1 The word that the Lord spoke aagainst Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 “Declare among the nations, Proclaim, and1 set up a standard; Proclaim—do not conceal it— Say, ‘Babylon is ataken, bBel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; cHer idols are humiliated, Her images are broken in pieces.’
3aFor out of the north ba nation comes up against her, Which shall make her land desolate, And no one shall dwell therein. They shall1 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, aThey and the children of Judah together; bWith continual weeping they shall come, cAnd seek the Lord their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord Inaa perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten.’
6 “My people have been alost sheep. Their shepherds have led them bastray; They have turned them away oncthe mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have adevoured them; And btheir adversaries said, c‘We have not offended, Because they have sinned against the Lord, dthe habitation of justice, The Lord, ethe hope of their fathers.’
8 “Movea from the midst of Babylon, Go out of the land of the Chaldeans; And be like the1 rams before the flocks.
9aFor 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 shallbe like those of1 an expert warrior; bNone shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall become plunder; aAll who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.
11 “Becausea you were glad, because you rejoiced, You destroyers of My heritage, Because you have grown fat blike a heifer threshing grain, And you1 bellow like bulls,
12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shallbe a awilderness, A dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord She shall not be inhabited, aBut she shall be wholly desolate. bEveryone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified And hiss at all her plagues.
Merodach - This deity, in the inscriptions Marduk, was the tutelary god of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar, who called his son Evil-Merodach, appears to have been especially devoted to his service. He was really identical with Bel, and his equivalent among the planets was Jupiter: and as such he was styled "King of heaven and earth."
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Jeremiah 50:2:
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