Jeremiah 51
51
Jeremiah 51
1¶ Thus hath the Lord said; Behold, I raise up against Babylon and against her inhabitants that rise up against me from the heart, a destroying wind.
2And I will send unto Babylon fanners that shall fan her and shall empty her land; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 I shall say to the archer that bends his bow and unto him that lifts himself up in his brigandine, Spare ye not her young men; utterly destroy all her host.
4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans and those that are thrust through in her streets.
5For Israel and Judah have not been made widows of their God, of the Lord of the hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6Flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver each one his soul that ye not perish because of her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.
7Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand that made all the earth drunken: the Gentiles have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9We applied the medicine to Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go each one into his own land; for her judgment is come unto heaven and is lifted up even to the clouds.
10The Lord has brought our righteousness to light; come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11Make bright the arrows; gather the shields; the Lord has awakened the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his thought is against Babylon to destroy her; for it is vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.
12Set up the banner upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for the Lord has deliberated and shall put into effect that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13O thou that dwellest among many waters, rich in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.
14The Lord of the hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with locusts; and they shall sing the song of the winepress against thee.
15He is the one who makes the earth by his power; he upholds the world by his wisdom and extends the heavens by his intelligence;
16he who gives with his voice a multitude of waters from heaven, then he causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with the rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.
17Every man has become carnal and is without knowledge; let every founder be ashamed of the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the Former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance; the Lord of the hosts is his name.
20Thou art my hammer, O weapons of war: for with thee I will break in pieces the Gentiles, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms;
21and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I will break in pieces the chariots and their riders;
22with thee also I will break in pieces men and women; and with thee I will break in pieces old and young; and with thee I will break in pieces young men and virgins;
23I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee I will break in pieces dukes and princes.
24And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, said the Lord.
25Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, said the Lord, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, said the Lord.
27Set ye up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the Gentiles, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as raised up locusts.
28Prepare the nations against her: the kings of Media, the captains thereof, and all the princes thereof, and all the land of their dominion.
29And the land shall tremble and sorrow for every thought of the Lord is confirmed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
30The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight; they have remained in their holds; their might has failed; they became as women: the enemies have burned her dwelling places; they have broken her bars.
31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken in all places,
32And the fords were taken, and they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war were astounded.
33For thus hath the Lord of the hosts, the God of Israel said: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor; it is now time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon; he has filled his belly with my delicates; he has cast me out.
35The violence against me and my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36Therefore thus hath the Lord said: Behold, I judge thy cause and shall take thy vengeance; and I will dry up her sea and make her flowing waters dry.
37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
38They shall roar together like lions; they shall roar as lions’ whelps.
39In their heat I will place their feasts before them, and I will make them drunken that they may rejoice and sleep an eternal sleep and not wake, said the Lord.
40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
41How is Sheshach a prey! and how is she who was the praise of the whole earth taken! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the Gentiles!
42The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
43Her cities were devastated, the land dry and desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither shall any son of man pass thereby.
44And I will visit Bel himself in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the Gentiles shall not flow together any more unto him; and the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45Come out of the midst of her, my people, and save each one his life from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46And lest your heart faint, and ye fear because of the news that shall be heard in the land; in one year shall the news come, and after that in the next year shall come the rumour, and then shall come the violence in the land, and the ruler over him who rules.
47Therefore, behold, the days come that I will visit the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be ashamed, and all her dead shall fall in the midst of her.
48Then the heavens and the earth and all that is therein shall sing praises over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, said the Lord.
49As Babylon has caused the dead of Israel to fall, so because of Babylon the dead of all the earth fell.
50Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, do not tarry: remember the Lord for many days, and remember Jerusalem.
51We are ashamed, because we have heard the reproach; confusion has covered our faces; for strangers are come against the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.
52Therefore, behold, the days come, said the Lord, that I will visit her graven images; and through all her land the wounded unto death shall groan.
53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strength upon high, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, said the Lord.
54The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55Because the Lord destroys Babylon and takes out of her the many thunders, her waves shall roar; like many waters shall be the sound of their voice:
56because the destroyer is come against her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bow is broken: for the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite.
57And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep an eternal sleep and shall not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of the hosts.
58Thus hath the Lord of the hosts said; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly cast down, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and peoples and nations shall labour in vain in the fire to save her, and they shall become weary.
59¶ The word which Jeremiah the prophet sent to Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was the chief steward of the bedchambers.
60So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon and shalt see and shalt read all these things;
62then thou shalt say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that no one shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
63And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates;
64and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be overcome. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
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Jeremiah 51: JUB
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
Jeremiah 51
51
1This is what the Lord says:
I will stir up a destructive wind against Babylon
and against the people who live in Leb Kamai.
2I will send people to winnow #51:2 Winnowing is the process of separating husks from grain. Babylon,
to winnow it and strip its land bare.
They will attack it from every direction on the day of trouble.
3Have the archers bend their bows.
Have them put on their armor.
Don’t spare Babylon’s young men.
Completely destroy its whole army.
4Babylon’s soldiers will fall down badly wounded in their streets.
They will lie dead in their own land.
5Israel and Judah haven’t been abandoned by their God, the Lord of Armies, although their land is guilty of abandoning the Holy One of Israel.
6Run away from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
You shouldn’t die because of Babylon’s crimes.
This is the time for the vengeance of the Lord.
He will pay the people of Babylon back for what they have done.
7Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand.
It made the whole world drunk.
The nations drank its wine.
That is why the nations have gone insane.
8Babylon will suddenly fall and be shattered.
Cry for it.
Bring medicine for its pain.
Maybe it can be healed.
9We wanted to heal Babylon, but it couldn’t be healed.
Let’s abandon it and go to our own land.
God has judged Babylon.
Its judgment is complete.
10The Lord has brought about our victory.
Let’s announce in Zion what the Lord our God has done.
11Sharpen the arrows; fill the quivers.
The Lord will stir up the spirit of the kings of the Medes
because his plan is to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will avenge his temple.
12Raise your battle flag in front of the walls of Babylon.
Strengthen the guards.
Station watchmen.
Prepare ambushes.
The Lord will carry out his plans
against the people who live in Babylon.
13Babylon, you live beside many rivers and are rich with treasures,
but your end has come.
The thread of your life has been cut off.
14The Lord of Armies has taken an oath on himself:
“I will certainly fill you with many enemy armies.
They will swarm like locusts.
People will shout their victory over you.”
15The Lord made the earth by his power.
He set up the world by his wisdom.
He stretched out heaven by his understanding.
16When he thunders, the water in the sky roars.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings wind out of his storehouses.
17Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Metalsmiths are put to shame by their idols.
Their statues are false ⌞gods⌟.
18They can’t breathe.
They are worthless jokes.
When they are punished, they will disappear.
19Jacob’s God isn’t like them.
He made everything,
and Israel is the tribe that belongs to him.
His name is the Lord of Armies.
20“You are my war club and my weapon for battle.
I will use you to crush nations.
I will use you to destroy kingdoms.
21I will use you to crush horses and their riders.
I will use you to crush chariots and their drivers.
22I will use you to crush men and women.
I will use you to crush the old and the young.
I will use you to crush young men and women.
23I will use you to crush shepherds and their flocks.
I will use you to crush farmers and their oxen.
I will use you to crush governors and officials.
24“In your presence I will pay back Babylon
and all the people who live in Babylon
for all the evil things that they did in Zion,”
declares the Lord.
25“I am against you, Babylon, you destructive mountain.
You have destroyed the whole earth,” declares the Lord.
“I will use my power against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a scorched mountain.
26People won’t find any stones in you to use as a cornerstone.
They won’t find any stones in you to use for a foundation.
You will become permanent ruins,” declares the Lord.
27Raise your battle flag throughout the world.
Blow the ram’s horn among the nations.
Prepare nations to attack Babylon.
Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack it.
Appoint a commander to lead the attack.
Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28Prepare nations to attack Babylon.
Prepare the king of the Medes, their governors, all their deputies,
and all the countries that they rule.
29The earth trembles and writhes in pain.
The Lord carries out his plans against Babylon
to make Babylon a wasteland so that no one will live there.
30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They stay in their fortified cities.
Their strength has failed. They have become women.
Their buildings are set on fire.
The bars across their gates are broken.
31Runners run to meet runners.
Messengers follow messengers.
They inform the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured.
32The river crossings have been taken.
The enemy has burned its marshes,
and its soldiers are terrified.
33This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
The people of Babylon are like a threshing floor #51:33 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
at the time it is trampled.
Their harvest time will come soon.
34King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured us.
He has thrown us into confusion.
He has turned us into empty jars.
He has swallowed us like a monster.
He has filled his belly with our delicacies.
Then he spit us out.
35The people who live in Zion say,
“May the violence done to us be done to Babylon.”
Jerusalem says,
“May the people of Babylon be held responsible for our deaths.”
36This is what the Lord says:
I am going to take up your cause and get revenge for you.
I will dry up Babylon’s sea and make its springs dry.
37Babylon will become piles of rubble.
It will become a dwelling place for jackals,
something horrible, and an object of contempt,
where no one lives.
38Its people are like roaring lions and growling lion cubs.
39When they are excited,
I will prepare a feast for them
and make them drunk so that they will shout and laugh.
They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up again,
declares the Lord.
40I will take them to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.
41“Sheshach has been captured.
Babylon, the city that the whole world praised, has been taken captive.
42What a horrifying sight Babylon will be to the nations!
The sea will rise over Babylon,
and its roaring waves will cover it.
43Its cities will be ruined.
It will become a desert, a land where no one lives
and where no human travels.
44I will punish Bel in Babylon.
I will make Bel spit out everything that it has swallowed.
Nations will no longer stream to Babylon,
and its walls will fall.
45“Leave it, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the burning anger of the Lord.
46Don’t lose courage or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land.
One rumor comes one year; another rumor comes the next year.
Rumors of violence are in the land.
Rumors that one ruler will fight against another are in the land.
47That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s idols.
The whole country will be put to shame,
and all its soldiers will lie dead.
48Then heaven and earth and everything in them will rejoice over Babylon,
because destroyers from the north will attack it,”
declares the Lord.
49Because the people of Babylon have killed many Israelites
and because they have killed many people throughout the earth,
Babylon must fall.
50You people who escaped from the sword, leave!
Don’t just stand there.
Remember the Lord in a distant land, and think about Jerusalem.
51We have been put to shame, and we have been disgraced.
Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have gone
into the holy places of the Lord’s temple.
52“That is why the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish their idols,
and those who are wounded will moan everywhere in the land.
53The people of Babylon might go up to heaven.
They might fortify their strongholds.
But destroyers will still come from me against them,”
declares the Lord.
54Cries of agony are heard from Babylon.
Sounds of terrible destruction are heard
from the land of the Babylonians.
55The Lord will destroy Babylon.
He will silence the loud noise coming from it.
Waves of enemies will come roaring in like raging water.
The noise will be heard everywhere.
56A destroyer will attack Babylon,
its soldiers will be captured,
and their bows and arrows will be broken.
“I, the Lord, am a God who punishes evil.
I will certainly punish them.
57I will make their officials and wise men drunk,
along with their governors, officers, and soldiers.
They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up,”
declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies.
58This is what the Lord of Armies says:
The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled,
and its high gates will be set on fire.
People exhaust themselves for nothing.
The nations wear themselves out only to have a fire.
59This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah gave to Seraiah, son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s rule. (Seraiah was the quartermaster.)
60Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the disasters that would happen to Babylon. He wrote all these things that have been written about Babylon. 61Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all this. 62Then say, ‘Lord, you have threatened to destroy this place so that no person or animal will live here, and it will become a permanent ruin.’ 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. 64Say, ‘Babylon will sink like this scroll. It will never rise again because of the disasters that I will bring on it.’ ”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.