New International Reader's Version

Jeremiah 50:14-20 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

14. "All you who draw the bow, take up your battle positions around Babylon. Shoot at it! Do not spare any arrows! Its people have sinned against me.

15. Shout against them on every side! They are giving up. The towers of the city are falling. Its walls are being pulled down. I am paying its people back. So pay them back yourselves. Do to them what they have done to others.

16. Do not leave anyone in Babylonia to plant the fields. Do not leave anyone to harvest the grain. Let each of them return to his own people. Let him run away to his own land. If he doesn't, his enemy's sword will bring him great harm.

17. "Israel is like a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first lion that ate them up was the king of Assyria. The last one that broke their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia."

18. The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, "I punished the king of Assyria. In the same way, I will punish the king of Babylonia and his land.

19. But I will bring Israel back to their own grasslands. I will feed them on Mount Carmel and in Bashan. I will satisfy their hunger on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

20. A new day is coming," announces the Lord. "At that time people will search for Israel's guilt. But they will not find any. They will search for Judah's sins. But they will not find any. That is because I will forgive the people I have spared.