1. The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
2. “Declare among the nations and proclaim, and lift up a banner. Proclaim, you must not conceal it. Say, ‘Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is filled with terror, her idols are ashamed, her idols are filled with terror.
3. For a nation will come up against her from the north. It will make her land as a horror, and an inhabitant will not be in her. From humans to animals they all will wander off. They will go away.
4. In those days and in that time,’ ” declares Yahweh, “the people of Israel will come, they and the people of Judah together. Weeping as they go, they will go, and Yahweh their God they will seek.
5. They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there. They will come and join themselves to Yahweh by an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
6. My people have become lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They led them away to the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their resting place.
7. All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture, even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’
8. Flee from the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans. Go out and be like he-goats before the flock.
9. For look, I am going to stir up, and I am going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from the land of the north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success, he does not return without success.
10. And Chaldea will be as booty, all those who plunder her will be satisfied,” declares Yahweh.
11. “Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my inheritance, though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass, and you neigh like the powerful stallions,
12. your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be humiliated. Look, she will be the least of the nations, a desert, dry land, and wilderness.