50:32Pride was Babylon’s characteristic sin. Pride comes from feeling self-sufficient or believing that we don’t need God. Proud nations or persons, however, will eventually fail because they refuse to recognize God as the ultimate power. Getting rid Of pride is not easy, but if we can admit that it often rules us and ask God to forgive us, he will help us overcome it. The best antidote to pride is to focus our attention on the greatness and goodness of God.
Life Application Study BibleJeremiahChapter 50
Jeremiah 50
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1281, 1282, 1283, 1284
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
50Jeremiah 50
A Message about Babylon
15 The LORD gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.*
2This is what the LORD says:“Tell the whole world,and keep nothing back.Raise a signal flagto tell everyone that Babylon will fall!Her images and idols* will be shattered.Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced.
3For a nation will attack her from the northand bring such destruction that no one will live there again.Everything will be gone;both people and animals will flee.
Hope for Israel and Judah
44“In those coming days,”says the LORD,“the people of Israel will return hometogether with the people of Judah.They will come weepingand seeking the LORD their God.
5They will ask the way to Jerusalem*and will start back home again,They will bind themselves to the LORDwith an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.
6“My people have been lost sheep.Their shepherds have led them astrayand turned them joose in the mountains.They have lost their wayand can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.
7All who found them devoured them.Their enemies said,‘We did nothing wrong in attacking them,for they sinned against the LORD,their true place of rest,and the hope of their ancestors.’
8“But now, flee from Babylon!Leave the land of the Babylonians.Like male goats at the head of the flock,lead my people home again.
9For Lam raising up an armyof great nations from the north.They will join forces to attack Babylon,and she will be captured.The enemies’ arrows will go straight to the mark;they will not miss!
10Babylonia* will be looteduntil the attackers are glutted with loot.I, the LORD, have spoken!
Babylon's Sure Fail
1111 “You rejoice and are glad,you who plundered my chosen people.You frisk about like a calf in a meadowand neigh like a stallion.
12But your homeland* will be overwhelmedwith shame and disgrace.You will become the least of nations—a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.
13Because of the LORD’s anger,Babylon will become a deserted wasteland.All who pass by will be horrifiedand will gasp at the destruction they see there.
14“Yes, prepare to attack Babylon,all you surrounding nations.Let your archers shoot at her; spare no arrows.For she has sinned against the LORD.1 Shout war cries against her from every side.Look! She surrenders!Her walls have fallen.It is the LORD’s vengeance,so take vengeance on her.Do to her as she has done to others!
16Take from Babylon all those who plant crops;send all the harvesters away.Because of the sword of the enemy,everyone will run away and rush back to their own lands.
Hope for God’s People
1717 “The Israelites are like sheepthat have been scattered by lions.First the king of Assyria ate them up.Then King Nebuchadnezzar* of Babylon cracked their bones.”
18Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,the God of Israel, says:“Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19And I will bring Israel home again to its own land,to feed in the fields of Carmel and Bashan,and to be satisfied once morein the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.
20In those days,” says the LORD,“no sin will be found in Israel or in Judah,for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.
The LORD’s Judgment on Babylon
2121 “Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaimand against the people of Pekod.Pursue, kill, and completely destroy* them,as I have commanded you,” says the LORD.
22“Let the battle cry be heard in the land,a shout of great destruction.
23Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth,lies broken and shattered.Babylon is desolate among the nations!
24Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you.You are caught, for you have fought against the LORD.
25The LORD has opened his armoryand brought out weapons to vent his fury.The terror that falls upon the Babylonianswill be the work of the Sovereign LORD of Heaven's 5 Armies.
26Yes, come against her from distant lands.Break open her granaries.Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble.Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!
27Destroy even her young bulis—it will be terrible for them, too!Slaughter them all!For Babylon’s day of reckoning has come.
28Listen to the people who have escaped from Babylon,as they tell in Jerusalemhow the LORD our God has taken vengeanceagainst those who destroyed his Temple.
29“Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon. Surround the city so none can escape. Do to her as she has done to others, for she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 30Her young men will fall in the streets and die. Her soldiers will all be killed,” says the Lor.
31“See, lam your enemy, you arrogant people,”says the LORD, the LORD of Heaven's Armies.“Your day of reckoning has arrived—the day when I will punish you.
32Q land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall,and no one will raise you up.For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylonthat will burn up everything around them.”
33This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says:“The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged.Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.
34But the one who redeems them is strong.His name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.He will defend themand give them rest again in Israel.But for the people of Babylonthere will be no rest!
35“The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,”says the LorpD.“It will strike the people of Babylon—her officials and wise men, too.
36The sword will strike her wise counselors,and they will become fools.
The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,and panic will seize them.
37The sword will strike her horses and chariotsand her allies from other lands,and they will all become like women.The sword will strike her treasures,and they all will be plundered.
38The sword will even strike her water supply,causing it to dry up.And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols,and the people are madly in love with them.
39“Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas.It will be a home for owls.Never again will people live there;it will lie desolate forever.
40T will destroy it as I* destroyed Sodom and Gomorrahand their neighboring towns,” says the LORD.“No one will live there;no one will inhabit it.
41“Look! A great army is coming from the north.A great nation and many kingsare rising against you from far-off lands.
42They are armed with bows and spears.They are cruel and show no mercy.As they ride forward on horses,they sound like a roaring sea.They are coming in battle formation,planning to destroy you, Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard reports about the enemy,and he is weak with fright.Pangs of anguish have gripped him,like those of awoman in labor.
44“T will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan,leaping on the sheep in the pasture.I will chase Babylon from its land,and I will appoint the leader of my choice.For who is like me, and who can challenge me?What ruler can oppose my will?”
45Listen to the LORD’s plans against Babylonand the land of the Babylonians.Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep,and their homes will be destroyed.
46The earth will shake with the shout, “Babylon has been taken!”and its cry of despair will be heard around the world.51 1 This is what the LORD says:“T will stir up a destroyer against Babylon
Textual footnotes
- Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the LORD, either by destroying
- them or by giving them as an offering.
- 50:1 Or Chaldeans; also in 50:8, 25, 35, 45.
- 50:2 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
- 50:5 Hebrew Zion; also in 50:28.
- 50:10 Or Chaidea.
- 50:12 Hebrew your mother.
- 50:17 Hebrew Nebuchaarezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar. 50:21 The
- 50:40 Hebrew as God.
Life Application Notes 1 note
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Study feature · page 1281
St ———————«—____ 50:1ff At the height of its power, the Babylonian Empire seemed 50:3 The nation from the north was Medo-Persia, an alliance invincible. But when Babylon had finished serving God’s purpose _ of Media and Persia that would become the next world power. Of punishing Judah for her sins, it would be punished and Cyrus took the city of Babylon by surprise and brought the nation Crushed for its own. Babylon was destroyed in 539 B.C. by the to its knees in 539 B.C. (Daniel 5:30, 31). The complete destruc- Medo-Persians (Daniel 5:30, 31). Babylon is also used in Scrip- _tion of the city was accomplished by later Persian kings. ture as a symbol of all evil. This message can thus apply to the end times when God will wipe out all evil once and for ail.
Study feature · page 1282
ee Renn ee ee ee eer ane ee ———— 50:17-20 God would punish wicked Babylon as he punished verses also look to the time when the Messiah will rule and Israel Assyria for what it had done to Israel. Assyria was crushed by will be fully restored. No sin will then be found in Israel because Babylon, which Assyria had once ruled. Babyton in turn would God’s people will seek him and be forgiven. be crushed by Medo-Persia, formerly under its authority. These 59:21 Merathaim was located in southern Babylonia; Pekod was in eastern Babylonia.
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Study feature · page 1283
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Study feature · page 1284
aa ieee 50:39 Babylon remains a wasteland to this day. See also Isaiah 51:2 To winnow is to separate the wheat from the chaff. When 13:19-22. winnowers threw the mixture into the air, the wind blew away So:44-46 This invader was Cyrus, who attacked Babylon by the worthless chaff while the wheat settled to the floor. Babylon surprise and overthrew it. The world was shocked that its greatest would be blown away like chaff in the wind. (See also Matthew empire was overthrown so quickly. No earthly power. no matter 3:12 where John the Baptist says Jesus will separate the wheat how great. can last forever. from the chaff.)