Jeremiah 51
51
Babylon Will Be Destroyed
1I, the Lord, am sending
a wind#51.1 wind: Or “spirit.” to destroy
the people of Babylonia#51.1 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “Leb-Qamai,” a secret way of writing “Babylonia.”
and Babylon, its capital.
2Foreign soldiers will come
from every direction,
and when the disaster is over,
Babylonia will be empty
and worthless.
3I will tell these soldiers,
“Attack quickly,
before the Babylonians
can string their bows
or put on their armor.#51.3 I will tell … armor: Or “Attack quickly! String your bows and put on your armor.”
Kill their best soldiers
and destroy their army!”
4Their troops will fall wounded
in the streets of Babylon.
5Everyone in Israel and Judah
is guilty.
But I, the Lord All-Powerful,
their holy God,
have not abandoned them.
6Get out of Babylon!
Run for your lives!
If you stay, you will be killed
when I take revenge on the city
and punish it for its sins.
7 #
Rev 17.2-4; 18.3. Babylon was my golden cup,
filled with the wine
of my anger.
The nations of the world
got drunk on this wine
and went insane.
8But suddenly, Babylon will fall
and be destroyed.
I, the Lord, told the foreigners#51.8 the foreigners: Or “my people.”
who lived there,
“Weep for the city!
Get medicine for its wounds;
maybe they will heal.”
9The foreigners answered,
“We have already tried
to treat Babylon's wounds,
but they would not heal.
Come on, let's all go home
to our own countries.
Nothing is left in Babylonia;
everything is destroyed.”
10The people of Israel said,
“Tell everyone in Zion!
The Lord has taken revenge
for what Babylon did to us.”
The Lord Wants Babylon Destroyed
11I, the Lord,
want Babylon destroyed,
because its army
destroyed my temple.
So, you kings of Media,#51.11 kings of Media: Probably kings of smaller kingdoms that were part of the Median Empire (see also verse 27 and the note there).
sharpen your arrows
and pick up your shields.
12Raise the signal flag
and attack the city walls.
Post more guards.
Have soldiers watch the city
and set up ambushes.
I have made plans
to destroy Babylon,
and nothing will stop me.
13 #
Rev 17.1. People of Babylon, you live
along the Euphrates River
and are surrounded by canals.
You are rich,
but now the time has come
for you to die.#51.13 for you to die: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
14I, the Lord All-Powerful,
swear by my own life
that enemy soldiers
will fill your streets
like a swarm of locusts.#51.14 locusts: See the note at 46.22.
They will shout
and celebrate their victory.
A Hymn of Praise
(Jeremiah 10.12-16)
15God used his wisdom and power
to create the earth
and spread out the heavens.
16The waters in the heavens roar
at his command.
He makes clouds appear;
he sends the wind
from his storehouse
and makes lightning flash
in the rain.
17People who make idols
are stupid!
They will be disappointed,
because their false gods
cannot breathe.
18Idols are merely a joke,
and when the time is right,
they will be destroyed.
19But the Lord, Israel's God,
is all-powerful.
He created everything,
and he chose Israel
to be his very own.
God's Hammer
The Lord said:
20Babylonia, you were my hammer;
I used you to pound nations
and break kingdoms,
21to shatter cavalry and chariots,
22as well as men and women,
young and old,
23shepherds and their flocks,
farmers and their oxen,
and governors and leaders.
24But now, my people will watch,
while I repay you
for what you did to Zion.
25You destroyed the nations
and seem strong as a mountain,
but I am your enemy.
I might even grab you
and roll you off a cliff.
When I am finished,
you'll only be a pile
of scorched bricks.
26Your stone blocks won't be reused
for cornerstones
or foundations,
and I promise that forever
you will be a desert.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
The Nations Will Attack Babylon
The Lord said:
27Signal the nations
to get ready to attack.
Raise a flag and blow a trumpet.
Send for the armies of Ararat,
Minni, and Ashkenaz.#51.27 Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: Kingdoms to the north of Babylonia that were part of the Median Empire (see also verse 28).
Choose a commander;
let the cavalry attack
like a swarm of locusts.
28Tell the kings and governors,
the leaders and the people
of the kingdoms of the Medes
to prepare for war!
29The earth twists and turns
in torment,
because I have decided
to make Babylonia a desert
where no one can live,
and I won't change my mind.
30The Babylonian soldiers
have lost their strength
and courage.#51.30 have lost their strength and courage: Hebrew “have lost their strength and have become like women.”
They stay in their fortresses,
unable to fight,
while the enemy breaks through
the city gates,
then sets their homes on fire.
31One messenger after another
announces to the king,
“Babylon has been captured!
32The enemy now controls
the river crossings!
The marshes#51.32 marshes: The tall grass in the marshes could have provided hiding places for people trying to escape from Babylon. are on fire!
Your army has panicked!”
33I am the Lord All-Powerful,
the God of Israel,
and I make this promise—
“Soon Babylon will be leveled
and packed down
like a threshing place
at harvest time.”#51.33 leveled … harvest time: A threshing place with a dirt surface had to be leveled and packed down before it could be used.
Babylonia Will Pay!
34The people of Jerusalem say,
“King Nebuchadnezzar#51.34 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
made us panic.
That monster stuffed himself
with us and our treasures,
leaving us empty—
he gobbled up
what he wanted
and spit out the rest.
35The people of Babylonia
harmed some of us#51.35 harmed some of us: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
and killed others.
Now, Lord, make them pay!”
The Lord Will Take Revenge on Babylon
36My people, I am on your side,
and I will take revenge
on Babylon.
I will cut off its water supply,
and its stream#51.36 stream: Probably the Euphrates River. will dry up.
37Babylon will be a pile of rubble
where only jackals#51.37 jackals: See the note at 9.11. live,
and everyone will be afraid
to walk among the ruins.
38The Babylonians roar and growl
like young lions.
39And since they are hungry,
I will give them a banquet.
They will celebrate, get drunk,
then fall asleep,
never to wake up!
40I will lead them away to die,
like sheep, lambs, and goats
being led to the butcher.
41All nations now praise Babylon,#51.41 Babylon: The Hebrew text has “Sheshach,” a secret way of writing the name “Babylon.”
but when it is captured,
those same nations
will be horrified.
42Babylon's enemies will rise
like ocean waves
and flood the city.
43Horrible destruction will strike
the nearby towns.
The land will become
a barren desert,
where no one can live
or even travel.
44I will punish Marduk,#51.44 Marduk: Hebrew “Bel” (see the note at 50.2).
the god of Babylon,
and make him vomit out
everything he gobbled up.
Then nations will no longer
bring him gifts,
and Babylon's walls will crumble.
The Lord Offers Hope to His People
45Get out of Babylon, my people,
and run for your lives,
before I strike the city
in my anger!
46Don't be afraid or lose hope,
though year after year
there are rumors
of leaders fighting for control
in the city of Babylon.
47The time will come
when I will punish
Babylon's false gods.
Everyone there will die,
and the whole nation
will be disgraced,
48 #
Rev 18.20. when an army attacks
from the north
and brings destruction.
Then the earth and the heavens
and everything in them
will celebrate.
49 #
Rev 18.24. Babylon must be overthrown,
because it slaughtered
the people of Israel
and of many other nations.
50My people, you escaped death
when Jerusalem fell.
Now you live far from home,
but you should trust me
and think about Jerusalem.
Leave Babylon! Don't stay!
51You feel ashamed and disgraced,
because foreigners have entered
my sacred temple.
52Soon I will send a war
to punish Babylon's idols
and leave its wounded people
moaning everywhere.
53Although Babylon's walls
reach to the sky,
the army I send
will destroy that city.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
Babylon Will Be Destroyed
The Lord said:
54Listen to the cries for help
coming from Babylon.
Everywhere in the country
the sounds of destruction
can be heard.
55The shouts of the enemy,
like crashing ocean waves,
will drown out Babylon's cries
as I level the city.
56An enemy will attack
and destroy Babylon.
Its soldiers will be captured
and their weapons broken,
because I am a God
who takes revenge against nations
for what they do.
57I, the Lord All-Powerful,
the true King, promise
that the officials and advisors,
the governors and leaders,
and the soldiers of Babylon
will get drunk, fall asleep,
and never wake up.
58The thick walls of that city
will be torn down,
and its huge gates burned.
Everything that nation
worked so hard to gain
will go up in smoke.
Jeremiah Gives Seraiah a Scroll
59During Zedekiah's#51.59 Zedekiah's: See the note at 1.3. fourth year as king of Judah, he went to Babylon. And Baruch's brother Seraiah#51.59 Baruch's brother Seraiah: Hebrew “Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah”; Baruch helped Jeremiah write down his messages (see 32.12; 36.4-10). went along as the officer in charge of arranging for places to stay overnight.#51.59 arranging for places to stay overnight: Hebrew and one ancient translation; two ancient translations, “the tax money.”
60Before they left, I wrote on a scroll#51.60 scroll: See the note at 30.1,2. all the terrible things that would happen to Babylon. 61I gave the scroll to Seraiah and said:
When you get to Babylon, read this scroll aloud, 62then pray, “Our Lord, you promised to destroy this place and make it into a desert where no people or animals will ever live.”
63 #
Rev 18.21. When you finish praying, tie the scroll to a rock and throw it in the Euphrates River. Then say, 64“This is how Babylon will sink when the Lord destroys it. Everyone in the city will die, and it won't have the strength to rise again.”
The End of Jeremiah's Writing
Jeremiah's writing ends here.
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Jeremiah 51: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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