Jeremiah 50:1-3·~1 min

A Prophecy against Babylon

Jeremiah receives the LORD's word concerning Babylon and the Chaldeans and is told to publish it among the nations without concealment. Babylon's gods, Bel and Merodach, are disgraced and broken, because a nation from the north is coming against her to empty the land so completely that both people and animals flee away.

T¹his is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans: ²“Announce and declare to the nations; ³For a nation from the north will come against her;

Verse 1The LORD speaks through Jeremiah concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans.

This verse formally opens the great anti-Babylon oracle.

Verse 2The message is to be declared among the nations: Babylon is captured and her gods are put to shame.

This verse makes Babylon's downfall an international proclamation.

Verse 3A nation from the north will make Babylon's land desolate so that man and beast flee away.

This verse introduces the instrument and scale of the coming collapse.

Passage shape

A quiet block diagram: each row is one authored paragraph movement, with verse numbers kept visible for scanning and deeper work.

vv. 1-3
Jeremiah receives the LORD's word concerning Babylon and the Chaldeans and is told to publish it among the nations without concealment. Babylon's gods, Bel and Merodach, are disgraced and broken, because a nation from the north is coming against her to empty the land so completely that both people and animals flee away.
This paragraph sounds the chapter's opening trumpet: Babylon's public humiliation is decreed and already set in motion.
1 2 3

Section summaryThe LORD's word concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans is to be announced publicly among the nations. Bel is put to shame, Babylon's idols are shattered, and a nation from the north is appointed to make the land desolate so that both man and beast flee away from it.

Role in the chapterThis opening section establishes the headline reversal of the whole oracle: Babylon itself will become the object of the public judgment it once mediated.