Yirmeyahu (Jer) 51
51
1Adonai says this:
“Against Bavel and those living in Lev-Kamai
I will stir up a destructive wind.
2Against Bavel I will send foreigners
to winnow her and leave her land empty.
They will besiege her from every side
on the day of disaster.
3Let the archer draw his bow,
let him flaunt his coat of mail;
do not spare her young men,
completely destroy her whole army.
4In the land of the Kasdim the slain will fall,
those thrust through [by the sword] in her streets.
5Isra’el and Y’hudah are not left widowed
of their God, Adonai-Tzva’ot;
but the land of [the Kasdim] is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Isra’el.”
6Flee from Bavel, let each one save his life!
Don’t perish because of her guilt.
For the time has come for the vengeance of Adonai;
he will repay her what she deserves.
7Bavel was a gold cup in the hands of Adonai;
it made the whole earth drunk —
the nations drank her wine;
this is why the nations have lost their senses.
8Bavel has suddenly fallen.
She is broken; wail for her.
Bring healing ointment for her wounds;
perhaps she can be healed.
9“We tried to heal Bavel,
but she cannot be healed.
So leave her alone, and each of us
will return to his own country.”
For the judgment against her rises to the skies
and reaches even the clouds.
10Adonai has brought forth our victory.
Come, let us proclaim in Tziyon
the work of Adonai our God!
11Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers!
Adonai roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
because he plans to destroy Bavel.
This is the vengeance of Adonai
vengeance over his temple.
12Raise a standard against the walls of Bavel!
Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries!
Prepare ambushes! For Adonai
has both planned and accomplished
what he promised to do to those living in Bavel.
13You who live near plenty of water,
so rich in treasure — your end has come,
your time for being cut off!
14Adonai-Tzva’ot has sworn by himself,
“I will fill you with men as numerous as grasshoppers;
they will raise over you a shout of triumph.”
15He made the earth by his power,
established the world by his wisdom
spread out the sky by his understanding.
16When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar,
he raises clouds from the ends of the earth,
he makes the lightning flash in the rain
and brings the wind out from his storehouses.
17At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant,
every goldsmith put to shame by his idol!
The figures he casts are a fraud,
there is no breath in them,
18they are nothings, ridiculous objects;
when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.
19Ya‘akov’s portion is not like these,
for he is the one who formed all things,
including the tribe he claims as his heritage.
Adonai-Tzva’ot is his name.
20“[Bavel] you are my war club and weapons of war —
with you I shatter nations;
with you I destroy kingdoms;
21with you I shatter horses and their riders;
with you I shatter chariots and their drivers;
22with you I shatter husbands and wives;
with you I shatter old and young;
with you I shatter young men and virgins;
23with you I shatter shepherds and their flocks;
with you I shatter farmers and their teams;
with you I shatter governors and deputies.
24“But I will repay Bavel and all living
in the land of the Kasdim for all the evil
they did in Tziyon,” says Adonai,
“before your eyes [, Y’hudah].”
25“I am against you, destructive mountain,
destroying all the earth,” says Adonai.
“I will stretch out my hand against you,
to send you tumbling down from the crags
and make you a burned-out mountain.
26No one will make cornerstones
or foundation-stones from you again;
but you will be desolate
forever,” says Adonai.
27Raise up a banner in the land,
blow the shofar among the nations.
Prepare the nations for war against her.
Summon kingdoms against her —
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.
Appoint an officer against her;
bring up horses like bristling grasshoppers.
28Prepare the nations against her,
the kings of the Medes, his governors and deputies,
and all the land he controls.
29The earth quakes and writhes,
as Adonai’s designs against Bavel are fulfilled,
to make the land of Bavel a ruin,
with no one living there.
30Bavel’s warriors have given up fighting;
they remain in their fortresses;
their courage has failed; they are now like women.
Her homes are on fire, her gate-bars broken.
31One runner runs to meet another,
messenger to meet messenger,
to report to the king of Bavel
that every part of his city is taken,
32the fords have been occupied,
and the swamp thickets set on fire,
while the warriors are seized with panic.
33For here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the God of Isra’el, says:
“The daughter of Bavel is like
a threshing-floor at treading-time.
Just a little while longer,
and the time for harvesting her will come.”
34N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel
has devoured me, crushed me.
He left me like an empty pot.
Like a monster, he swallowed me whole.
With my delicacies he stuffed his belly;
then he rinsed me out.
35But one who lives in Tziyon will say,
“May my torn flesh be avenged on Bavel”;
and Yerushalayim will say,
“May my blood be avenged on the Kasdim.”
36Therefore here is what Adonai says:
“I will plead your cause.
I will take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her river
and make her water sources dry.
37Bavel will become a heap of ruins,
a place for jackals to live,
an object of horror and hissing,
with no one living there.
38Together they roar like young lions,
growl like lion cubs.
39When they are hot with desire,
I will prepare them a drink.
I will make them so drunk
they will have convulsions,
sleep forever and never wake up,”
says Adonai.
40“I will drag them down like lambs to be slaughtered,
like rams and male goats.”
41Sheshakh has been captured,
the pride of the whole earth seized!
Bavel has become an object of horror
throughout the nations!
42The sea has flooded Bavel,
overwhelmed her with its raging waves.
43Her cities have become desolate —
parched, arid land,
a land where no one lives;
nobody even passes through.
44“I will punish Bel in Bavel
and make him disgorge what he swallowed.
The nations will no longer flow to him.
Bavel’s wall will fall.
45Get out of her, my people!
Each one, save yourself
from Adonai’s furious anger!
46Don’t be fainthearted, don’t be afraid
of the rumors spreading abroad in the land.
One year one rumor comes,
the next year another one,
rumors of violence in the land
and rulers fighting rulers.
47Therefore, listen! The days are coming
when I will pass judgment on Bavel’s idols.
Her whole land will be put to shame,
as all her slain fall on home soil.
48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will sing for joy over Bavel;
for the plunderers from the north
are coming to her,” says Adonai.
49Just as Bavel caused
the slain of Isra’el to fall,
so at Bavel will fall
the slain of all the land.
50You who escaped the sword,
go! Don’t stand still!
Remember Adonai from afar,
let Yerushalayim come into your minds.
51“The reproaches we have heard have put us to shame,
disgrace covers our faces;
because foreigners have entered
the sanctuaries of Adonai’s house.”
52“Therefore,” says Adonai, “the days are coming
when I will pass judgment on her idols,
and the wounded will groan throughout her land.
53Even if Bavel scales the heavens
or reinforces her lofty stronghold,
plunderers will come to her
from me,” says Adonai.
54An agonized cry is heard from Bavel!
Great destruction in the land of the Kasdim!
55For Adonai is plundering Bavel
and silencing her noisy din —
their waves roar like the raging ocean,
their clamor sounds and resounds.
56Yes, the plunderer has fallen upon her,
fallen on Bavel.
Her warriors are captured, their bows are broken.
For Adonai is a God of retribution;
he will surely repay.
57“I will intoxicate her leaders and sages,
her governors, deputies and warriors.
They will sleep forever and never wake up,”
says the king, whose name is Adonai-Tzva’ot.
58Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“The wide walls of Bavel will be razed to the ground,
her lofty gates will be set on fire.
The peoples are toiling for nothing,
the nation’s labor goes up in flames,
and everyone is exhausted.”
59This is the order which Yirmeyahu the prophet gave to S’rayah the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, when he went to Bavel with Tzidkiyahu the king of Y’hudah in the fourth year of his reign. S’rayah was quartermaster. 60Yirmeyahu had written on a separate scroll all the above words describing the disaster that was to befall Bavel. 61Yirmeyahu said to S’rayah, “See to it that when you arrive in Bavel you read all these words aloud. Then say, 62‘Adonai, you have promised to destroy this place, that no one will live here, neither human nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’ 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock to it, throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64and say, ‘Like this, Bavel will sink, never to rise again, because of the disaster I am bringing on her; and they will grow weary.’”
(Up to here, these have been the words of Yirmeyahu.)
Currently Selected:
Yirmeyahu (Jer) 51: CJB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
For more information and to purchase a hard copy of the Complete Jewish Bible,
Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleJeremiah 51
51
The Destruction of Babylon
1#Jer 4:11–12; Hos 13:15Thus says the Lord:
I will raise up against Babylon,
and against those who dwell in Leb Kamai,
the spirit of a destroyer.
2#Jer 15:7; Mt 3:12 And I will send foreigners to Babylon
that they may winnow her and empty her land.
For in the day of trouble
they will be against her all around.
3#Jer 46:4; 50:14 Let not him who bends his bow bend it,
and let him not rise up in his scale-armor,
and do not spare her young men;
utterly destroy all her host.
4#Jer 49:26; Isa 13:15 Thus the slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
and those who are thrust through in her streets.
5#Hos 4:1; Jer 33:24–26 For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah,
by his God, the Lord of Hosts,
though their land was filled with sin
against the Holy One of Israel.
6#Jer 50:8; 50:15; 50:28 Flee out of the midst of Babylon,
and each of you deliver his soul!
Do not be cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of the vengeance of the Lord;
He will render to her a recompense.
7#Rev 14:8; 17:4; 17:2 Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord,
that made all the earth drunk.
The nations have drunk of her wine;
therefore the nations are mad.
8#Isa 21:9; Jer 46:11 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed.
Howl for her.
Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9#Isa 13:14; Jer 50:16 We applied healing to Babylon,
but she is not healed.
Forsake her, and let us each go into his own country;
for her judgment reaches to heaven
and is lifted up even to the skies.
10#Jer 50:28; Ps 37:6 The Lord has brought forth our righteousness.
Come, and let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
11#Jer 46:4; 50:45 Sharpen the arrows.
Gather the shields.
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
For His device is against Babylon, to destroy it;
because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
the vengeance of His temple.
12#Isa 13:2; Jer 51:11 Set up the standard against the walls of Babylon,
make the watch strong,
set up the watchmen,
prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13#Rev 17:1; Isa 45:3 O you who dwell by many waters,
abundant in treasures,
your end has come,
and the measure of your end.
14#Jer 49:13; 50:15 The Lord of Hosts has sworn by Himself,
saying: Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts,
and they will lift up shouts of victory against you.
15#Job 9:8; Jer 10:12–16 He has made the earth by His power;
He has established the world by His wisdom,
and has stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
16#Ps 135:7; 18:13; Jnh 1:4 When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,
and He causes the clouds to ascend from the remote parts of the earth;
He makes lightning with rain,
and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
17#Jer 10:14; Hab 2:18–19 Every man is ignorant by His knowledge;
every founder is humiliated by the graven image,
for his molded image is falsehood,
and there is no breath in them.
18They are vanity, the work of errors;
in the time of their punishment they will perish.
19#Jer 10:16; Ps 73:26 The 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 Hosts is His name.
20#Isa 10:5; 41:15–16 He says: You are My battle-ax
and weapon of war:
for with you I will break in pieces the nations,
and with you I will destroy kingdoms;
21#Ex 15:1 and with you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with you I will break in pieces the chariot and his rider.
22#2Ch 36:17; Isa 13:18 With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;
and with you I will break in pieces old and young;
and with you I will break in pieces the young man and the young woman.
23I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock;
and with you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;
and with you I will break in pieces captains and rulers.
24#Jer 50:15I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says the Lord.
25#Rev 8:8; Zec 4:7; Isa 13:2 I am against you, O destroying mountain,
says the Lord,
who destroys all the earth.
And I will stretch out My hand against you,
and roll you down from the rocks,
and will make you a burned mountain.
26#Isa 13:19–22; Jer 50:12–13 They will not take of you a stone for a corner,
or a stone for foundations,
but you will be desolate forever,
says the Lord.
27#Ge 8:4; 10:3 Set up a standard in the land,
blow the trumpet among the nations,
prepare the nations against her,
call together against her the kingdoms
of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a captain against her.
Cause the horses to come up as the rough locusts.
28#Jer 51:11 Prepare against her the nations,
the kings of the Medes,
the captains, and all the rulers,
and every land of their dominion.
29#Jer 8:16; 51:43 So the land trembles and sorrows,
for the purposes of the Lord will be performed against Babylon,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation
without an inhabitant.
30#Na 3:13; La 2:9; Isa 13:7–8 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting;
they have remained in their strongholds.
Their might has failed;
they became as women.
They have burned her dwelling places;
the bars of her gates are broken.
31#2Sa 18:19–31; 2Ch 30:6 One courier will run to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to show the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured from end to end,
32and the passages have been seized,
and they have burned the reeds with fire,
and the men of war are terrified.
33#Isa 21:10; Hos 6:11For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor,
it is time to thresh her;
yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.
34#Jer 50:17; 51:44 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
has devoured me and crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel.
He has swallowed me up like a dragon;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies,
he has cast me out.
35May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
the inhabitant of Zion will say;
and, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36#Jer 50:38; Ps 140:12Therefore thus says the Lord:
I will plead your cause,
and take vengeance for you.
And I will dry up her sea,
and make her springs dry.
37#Rev 18:2; Jer 18:16 Babylon will become heaps,
a dwelling place for jackals,
an astonishment, and a hissing,
without an inhabitant.
38#Jer 2:15 They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl as lions’ whelps.
39#Jer 51:57; 25:27 When they become heated up,
I will make their feasts,
and I will make them drunk,
that they may rejoice,
and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake,
says the Lord.
40#Jer 50:27 I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
41#Jer 25:26; Isa 13:19 How Sheshak has been captured!
And how the praise of the whole earth has been seized!
How Babylon has become an astonishment
among the nations!
42#Isa 8:7–8; Da 9:26 The sea has come up over Babylon;
she has been covered with the multitude of the waves.
43#Isa 13:20; Jer 2:6 Her cities have become a desolation,
a dry land and a wilderness,
a land in which no man dwells,
through which no son of man passes.
44#Jer 51:34; 51:58 I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and I will bring forth from his mouth what he has swallowed up;
and the nations will not flow together any more to him.
Indeed, the wall of Babylon will fall.
45#Jer 51:6; Isa 48:20 My people, go out of her midst,
and deliver every man his soul
from the fierce anger of the Lord,
46#2Ki 19:7; Isa 13:3–5 lest your heart grows faint, and you are afraid
for the report that will be heard in the land—
for the report will come one year, and after that in another year will come another report,
and violence will be in the land,
ruler against ruler—
47#Jer 50:2; Isa 46:1–2 therefore the days are coming
when I will punish the graven images of Babylon;
and her whole land will be humiliated,
and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48#Isa 44:23; Rev 18:20 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is in it,
shall sing for joy over Babylon;
for the destroyers will come to her
from the north,
says the Lord.
49#Jer 50:29; 51:24 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,
so at Babylon the slain of all the earth will fall.
50#Jer 44:28; Dt 4:29–31 You who have escaped the sword,
go away, do not stand still.
Remember the Lord afar off,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51#La 1:10; Ps 44:13–16 We are humiliated
because we have heard reproach.
Shame has covered our faces,
for strangers have come into
the holy places of the house of the Lord.
52#Jer 51:47; 50:38 Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will punish her graven images,
and the mortally wounded shall groan
through all her land.
53#Jer 49:16; Ge 11:4 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify the height of her strength,
yet from Me will destroyers come to her,
says the Lord.
54#Jer 50:22; 48:3–5 A sound of an outcry comes from Babylon,
and great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans,
55because the Lord has devastated Babylon,
and destroyed the great voice out of her.
When her waves roar like great waters,
a noise of their voice is uttered.
56#Ps 46:9; 94:1–2 Because the destroyer is coming against her, even upon Babylon,
and her mighty men will be captured,
every one of their bows are broken.
For the Lord is a God of recompense;
He will completely repay.
57#Jer 46:18; 25:27 I will make her officials drunk, and her wise men,
her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men;
and they will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake,
says the King whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
58#Jer 51:64; Hab 2:13Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon will be utterly broken,
and her high gates will be burned with fire;
and the peoples will labor in vain,
and the nations become exhausted only for fire.
Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah
59#Jer 32:12; 36:4The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was a quartermaster. 60#Isa 30:8; Jer 30:2–3So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read aloud all these words, 62#Jer 50:3; 50:13and say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, that no one will remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever.’ 63#Jer 19:10–11; Rev 18:21It will be that when you have made an end of reading this scroll that you will bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64#Jer 51:58; Job 31:40and say, ‘Thus Babylon will sink and not rise from the disaster that I will bring upon her, and they will become weary.’ ”
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Military Bible Association