1. This is the message the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon and its people.
2. “Announce this to all nations! Lift up a flag and announce the message! Speak the whole message and say, ‘The nation of Babylon will be captured. The god Bel will be put to shame. The god Marduk will be very afraid. Babylon’s idols will be put to shame. Her gods will be filled with terror.’
3. A nation from the north will attack Babylon. That nation will make Babylon like an empty desert. No one will live there. Both men and animals will run away.”
4. The Lord says, “At that time the people of Israel and the people of Judah will be together. They will cry and cry together, and together, they will go look for the Lord their God.
5. They will ask how to go to Zion. They will start to go in that direction. They will say, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord. Let’s make an agreement that will last forever. Let’s make an agreement that we will never forget.’
6. “My people have been like lost sheep. Their shepherds led them the wrong way and caused them to wander away into the mountains and hills. They forgot where their resting place was.
7. They were attacked by all who saw them. And their attackers said, ‘We were not wrong to attack them because they sinned against the Lord. They should have stayed close to him, their true resting place. The Lord is the one their fathers trusted in.’
8. “Run away from Babylon. Leave the land of the Babylonians. Be like the goats that lead the flock.
9. I will bring many nations together from the north. This group of nations will get ready for war against Babylon. Babylon will be captured by people from the north. Those nations will shoot many arrows at Babylon. Their arrows will be like soldiers who don’t come back from war with their hands empty.
10. The enemy will take all the wealth from the Chaldeans. The soldiers will take all they want.” This is what the Lord said.