1
The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2
"Declare among the nations, Proclaim, and set up a standard; Proclaim--do not conceal it-- Say, 'Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; Her idols are humiliated, Her images are broken in pieces.'
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For out of the north a nation comes up against her, Which shall make her land desolate, And no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, Both man and beast.
4
"In those days and in that time," says the Lord, "The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the Lord their God.
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They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying, 'Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord In a perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten.'
6
"My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place.
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All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries said, 'We have not offended, Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, The Lord, the hope of their fathers.'
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"Move from the midst of Babylon, Go out of the land of the Chaldeans; And be like the rams before the flocks.
9
For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country, And they shall array themselves against her; From there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; None shall return in vain.
10
And Chaldea shall become plunder; All who plunder her shall be satisfied," says the Lord.