Jeremiah 51
51
Apocalyptic Vengeance
1Thus says Adonai: “Look! Stirring up against Babylon and those living in Leb-kamai, a spirit of destruction.
2I will send strangers to Babylon to scatter her and empty her land. For in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.
3Let the archer bend his bow at her. Let him rise up at her in his armor. Do not spare her young men. Destroy her whole army.
4They will fall down slain in the land of Chaldea, thrust through in her streets.
5For neither Israel nor Judah will be widowed by his God, Adonai-Tzva’ot, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.
6Flee from within Babylon! Each one, escape with his soul! Be not silenced in her iniquity! For it is a time of vengeance for Adonai. He will repay her recompense.
7Babylon has been a golden cup in Adonai’s hand, intoxicating the whole earth. The nations drunk her wine— so the nations are going crazy.
8Suddenly Babylon is fallen! Shattered! Howl over her! Bring balm for her wound. Perhaps she may be healed?
9We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed. Abandon her! Let’s go, each one to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to the heavens and has risen beyond the skies.
10Adonai has brought forth our vindication! Come, let us declare in Zion the work of Adonai Eloheinu!
11Sharpen the arrows. Fill the quivers! Adonai has roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is Adonai’s vengeance, vengeance for His Temple.
12Raise a banner at Babylon’s walls! Strengthen the guard. Station watchmen. Prepare ambushes. For Adonai has both planned and accomplished what He spoke about the Babylonians.
13You dwelling by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14Adonai-Tzva’ot has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you with men like a locust swarm, and they will shout cheers over you.”
Creator of All, Judge of All
15One made the earth by His power, set up the world by His wisdom, and spread out the heavens by His knowledge.
16At His giving voice— tumult of waters in the skies! He causes clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
17All mankind is stupid, ignorant. Every goldsmith is disgraced by an idol, for his molten image is a lie— there is no breath in them.
18They are futile, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
19Jacob’s Portion is not like these, for He is the former of all things, including the tribe of His heritage —Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.
20“You are My club, a war weapon— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.
21With you I wreck horse and rider, with you I wreck chariot and rider,
22with you I break man and woman, with you I break elder and youth, with you I break young man and maid,
23with you I scatter shepherd and flock, with you I scatter plowman and ox-team, with you I scatter governors and officials.
24I will repay Babylon and all living in Chaldea for all their evil that they did in Zion, before your eyes.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
25“Beware! I am against you, destroyer of the Mount!” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “Destroyer of all the land— I will stretch out My hand at you, roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burning hill.
26They will not even take from you a cornerstone or foundation stone, for you will be desolate forever.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
27Raise a banner in the land! Blow a shofar among the nations! Consecrate the nations against her. Summon against her the kingdoms— Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Bring horses up like rough locusts.
28Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its deputies, and all the land of his dominion.
29Now the land shakes and writhes, for Adonai’s plans against Babylon arise— to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
30Babylon’s warriors ceased fighting. They stay in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted. They have become like women. Her dwellings are set ablaze, her gate-bars are broken.
31One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell Babylon’s king that his city has been taken from end to end.
32The fords have also been seized and the marshes burned with fire, so the warriors are in panic.
33For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at treading time. A little longer, and the time of harvest for her will come.”
34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, crushed me, set me aside like an empty dish, swallowed me up like a dragon, filled his belly with my delicacies, rinsed me away.”
35The one dwelling in Zion says: “Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon!” Jerusalem says: “My blood be on the Chaldeans!”
36Therefore thus says Adonai: “Yes, I will uphold your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling for jackals, a horror and a hissing, uninhabited.
38They roar together like young lions, growl like lions cubs.
39When they become hot, I will set out a banquet for them and will make them so drunk that they become merry— and then sleep a perpetual sleep and never awake.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
40“I will drag them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
41How has Sheshach been taken, the praise of the whole earth seized? How has Babylon become a horror among the nations!
42The sea has risen over Babylon— she is covered with its roaring waves.
43Her cities became desolation, a dry land, desert, uninhabited land, through which no son of man passes.
44I will punish Bel in Babylon— What he swallowed I will make him disgorge out of his mouth. Nations will no longer stream to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon has fallen!
45Come out of her, My people! Each of you, save your soul from the fierce anger of Adonai.
46Do not be faint-hearted, or be intimidated by the rumor heard in the land— one year one rumor comes, next year, another rumor. Yet violence will be in the land, with ruler against ruler.
47Therefore behold, days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s idols. Her entire land will be disgraced and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48Then heaven and the earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers from the north will come to her.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
49Yes, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, even as the slain of all the earth fell to Babylon.
50Escapees from the sword, go! Do not stand still! Remember Adonai from afar— and make aliyah to Jerusalem in your heart.
51“We were shamed when we heard reproach. Disgrace has covered our faces, for foreigners entered the holy places of Adonai’s House.”
52“Therefore behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “when I will punish her idols, and the wounded will groan throughout all her land.
53Even if Babylon went up to heaven and even if she fortified the height of her stronghold, from Me destroyers will come to her.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
54The sound of an outcry from Babylon! Great ruin from the land of Chaldea!
55For Adonai is devastating Babylon, and will silence her loud voice. Their waves will roar like many waters. The noise of their voices will resound.
56For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, and her warriors will be captured, their bows broken. For Adonai is a God of restitution, He will fully repay.
57“I will intoxicate her officials and sages, her governors, deputies, and warriors, and they will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake.” It is a declaration of the King, whose Name is Adonai-Tzva’ot.
58Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Babylon’s thick wall will be totally razed and her high gates burned with fire. So the peoples are toiling for nothing, and nations weary themselves for fire.”
59The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was quartermaster.
60And Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the evil that would come upon Babylon, including all these words that were written about Babylon.
61Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you arrive in Babylon, then see that you read all these words,
62and say: ‘Adonai, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that nothing will dwell there, neither man nor beast, but that it will be desolate forever.’
63“Now when you have finished reading this scroll, you will tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.
64Then you will say: ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and not rise again, because of the calamity that I will bring on her. So they will weary themselves.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Jeremiah 51
51
God’s Judgment on Babylon
1This is what the Lord says:
I am about to stir up a destructive wind # Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon # Jr 4:11-12; 50:9
and against the population of Leb-qamai. # Lit heart of my adversaries # = 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 # 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 Hosts,
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!
The Lord has put it into the mind
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 many waters, # Rv 17:1
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.
14The Lord of Hosts 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, # Lit At His giving of the voice
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, # 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 # = 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
Yahweh of Hosts is His name. # Jr 10:12-16
20You are My battle 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. # Lit yoke
With you I will smash governors and officials.
24“I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes.” # 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 # 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 an uninhabited desolation.
30Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; # Jr 50:37
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.
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 soldiers are terrified.
33For this is what the Lord of Hosts, 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“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,” # Lit has rinsed me off
35says the inhabitant of Zion;
“Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon.
Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am about to plead your case # 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 revel. # 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 Sheshach 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 turbulent waves.
43Her cities have become a desolation, # Jr 50:12
a dry and arid land,
a land where no one lives,
where no human being 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 all the 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 great 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 abundant waters;
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;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name. # Jr 46:18; 48:15
58This is what Yahweh of Hosts says:
Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished, # Jr 50:15
and her high gates consumed by fire.
The peoples will have labored for nothing; # Hab 2:13
the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire.
59This is what Jeremiah the prophet 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. 62You must say, ‘Lord, You have threatened to cut off # 1Sm 20:15; Is 10:7; Jr 9:21; 44:11; 47:4; Ob 14; Ps 109:13 this place so that no one will live in it — man or beast. # 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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