"Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, "Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.'
NIV
Declare it among the nations and publish it and set up a signal [to spread the news]--publish and conceal it not; say, Babylon has been taken; Bel [the patron god] is put to shame, Merodach (Bel) is dismayed and broken down. [Babylon's] images are put to shame, her [senseless] idols are thrown down!
AMP
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.
KJV
"My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place."
NIV
My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray [to favorite places of idolatry] on mountains [that seduce]. They have gone from [one sin to another] mountain to hill; they have forgotten their [own] resting-place. [Isa. 53:6; I Pet. 2:25.]AMP
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.
KJV
"In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God."
NIV
In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall come up weeping as they come and seek the Lord their God [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him, both by right of necessity and of the promises of God's Word].
AMP
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.
KJV
This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:
NIV
THE WORD that the Lord spoke concerning and against Babylon and concerning and against the land of the Chaldeans through Jeremiah the prophet: [Isa. 13:1-14:23; 47; Hab. 1, 2.]AMP
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
KJV
"Attack the land of Merathaim and those who live in Pekod. Pursue, kill and completely destroy them," declares the LORD. "Do everything I have commanded you."
NIV
Go up against [Babylon] the land of Merathaim [two rebellions, double or intense defiance], even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod [visitation and punishment]. Slay and utterly destroy them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you.
AMP
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.
KJV
"Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria; the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon."
NIV
Israel is a hunted and scattered sheep [driven hither and thither and preyed upon by savage beasts]; the lions have chased him. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken and gnawed his bones.
AMP
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.
KJV
For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed.
NIV
For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country. They will equip and set themselves against her; from there she will be taken. Their arrows will be like [both] an expert, mighty warrior and like his arrows--none [of them] will return in vain.
AMP
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.
KJV
"So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation."
NIV
Therefore wild beasts of the desert shall dwell [in Babylon] with the jackals, and ostriches shall dwell there. And it shall never again be inhabited with people, even from generation to generation. [Isa. 13:20-22.]AMP
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.
KJV
They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
NIV
They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces in that direction, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
AMP
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.
KJV
A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.
NIV
A sword and a drought upon her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols (objects of terror in which they foolishly trust).
AMP
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.
KJV
