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
1This is what the Lord says:
‘See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.#51:1 Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
2I will send foreigners to Babylon
to winnow her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
in the day of her disaster.
3Let not the archer string his bow,
nor let him put on his armour.
Do not spare her young men;
completely destroy#51:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. her army.
4They will fall down slain in Babylon,#51:4 Or Chaldea
fatally wounded in her streets.
5For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord Almighty,
though their land#51:5 Or Almighty, / and the land of the Babylonians is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Israel.
6‘Flee from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
It is time for the Lord’s vengeance;
he will repay her what she deserves.
7Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
8Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.
9‘ “We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.”
10‘ “The Lord has vindicated us;
come, let us tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has done.”
11‘Sharpen the arrows,
take up the shields!
The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes,
because his purpose is to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will take vengeance,
vengeance for his temple.
12Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard,
station the watchmen,
prepare an ambush!
The Lord will carry out his purpose,
his decree against the people of Babylon.
13You who live by many waters
and are rich in treasures,
your end has come,
the time for you to be destroyed.
14The Lord Almighty has sworn by himself:
I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts,
and they will shout in triumph over you.
15‘He made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
16When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17‘Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;
they have no breath in them.
18They are worthless, the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
19He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including the people of his inheritance –
the Lord Almighty is his name.
20‘You are my war club,
my weapon for battle –
with you I shatter nations,
with you I destroy kingdoms,
21with you I shatter horse and rider,
with you I shatter chariot and driver,
22with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and young woman,
23with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.
24‘Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia#51:24 Or Chaldea; also in verse 35 for all the wrong they have done in Zion,’ declares the Lord.
25‘I am against you, you destroying mountain,
you who destroy the whole earth,’
declares the Lord.
‘I will stretch out my hand against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a burnt-out mountain.
26No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor any stone for a foundation,
for you will be desolate for ever,’ declares the Lord.
27‘Lift up a banner in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations for battle against her;
summon against her these kingdoms:
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a commander against her;
send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28Prepare the nations for battle against her –
the kings of the Medes,
their governors and all their officials,
and all the countries they rule.
29The land trembles and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand –
to lay waste the land of Babylon
so that no-one will live there.
30Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;
they remain in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become weaklings.
Her dwellings are set on fire;
the bars of her gates are broken.
31One courier follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,
32the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers terrified.’
33This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
‘Daughter Babylon is like a threshing-floor
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest her will soon come.’
34‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed us out.
35May the violence done to our flesh#51:35 Or done to us and to our children be on Babylon,’
say the inhabitants of Zion.
‘May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,’
says Jerusalem.
36Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘See, I will defend your cause
and avenge you;
I will dry up her sea
and make her springs dry.
37Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,
a place where no-one lives.
38Her people all roar like young lions,
they growl like lion cubs.
39But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,
so that they shout with laughter –
then sleep for ever and not awake,’
declares the Lord.
40‘I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41‘How Sheshak#51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon. will be captured,
the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate Babylon will be
among the nations!
42The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves will cover her.
43Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert land,
a land where no-one lives,
through which no-one travels.
44I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him spew out what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall of Babylon will fall.
45‘Come out of her, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46Do not lose heart or be afraid
when rumours are heard in the land;
one rumour comes this year, another the next,
rumours of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
47For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.
48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north
destroyers will attack her,’
declares the Lord.
49‘Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.
50You who have escaped the sword,
leave and do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
and call to mind Jerusalem.’
51‘We are disgraced,
for we have been insulted
and shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s house.’
52‘But days are coming,’ declares the Lord,
‘when I will punish her idols,
and throughout her land
the wounded will groan.
53Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers against her,’
declares the Lord.
54‘The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction
from the land of the Babylonians.#51:54 Or Chaldeans
55The Lord will destroy Babylon;
he will silence her noisy din.
Waves of enemies will rage like great waters;
the roar of their voices will resound.
56A destroyer will come against Babylon;
her warriors will be captured,
and their bows will be broken.
For the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will repay in full.
57I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
her governors, officers and warriors as well;
they will sleep for ever and not awake,’
declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
58This is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘Babylon’s thick wall will be levelled
and her high gates set on fire;
the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
the nations’ labour is only fuel for the flames.’
59This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. 60Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon – all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61He said to Seraiah, ‘When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62Then say, “Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate for ever.” 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64Then say, “So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.” ’
The words of Jeremiah end here.
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