[[Jer-50]] Prev: [[Prophecies in Jer-49]] | Next: [[Prophecies in Jer-51]] --- ### Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: The text identifies the previous scattering of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria and the then-current captivity of the Southern Kingdom by Babylon as the realization of prior divine warnings. *Historical context*: The Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered and exiled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BC ([[2 Kings|2 Kings 17]]). The Southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered and its population deported to Babylon in 586 BC following the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar II. *Related to*: Earlier prophecies of national exile found in the books of Hosea (e.g., [[Hos-09#v3|Hosea 9:3]]) and Isaiah (e.g., [[Isa-05#v13|Isaiah 5:13]]-26). ### For a nation comes up out of the north against her, which will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it... I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they will set themselves in array against her. *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: Predicts the conquest of Babylon by a coalition of nations coming from the north. *Historical context*: The Medo-Persian Empire, situated to the north and east of Babylon, conquered the city in 539 BC. The Medes (from the north) were a primary component of the army led by Cyrus the Great that brought an end to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. *Related to*: ### In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God. They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.' *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: Predicts the reunification of the divided houses of Israel and Judah and their return to Jerusalem to seek God. *Historical context*: Following the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, Cyrus the Great issued a decree (recorded in the Cyrus Cylinder and [[Ezr|Ezra 1]]) allowing the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland. This restoration saw the return of a remnant from various tribes, rebuilding the Second Temple and renewing the covenant. *Related to*: ### A drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols. *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: Predicts the drying of Babylon's water sources as a specific factor in its fall. *Historical context*: According to the accounts of the ancient historians Herodotus and Xenophon, Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon by diverting the Euphrates River into a separate basin. This lowered the water level, allowing his soldiers to wade through the riverbed under the city's gates to enter the city by surprise. *Related to*: ### Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein; and it will be inhabited no more forever; neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. *Type*: prophecy *Summary*: Predicts the total and permanent desolation of the city of Babylon, such that it would never be inhabited again. *Historical context*: Babylon gradually declined over the centuries following its initial capture. By the time of the Sassanid period and the later Arab conquests, the city had fallen into ruin and was largely abandoned. Today, the ancient site of Babylon in Iraq is an unpopulated archaeological site, fulfilling the prediction that no man will dwell in it from generation to generation. *Related to*: --- #ai_prophecy