Jeremiah 50:2 declares that Babylon is captured, that Bel (the chief Babylonian idol—Isa. 46:1) is put to shame, that Merodach (a Babylonian idol) is shattered, that her images are put to shame, and that her idols are dismayed (Jer. 51:17-18). For a nation (of the Medes—51:11, 28) has come up against her from the north (50:41; 51:48). It will make her land a waste, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have fled because she has sinned against Jehovah and engaged in war with Jehovah (50:3, 14, 24). This is the vengeance of Jehovah, for she has acted proudly against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel (vv. 15, 29). Jehovah will kindle a fire in her cities, and it will devour all those around her (v. 32; 51:30b).
In those days and at that time, the children of Israel will come, both they and the children of Judah together; they will go along with weeping as they go, and they will seek Jehovah their God (50:4). They will ask for the way to Zion with their faces toward it, saying, "Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah / In an eternal covenant that will not be forgotten" (v. 5). They have been as lost sheep, turning aside on the mountains and going from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place and have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers (vv. 6-7). In verse 8a Jehovah charges them, saying, "Flee from the midst of Babylon, / And go out from the land of the Chaldeans."
Verse 17 says that Israel is a scattered sheep; lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and last Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has broken his bones. Therefore, Jehovah, the God of Israel, will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as He punished the king of Assyria. He will bring Israel back to his habitation, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. In those days the iniquity of Israel and the sin of Judah will not be found, for Jehovah will forgive those whom He will leave as a remnant (vv. 18-20).
Verse 28 speaks of a sound of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah their God (51:24), the vengeance of His temple. Neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken by his God; but their land (the land of the Chaldeans) is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel (51:5). Again God's people are told to flee from the midst of Babylon and to let each man save his life. They are not to be cut off in Babylon's iniquity. This is a time of vengeance to Jehovah; He will give full recompense to Babylon (v. 6). Verses 8b through 10 continue, "Take balm for her pain, / If perhaps she may be healed. / We tried to heal Babylon, but she is not healed; / Forsake her, and let each one of us go to his own land; / For her judgment has reached to heaven / And has been lifted up to the clouds. / Jehovah has brought forth our righteousnesses; / Come and let us relate in Zion / The work of Jehovah our God."
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had devoured God's people. He had crushed them, made them an empty vessel, swallowed them up like a dragon, filled his stomach with their delicacies, and washed them away (v. 34). Thus, the violence done to them and their flesh should be on Babylon and their blood on the inhabitants of Chaldea (v. 35). Therefore, Jehovah says, "Behold, I will plead your cause / And execute vengeance for you; / And I will dry up her sea / And make her fountain dry. / And Babylon will become heaps, / A habitation of jackals, / An astonishment and a hissing, / Without inhabitant" (vv. 36-37). Then Jehovah again charges His people to come out of Babylon, saying, "Come out from the midst of her, My people, / And let each man save his life / From the burning anger of Jehovah...You who have escaped the sword, / Go and do not stand still; / Remember Jehovah from afar, / And let Jerusalem come up in your heart" (vv. 45, 50).