Jeremiah 50

Brendaonline.com

Jeremiah 50:1-46 (KJV) 

1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 

Dear Babylon,

The Lord has a Word against you.

2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 

Put the word out!  Babylon has been captured, Bel who is an idol is confused, and Merodach an image is broken into pieces.

3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. 

The direction of her enemy will invade from the north.  They will do to her as she has done to others; the land of Babylon will be empty and no one will live there anymore: all animals and people will depart from this land.

4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. 

When all of Israel hear what is happening during this time, they will be crying and all of them will seek the Lord.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying], Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant [that] shall not be forgotten. 

They will say let us come together and make a covenant with the Lord that will be continuous so much so that we will never forget the promise we make while we seek the place where the Lord can be found.

6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. 

The people of God are lost.  The leaders have caused them to be lost. The people have left the pasture of God.  They were once on the mountain and now they seek the pasture on a lesser place, the hill, they have forgotten what it is like to live on the land that gave them rest.

7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. 

My sheep have been under attack: their enemies said we are giving them what they deserve because they have sinned against the Lord.

8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. 

Be like a goat in charge of leading people out of the land of Babylon.  Make them think you have their best interest at heart and lure them where I want them to be destroyed as a nation.

9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows [shall be] as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. 

I am sending trained and strong expert shooters from the north against Babylon.  When Babylon look up they will know they have no place to run or hide when they see who is coming after them.  They will be skilled and organized and ready to defeat Babylon.

10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD. 

The people of Babylon will be wasted: all who attack Babylon will lack nothing said the Lord.

11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; 

You were glad, happy and you rejoiced over what you did to My people; you took so much good from the; you were like a fat heifer and bulls who were not hungry when you counted the things you took from My people.

12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations [shall be] a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. 

  

The one who helped you get to where you are will be shocked at what is happening to you and be ashamed too.  Every part of you even the part that is seen from the back of you will land that cannot provide food or water to live.

13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 

The life you once had will be all gone.  People will come by and say, look at what happened to Babylon, it is destroyed.

14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD. 

Prepare to shoot at Babylon, spare no arrows because Babylon has sinned against the Lord.

15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it [is] the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. 

Do to Babylon as she has done to others.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

Babylon was a land that had diverse people.  God told them to cut off the people who worked in the fields and all the people who lived in Babylon will run toward people with whom they had a common language and interest to be together.  They think they can trust people of their same culture during this time.

 17 Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven [him] away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. 

Israel has been bullied: first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians.

18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

God will bring judgment on Babylon as He did on Assyria. 

19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. 

I will bring Israel home again.

20 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and [there shall be] none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve. 

God said He will forgive the sins of His people.

21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, [even] against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. 

Finish the work; go against the land of Merathaim and Pekod and destroy them too.  I found no relationship in writing who Mereathaim and Pekod with Babylon, however, if God did not provide why they were singled out it is clear that they were rebellious and He wanted them dealt with.  Sometimes the main person in charge is who we see, but God knows that person who we did not know whom He will judge because they were silent but guilty too.

22 A sound of battle [is] in the land, and of great destruction. 

When God brings destruction, a sound will be heard.

23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 

Babylon is the hammer to the nations, now who was once known as the hammer is known as the broken hammer.  God has broken Babylon into pieces.

24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. 

God told Babylon, that He laid a trap for Babylon and they were caught in it.

25 The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this [is] the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. 

The Lord's weapons are now being used from His closet.  God used these weapons He brought out because He is angry at the sins of Babylon.

26 Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. 

Go into Babylon's hideouts, destroy all of her hidden weapons, leave nothing behind said the Lord.

27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. 

Kill her bulls.  The appointed day of God's vengeance is upon the people of Babylon.

28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. 

People who escape from Babylon will run to Zion and tell the news of Babylon.

29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 

Call the experts against Babylon, she has sinned proudly against the Lord.

30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. 

The same thing she did to the young men in those she slew is being done to her.

31 Behold, I [am] against thee, [O thou] most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time [that] I will visit thee.

Today is your day Babylon.  God declares He is not for you.

 32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. 

The one who is the proudest of Babylon will fall and there will be no one to help him get up as usual.  The city will be set on fire by God and all surrounding areas will be burned also.

33 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah [were] oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 

Those who captured My people were kept in hard bondage and were able to leave.

34 Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 

God will rescue His people from bondage and nothing will said to stop Him.

35 A sword [is] upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise [men]. 

God assigned a sword against Babylon.

36 A sword [is] upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword [is] upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. 

The false teachers will behave stupidly and the strong men will be shocked.

37 A sword [is] upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that [are] in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword [is] upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. 

The men will be like women, the treasures will be taken and the horses and chariots will be killed.  All the mixed people will be killed also by the sword.

38 A drought [is] upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it [is] the land of graven images, and they are mad upon [their] idols. 

God will destroy the land that worships idol gods.  The people will be mad because of the destruction of what they worshipped.

39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell [there], and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 

Babylon will be filled with wild beasts and wild beasts.  It will never be called a land that people inhabited again.

40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour [cities] thereof, saith the LORD; [so] shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. 

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed so is Babylon.

41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

The kings all over the world will hear of the destruction of Babylon.

42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they [are] cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, [every one] put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 

Mean men will destroy Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail. 

The king of Babylon was scared when he heard who was coming against him.

44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who [is] a chosen [man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that shepherd that will stand before me? 

I will send the strong against Babylon.  When Babylon sees what is going on she will run quickly.  God appointed the destroyer for Babylon and no one will call Him into question for what He did.

45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make [their] habitation desolate with them.

Listen to what happened to Babylon.  The least brought down the strong and no one was left after they finished destroying the land of Babylon.

 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

When Babylon was brought down, everyone knew it.

Babylon is the World's system.  The power, money, prestige, and influence are held by people whom God will destroy.  The prophecy of Jeremiah is yet to be seen.  God gave us a lesson from the land of Babylon as a picture of Babylon which is ruling many in the world today.  It is my desire to search for what is and what is not God's will for my life through my study to know Him.