Read Jeremiah 50 and 51 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Jer 50:1-7 {s} Babylon + idols taken by a nation from the north/ Israel + Judah together shall seek YHVH, weeping
Jer 50:8-16 {s} Go out from Babylon, for an assembly of great nations from the north shall cut her off
Jer 50:17 {p} Israel like scattered sheep/ Assyria devoured him, Babylon has broken his bones
Jer 50:18-20 {p} Babylon punished but Israel brought back to his home/ his sins not found, for YHVH pardoned
Jer 50:21 {s} Go up against Merathaim + Pekod, utterly destroy it, as I have commanded you
Jer 50:22-27 {s} How the hammer of the whole earth has been broken, for the day of her punishment has come
Jer 50:28-30 {p} The vengeance of YHVH + His temple against Babylon, for she is proud against YHVH
Jer 50:31-32 {s} I am against you, most haughty Babylon! The day of your punishment has come
Jer 50:33-46 {s} A sword against the Chaldeans, YHVH shall overthrow her forever/ a great nation from the north
Jer 51:1-10 {s} YHVH will raise up winnowers against Babylon who will empty her land/ flee from her midst
Jer 51:11-14 {s} YHVH will raise up the Medes against Babylon, for it is His vengeance for His temple
Jer 51:15-19 {p} The Portion of Jacob is the Maker of all things, He is not like the futile idols who will perish
Jer 51:20-25 {s} With you I will break all in pieces, and recompense Babylon, the destroying mountain
Jer 51:26-32 {s} The desolation of Babylon to be forever/ prepare the nations + kings of the Medes against her
Jer 51:33-35 {s} Babylon a threshing floor, her harvest will come/ Nebuchadnezzar has devoured Jerusalem
Jer 51:36-51 {p} YHVH will take vengeance for you, Babylon devoured, her perpetual sleep/ go out from her midst
Jer 51:52-53 {s} YHVH will judge Babylon’s carved images, from Him plunderers shall come
Jer 51:54-57 {s} YHVH plundering Babylon, silencing her voice, for He is a God of recompense who will repay
Jer 51:58 {s} The broad walls of Babylon shall be broken, her gates burned with fire
Jer 51:59-64 {p} Jeremiah wrote these words in a book/ Seraiah the quartermaster pronounced it to Babylon
The interconnecting themes of these two chapters are very complex, and I have not been able to finish mapping them. However, I did note these repeating themes in chapter 50:
The first theme is the desolation of Babylon, her idols ashamed and her people scattered:
1) Jer 50:2b, BABYLON’S SHAME:
Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are humiliated, her images are broken in pieces;’
2) Jer 50:3a, THE DESOLATION WROUGHT BY THE NORTHERN NATION:
For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land desolate;
3) Jer 50:3b, HER POPULATION DISPERSED:
And no one shall dwell therein; they shall move, they shall depart, both man and beast;
A second theme is contrasted to the first. It is the repentance and humility of both houses of Israel (as opposed to the pride of Babylon), and her scattered people regathered to her home:
1) Jer 50:4-5, ISRAEL’S + JUDAH’S REPENTANCE:
“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping they shall come and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten;’
2) Jer 50:6-7 {s} ISRAEL SCATTERED BY BAD SHEPHERDS + ADVERSARIES:
“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’
The first theme is repeated in Jer 50:8-16 {s}:
1a) Jer 50:8, Move from the midst of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
1b) Jer 50:9-10, Nations from the north/ their array + arrows against her/ Babylon plundered + depopulated;
central axis) Jer 50:11-12a, “Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you destroyers of My heritage, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and you bellow like bulls, your mother shall be deeply ashamed; she who bore you shall be ashamed;”
2b) Jer 50:12b-16a, Because of YHVH’s wrath, Babylon desolate/ their array + arrows/ plundered + depopulated;
1a) Jer 50:12b-13, Because of the wrath of YHVH Babylon desolate, her population dispersed;
1b) Jer 50:14, The array + arrows against Babylon, for she has sinned against YHVH;
central axis) Jer 50:15a, Shout against her all around/ her foundations have fallen, her walls are thrown down;
2b) Jer 50:15b, It is the vengeance of YHVH: take vengeance on her, as she has done, so do to her;
2a) Jer 50:16a, Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle at harvest time;
2a) Jer 50:16b {s} For fear of the oppressing sword everyone shall flee to his own land.
The second theme is then repeated as was the first theme, its two parts in reverse order:
2) Jer 50:17-19, ISRAEL SCATTERED BY ASSYRIA + BABYLON, BUT YHVH WILL BRING HIM BACK:
1a) Jer 50:17a, Israel is like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away;
1b) Jer 50:17b {s} First the king of Assyria devoured him; now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones;
central axis) Jer 50:18a, Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
2b) Jer 50:18b, I will punish the king of Babylon + his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria;
2a) Jer 50:19, I will bring back Israel to his home/ he will feed + be satisfied on Carmel, Bashan, Mt Ephraim, Gilead.
1) Jer 50:20 {p} ISRAEL’S + JUDAH’S SANCTIFICATION, PARDON:
“In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.”
For further reading:
My take on the prophecies against Babylon and their historic and future fulfillment
The Fall of Babylon: A Problem in Prophetic Interpretation (off site)
Babel/ Baylon index of studies
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