1-3. The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:“Get the word out to the nations! Preach it!Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide:Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame,god-Marduk exposed as a fraud.All her god-idols shuffling in shame,all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.For a nation will come out of the north to attack her,reduce her cities to rubble.Empty of life—no animals, no people—not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.
4-5. “In those days, at that time”—God’s Decree—“the people of Israel will come,And the people of Judah with them.Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their God.They’ll ask directions to Zionand set their faces toward Zion.They’ll come and hold tight to God,bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget.
6-7. “My people were lost sheep.Their shepherds led them astray.They abandoned them in the mountainswhere they wandered aimless through the hills.They lost track of home,couldn’t remember where they came from.Everyone who met them took advantage of them.Their enemies had no qualms:‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on God.They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’
8-10. “But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can.Be rid of that Babylonian country.On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don’t you be led.Lead the way home!Do you see what I’m doing?I’m rallying a host of nations against Babylon.They’ll come out of the north,attack and take her.Oh, they know how to fight, these armies.They never come home empty-handed.Babylon is ripe for picking!All her plunderers will fill their bellies!” God’s Decree.
11-16. “You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you?You lived it up, exploiting and using my people,Frisky calves romping in lush pastures,wild stallions out having a good time!Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you.The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased.Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation!Rubble and garbage and weeds!Emptied of life by my holy anger,a desert of death and emptiness.Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled,shaking their heads at such a comedown.Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down!Throw everything you have against her.Hold nothing back. Knock her flat.She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me!Shout battle cries from every direction.All the fight has gone out of her.Her defenses have been flattened,her walls smashed.‘Operation God’s Vengeance.’Pile on the vengeance!Do to her as she has done.Give her a good dose of her own medicine!Destroy her farms and farmers,ravage her fields, empty her barns.And you captives, while the destruction rages,get out while the getting’s good,get out fast and run for home.
17. “Israel is a scattered flock,hunted down by lions.The king of Assyria started the carnage.The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,Has completed the job,gnawing the bones clean.”
18-20. And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies,the God of Israel, has to say:“Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land,the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures.He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan,On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead.He will eat to his heart’s content.In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree—“they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing;Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing.These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate.
21. “Attack Merathaim, land of rebels!Go after Pekod, country of doom!Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep.” God’s Decree.“These are my orders. Do what I tell you.
22-24. “The thunderclap of battleshakes the foundations!The Hammer has been hammered,smashed and splintered,Babylon pummeledbeyond recognition.I set out a trap and you were caught in it.O Babylon, you never knew what hit you,Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap!That’s what you get for taking on God.