A sword against his horses and against his chariots, and against all the mixed multitude that are in her midst, and they shall become like women (ishah); a sword against her treasuries, and they shall be plundered!
38A drought upon her waters, and they shall dry up; for it is a land of graven images, and over their terrors they are mad.
39Therefore wildcats with jackals shall dwell there, and ostriches shall dwell in her; and it shall never again be inhabited, nor be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, declares YHWH, no man (ish) shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man (adam) sojourn in it.
41Behold, a people comes from the north, a great nation and many kings are stirred up from the remote parts of the earth.
42They lay hold of bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed like a man (ish) for war against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands have grown feeble; anguish has seized him, pangs like a woman in travail.
44Behold, like a lion he comes up from the thickets of the Jordan against the strong habitation; but in a moment I will make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen I will appoint over it; for who is like me, and who will summon me, and who is this shepherd who can stand before me?
45Therefore hear the counsel of YHWH that he has taken against Babylon, and his purposes that he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the little ones of the flock shall drag them away; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.
46At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth quakes, and a cry is heard among the nations.