Jer 50:1  The Message of GOD through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:

Jer 50:2  "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.

Jer 50:3  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.

Jer 50:4  "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.

Jer 50:5  They'll ask directions to Zion and set their faces toward Zion. They'll come and hold tight to GOD, bound in a covenant eternal they'll never forget.

Jer 50:6  "My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of home, couldn't remember where they came from.

Jer 50:7  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.'

Jer 50:8  "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!

Jer 50:9  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.

Jer 50:10  Babylon is ripe for picking! All her plunderers will fill their bellies!" GOD's Decree.

Jer 50:11  "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!

Jer 50:12  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!

Jer 50:13  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.

Jer 50:14  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!

Jer 50:15  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!

Jer 50:16  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.

Jer 50:17  "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."

Jer 50:18  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.

Jer 50:19  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.

Jer 50:20  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.

Jer 50:21  "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.

Jer 50:22  "The thunderclap of battle shakes the foundations!

Jer 50:23  The Hammer has been hammered, smashed and splintered, Babylon pummeled beyond recognition.

Jer 50:24  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.

Jer 50:25  "I, GOD, opened my arsenal. I brought out my weapons of wrath. The Master, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, has a job to do in Babylon.

Jer 50:26  Come at her from all sides! Break into her granaries! Shovel her into piles and burn her up. Leave nothing! Leave no one!

Jer 50:27  Kill all her young turks. Send them to their doom! Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday! The clock has finally run out on them.

Jer 50:28  And here's a surprise: Runaways and escapees from Babylon Show up in Zion reporting the news of GOD's vengeance, taking vengeance for my own Temple.

Jer 50:29  "Call in the troops against Babylon, anyone who can shoot straight! Tighten the noose! Leave no loopholes! Give her back as good as she gave, a dose of her own medicine! Her brazen insolence is an outrage against GOD, The Holy of Israel.

Jer 50:30  And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets, her soldiers dead, silent forever." GOD's Decree.

Jer 50:31  "Do you get it, Mister Pride? I'm your enemy!" Decree of the Master, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. "Time's run out on you: That's right: It's Doomsday.

Jer 50:32  Mister Pride will fall flat on his face. No one will offer him a hand. I'll set his towns on fire. The fire will spread wild through the country."

Jer 50:33  And here's more from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies: "The people of Israel are beaten down, the people of Judah along with them. Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel. They won't let go.

Jer 50:34  But the Rescuer is strong: GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. Yes, I will take their side, I'll come to their rescue. I'll soothe their land, but rough up the people of Babylon.

Jer 50:35  "It's all-out war in Babylon"--GOD's Decree-- "total war against people, leaders, and the wise!

Jer 50:36  War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all! War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!

Jer 50:37  War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders! War to the death on her banks--looted!

Jer 50:38  War to the death on her water supply--drained dry! A land of make-believe gods gone crazy--hobgoblins!

Jer 50:39  The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions, night-owls and vampire bats. No one will ever live there again. The land will reek with the stench of death.

Jer 50:40  It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, the cities I did away with." GOD's Decree. "No one will live there again. No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.

Jer 50:41  "And now, watch this! People pouring out of the north, hordes of people, A mob of kings stirred up from far-off places.

Jer 50:42  Flourishing deadly weapons, barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless. Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers, they come riding fierce stallions, In battle formation, ready to fight you, Daughter Babylon!

Jer 50:43  Babylon's king hears them coming. He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag. Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby.

Jer 50:44  "And now watch this: Like a lion coming up from the thick jungle of the Jordan, Looking for prey in the mountain pastures, I'll take over and pounce. I'll take my pick of the flock--and who's to stop me? All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me."

Jer 50:45  So, listen to this plan that GOD has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he's prepared for dealing with Chaldea: Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable--mere lambs and kids--will be dragged off. Believe it or not, the flock in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.

Jer 50:46  When the shout goes up, "Babylon's down!" the very earth will shudder at the sound. The news will be heard all over the world.

The Message Bible

What do you think?