1. The word the Lord spoke about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2. Announce to the nations;proclaim and raise up a signal flag; proclaim, and hide nothing.Say: Babylon is captured;Bel is put to shame;Marduk is devastated;her idols are put to shame;her false gods, devastated.
3. For a nation from the north will come against her; it will make her land desolate.No one will be living in it —both man and beast will escape.
4. In those days and at that time —this is the Lord’s declaration —the Israelites and Judeans will come together, weeping as they come,and will seek the Lord their God.
5. They will ask about Zion,turning their faces to this road.They will come and join themselves to the Lordin an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6. My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, guiding them the wrong way in the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill;they have forgotten their resting place.
7. All who found them devoured them.Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;instead, they have sinned against the Lord,their righteous grazing land, the hope of their ancestors, the Lord.”
8. Escape from Babylon; depart from the Chaldeans’ land.Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9. For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country.They will line up in battle formation against her; from there she will be captured.Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warriorwho does not return empty-handed.
10. The Chaldeans will become plunder;all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.This is the Lord’s declaration.