BABYLON WILL BE CAPTURED

Jeremiah 50:1-20 / Keywords 50:20

In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

A Message About Babylon

50:1 This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians[a]:

2 “Announce and proclaim among the nations,

    lift up a banner and proclaim it;

    keep nothing back, but say,

‘Babylon will be captured;

    Bel will be put to shame,

    Marduk filled with terror.

Her images will be put to shame

    and her idols filled with terror.’

3 A nation from the north will attack her

    and lay waste her land.

No one will live in it;

    both people and animals will flee away.

4 “In those days, at that time,”

    declares the Lord,

“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together

    will go in tears to seek the Lord their God.

5 They will ask the way to Zion

    and turn their faces toward it.

They will come and bind themselves to the Lord

    in an everlasting covenant

    that will not be forgotten.

6 “My people have been lost sheep;

    their shepherds have led them astray

    and caused them to roam on the mountains.

They wandered over mountain and hill

    and forgot their own resting place.

7 Whoever found them devoured them;

    their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,

for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,

    the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’

8 “Flee out of Babylon;

    leave the land of the Babylonians,

    and be like the goats that lead the flock.

9 For I will stir up and bring against Babylon

    an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.

They will take up their positions against her,

    and from the north she will be captured.

Their arrows will be like skilled warriors

    who do not return empty-handed.

10 So Babylonia[b] will be plundered;

    all who plunder her will have their fill,”

declares the Lord.

11 “Because you rejoice and are glad,

    you who pillage my inheritance,

because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain

    and neigh like stallions,

12 your mother will be greatly ashamed;

    she who gave you birth will be disgraced.

She will be the least of the nations—

    a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.

13 Because of the Lord’s anger she will not be inhabited

    but will be completely desolate.

All who pass Babylon will be appalled;

    they will scoff because of all her wounds.

14 “Take up your positions around Babylon,

    all you who draw the bow.

Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,

    for she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Shout against her on every side!

    She surrenders, her towers fall,

    her walls are torn down.

Since this is the vengeance of the Lord,

    take vengeance on her;

    do to her as she has done to others.

16 Cut off from Babylon the sower,

    and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.

Because of the sword of the oppressor

    let everyone return to their own people,

    let everyone flee to their own land.

17 “Israel is a scattered flock

    that lions have chased away.

The first to devour them

    was the king of Assyria;

the last to crush their bones

    was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

18 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land

    as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture,

    and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;

their appetite will be satisfied

    on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days, at that time,”

    declares the Lord,

“search will be made for Israel’s guilt,

    but there will be none,

and for the sins of Judah,

    but none will be found,

    for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

Footnotes

a. Jeremiah 50:1 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 25, 35 and 45

b. Jeremiah 50:10 Or Chaldea

 

1. The Lord would use Babylon to judge the nations, including Israel and Judah, but Babylon itself would be captured. A nation from the north, the Medo-Persian Empire, would conquer Babylon. God promised a day when his people would return to him with tears of repentance. They were lost sheep, but when Babylon was plundered, they would flee out of Babylon.

 

2. Babylon was God’s instrument of judgment, but Babylon was evil. Her people worshiped Bel and Marduk. They rejoiced in their conquest of God’s people. God would punish them in his own time. In his anger he would bring them down, but he would remember his people. He would bring them back to their land. More than that, he promised to remove their guilt and forgive their sins. His judgment looks forward to the gospel.

 

Prayer Lord, thank you for judging sin and forgiving sinners. Help me to trust fully in you.

One Word I will forgive