Jeremiah 51
51
God’s Judgment on Babylon
1This is what the Lord says:
I am about to rouse the spirit of a destroyer#51:1 Or to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon#Jr 4:11–12; 50:9
and against the population of Leb-qamai.#51:1 Lit heart of my adversaries#51:1 = Chaldeans
2I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,#Jr 15:7; Mt 3:12
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
3Don’t let the archer string his bow;
don’t let him put on#51:3 Hb obscure his armor.#Jb 41:13; Jr 46:4
Don’t spare her young men;
completely destroy her entire army!
4Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets.#Jr 51:47,52
5For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the Lord of Armies,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.#Ps 78:41; Is 37:23; Jr 50:29
6Leave Babylon;#Jr 50:8; Rv 18:4
save your lives, each of you!#Jr 48:6; 51:45
Don’t perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance —
he will pay her what she deserves.#Ps 28:4; 137:8; Is 66:6
7Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand,#Rv 17:4
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;#Rv 14:8; 18:3
therefore, the nations go mad.#Jr 25:16
8Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.
Wail for her;
get balm#Jr 8:22; 46:11 for her wound —
perhaps she can be healed.
9We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,#Is 13:14
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.#Rv 18:5
10The Lord has brought about our vindication;#Ps 37:6
come, let’s tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has accomplished.#Jr 50:28
11Sharpen the arrows!#Is 5:28; Jr 50:9,14,29; 51:3
Fill the quivers!#51:11 Or Grasp the shields!
The Lord has roused the spirit
of the kings of the Medes
because his plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for his temple.#Jr 50:28
12Raise up a signal flag#Ps 60:4; Is 5:26; 18:3
against the walls of Babylon;
fortify the watch post;
set the watchmen in place;
prepare the ambush.
For the Lord has both planned and accomplished
what he has threatened
against those who live in Babylon.#Is 14:26; 19:12,17; 23:8; Jr 18:11; 49:20,30; 50:45; Mc 2:3
13You who reside by abundant water,#Rv 17:1
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.
14The Lord of Armies has sworn by himself:
I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will sing the victory song over you.
15He made the earth by his power,
established the world#Jb 38:4; Ps 93:1; 96:10 by his wisdom,#Pr 3:19–20; 8:22–29
and spread out the heavens by his understanding.#Jb 9:8; Ps 104:2; Is 45:12
16When he thunders,#51:16 Lit At his giving of the voice
the waters in the heavens are tumultuous,#Jr 5:22; 31:35
and he causes the clouds
to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from his storehouses.#Jb 38:25–30,34–38; Ps 135:7
17Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,#Is 40:18–31; 46:1–7
for his cast images are a lie;#Is 41:29
there is no breath in them.#Hab 2:19
18They are worthless,#Jr 10:3,8 a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.#Jr 6:15; 10:15; 49:8
19Jacob’s Portion#51:19 = The Lord is not like these
because he is the one who formed all things.#Gn 2:7–8,19; Ps 95:5; Is 43:1
Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;#Dt 4:20; 32:8–9; Ps 74:2; 78:71; Is 63:17; Mc 7:18; Eph 1:18
the Lord of Armies is his name.#Jr 10:12–16
20You are my war club,
my weapons of war.
With you I will smash nations;
with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
21With you I will smash the horse and its rider;
with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
22With you I will smash man and woman;#2Ch 36:17; Is 13:15–18
with you I will smash the old man and the youth;
with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
23With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock;
with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team.#51:23 Lit yoke
With you I will smash governors and officials.
24“Before your very eyes, I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion.”#2Sm 12:11; Is 1:7; Jr 16:9; 20:4; 29:21; 39:16; 50:15,29
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25Look, I am against you, devastating mountain.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
You devastate the whole earth.
I will stretch out my hand against you,#Jr 15:6; Ezk 6:14; 25:7
roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain.
26No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will become desolate forever.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
27Raise a signal flag#Ps 60:4; Is 5:26; 18:3 in the land;
blow a ram’s horn among the nations;#Jr 4:5; 6:1
set apart the nations against her.#Jr 6:4; 22:7; 50:9
Summon kingdoms against her —
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like a swarm#51:27 Hb obscure of locusts.
28Set apart the nations for battle against her —
the kings of Media,
her governors and all her officials,
and all the lands they rule.
29The earth quakes#Ps 18:7; Is 13:13; Jr 50:46 and trembles
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.#Jr 50:37
Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,
her gate bars are shattered.#Lm 2:9; Nah 3:13
31Messenger races to meet messenger,#2Ch 30:6
and herald to meet herald,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured
from end to end.#Jr 50:24
32The fords have been seized,#Jdg 12:5
the marshes set on fire,
and the fighting men are terrified.
33For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled.#Is 21:10
In just a little while her harvest time will come.#Is 17:5; Jl 3:13; Rv 14:15
34“King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty dish;
he has swallowed me like a sea monster;#Ps 74:13; Is 27:1; Ezk 29:3
he filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has vomited me out.#51:34 Lit has rinsed me off
35Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon,”
says the inhabitant of Zion.
“Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am about to champion your cause#1Sm 24:15; Pr 23:11; Jr 50:34
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea#Ex 14:16–15:21
and make her fountain run dry.
37Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,#2Ch 29:8; Jr 18:16; 19:8
without inhabitant.#Jr 4:7; 9:11; 33:10; 34:22; 44:2,22; 46:19; 48:9; 49:33
38They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
39While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk so that they celebrate.#51:39 LXX reads pass out#Jr 51:57
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams together with male goats.#Is 34:6; Ezk 39:18
41How Sheshak#51:41 = Babylon#Jr 25:26 has been captured,#Jr 25:26
the praise#Jr 33:9; 49:25 of the whole earth seized.
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!#Jr 50:23
42The sea has risen over Babylon;#Is 8:7–8
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43Her cities have become a desolation,#Jr 50:12
an arid desert,
a land where no one lives,
where no human being even passes through.
44I will punish Bel#Is 46:1; Jr 50:2 in Babylon.
I will make him vomit what he swallowed.#Jb 20:15
The nations will no longer stream to him;#Is 2:2; Mc 4:1
even Babylon’s wall will fall.
45Come out from among her, my people!#Jr 51:6
Save your lives, each of you,#Jr 48:6; 51:6
from the Lord’s burning anger.
46May you not become cowardly and fearful
when the report is proclaimed in the land,
for the report will come one year,
and then another the next year.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler against ruler.
47Therefore, look, the days are coming#Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 23:7; 48:12; 49:2; 51:52
when I will punish Babylon’s carved images.#Jr 50:2
Her entire land will suffer shame,
and all her slain will lie fallen within her.#Jr 50:12
48Heaven and earth and everything in them
will shout for joy#Is 44:23; 49:13 over Babylon
because the destroyers from the north#Is 41:25; Jr 4:6,20; 6:1; 15:12; 47:2; 50:3,9,41
will come against her.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
49Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel,
even as the slain of the whole earth fell
because of Babylon.
50You who have escaped the sword,#Jr 44:28
go and do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51We are ashamed
because we have heard insults.#Ps 44:15
Humiliation covers our faces
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s temple.#Lm 1:10
52Therefore, look, the days are coming —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
when I will punish her carved images,
and the wounded will groan
throughout her land.
53Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens#Gn 11:4; Is 14:12–14; Jr 49:16
and fortify her tall fortresses,
destroyers will come against her from me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
54The sound of a cry from Babylon!#Jr 50:22
The sound of terrible destruction#Jr 4:6; 6:1; 14:17; 48:3; Zph 1:10
from the land of the Chaldeans!
55For the Lord is going to devastate Babylon;
he will silence her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like a huge torrent;
the tumult of their voice resounds,
56for a destroyer is coming against her,
against Babylon.
Her warriors will be captured,
their bows shattered,
for the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will certainly repay.
57I will make her princes and sages drunk,
along with her governors, officials, and warriors.
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.#Jr 51:39
This is the King’s declaration;
the Lord of Armies is his name.#Jr 46:18; 48:15
58This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished,#Jr 50:15
and her high gates set ablaze.
The peoples will have labored for nothing;#Hab 2:13
the nations will weary themselves only to feed the fire.
59This is what the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah,#Jr 32:12 the quartermaster, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. 60Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon;#Jr 36:2 all these words were written against Babylon.
61Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62Say, ‘Lord, you have threatened to cut off#1Sm 20:15; Ps 109:13; Is 10:7; Jr 9:21; 44:11; 47:4; Ob 14 this place so that no one will live in it — people or animals.#Ps 135:8; Jr 7:20; 21:6; 32:43; 33:10,12; 36:29; 50:3 Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.’ 63When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.#Jr 19:10–11; Rv 18:21 64Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
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Jeremiah 51: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International