Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 51
51
1Thus said יהוה, “See, I am stirring up the spirit of a destroyer against Baḇel, against those who dwell in Lĕb – My opponents.
2And I shall send winnowers to Baḇel, who shall winnow her and empty her land. For they shall be against her all around, in the day of evil.
3“Let the archer draw his bow, and let him stand ready in his armour. Do not spare her young men, put all her army under the ban.
4“And the slain shall fall in the land of the Kasdim, and the pierced-through in her streets.
5“For neither Yisra’ĕl nor Yehuḏah is widowed by his Elohim, יהוה of hosts, though their land has been filled with sin against the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl.”
6Flee from the midst of Baḇel,#See Rev. 18:4 and let each one save his life! Do not be cut off in her crookedness, for this is the time of the vengeance of יהוה, the recompense He is repaying her.
7Baḇel was a golden cup in the hand of יהוה, making drunk all the earth.#See Rev. 17:1-18 The nations drank her wine, that is why the nations went mad!
8Baḇel shall suddenly fall and be broken. Howl for her! Take balm for her pain – if so be, she might be healed.
9We would have healed Baḇel, but she is not healed. Let us leave her and each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the clouds.
10יהוה has brought forth our righteousness. Come and let us relate in Tsiyon the work of יהוה our Elohim.
11Polish the arrows! Put on the shields! יהוה has stirred up the spirit of the sovereigns of the Medes. For His plan is against Baḇel to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of יהוה, the vengeance for His Hĕḵal.
12Lift up a banner on the walls of Baḇel, strengthen the watch, station the watchmen, prepare the ambush. For יהוה has both planned and done what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Baḇel.
13You who dwell upon many waters, great in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your greedy gain.
14יהוה of hosts has sworn by Himself, “I shall certainly fill you with men, as with locusts, and they shall lift up a shout against you.”
15He made the earth by His power, He established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
16When He gives forth His voice the waters in the heavens roar, and He makes vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain, and He brings the wind out of His treasuries.
17All mankind has become too brutish to know, every smith has been put to shame by the carved image, for his moulded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18They are worthless, a work of mockery. In the time of their punishment they perish.
19The Portion of Ya‛aqoḇ is not like them, for He is the Maker of all, and Yisra’ĕl is the tribe of His inheritance. יהוה of hosts is His Name.
20“You are My battle-axe, weapons of battle, and with you I shall break nations in pieces, and with you I shall destroy reigns.
21“And with you I shall break in pieces the horse and its rider, and with you I shall break in pieces the chariot and its rider.
22“And with you I shall break in pieces man and woman, and with you I shall break in pieces old and young, and with you I shall break in pieces the young man and the maiden.
23“And with you I shall break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with you I shall break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen. And with you I shall break in pieces governors and rulers.
24“And I shall repay Baḇel and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Tsiyon before your eyes,” declares יהוה.
25“See, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth,” declares יהוה. “And I shall stretch out My hand against you. And I shall roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.
26“And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner nor a stone for a foundation, but you shall be a waste forever,” declares יהוה.
27Lift up a banner in the land, blow a shophar among the nations! Prepare the nations against her, call the reigns together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her, bring up horses like hairy locusts.
28Separate the nations against her, with the sovereigns of the Medes, its governors and all its rulers, all the land of his rule,
29so that the land shakes and writhes in pain. For every plan of יהוה shall be established against Baḇel, to make the land of Baḇel a ruin, without inhabitant.
30The mighty men of Baḇel have ceased to fight, they remained in their strongholds. Their might has failed, they became like women, they have burned her dwelling places. The bars of her gate have been broken.
31One runner runs to meet another, and one reporter to meet another, to report to the sovereign of Baḇel that his city is taken on all sides,
32and the fords have been captured, and they have burned the reeds with fire, and the soldiers are startled.
33For thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “The daughter of Baḇel is like a threshing-floor at the time it is trodden. Yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come.”
34“Neḇuḵaḏretstsar the sovereign of Baḇel has devoured us, he has crushed us, he has made us an empty vessel, he has swallowed us up like a monster. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies, he has driven us away.
35“Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Baḇel,” says the inhabitant of Tsiyon. And, “Let my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” says Yerushalayim.
36Therefore thus said יהוה, “See, I am pleading your case. And I shall take vengeance for you and dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.
37“And Baḇel shall become a heap, a habitation of jackals, an astonishment and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38“Together they roar like lions, they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
39“In their heat I prepare their feasts. And I shall make them drunk, so that they rejoice, and sleep a neverending sleep and not awake,” declares יהוה.
40“I shall bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41“Oh, how Shĕshaḵ has been captured, the praise of all the earth been seized! How Baḇel has become a ruin among the nations!
42“The sea has risen over Baḇel, she has been covered with the roaring of its waves.
43“Her cities have become a ruin, a dry land and a desert, a land where no one dwells, neither does son of man pass by it.
44“And I shall punish Bĕl in Baḇel. And I shall make him spew out what he has swallowed, and nations shall no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Baḇel shall fall.
45“Come out#See Rev. 18:4 of her midst, My people! And let everyone deliver his being from the burning displeasure of יהוה.
46“And lest your heart grow faint, and you fear the report heard in the land – for a report shall come one year, and after that, in another year a report shall come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler –
47therefore see, the days are coming that I shall bring punishment on the carved images of Baḇel, and all her land shall be put to shame, and all her slain fall in her midst.
48“And the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall shout for joy over Baḇel, for the ravagers shall come to her from the north,” declares יהוה.
49As Baḇel is to fall for the slain of Yisra’ĕl, so for Baḇel the slain of all the earth shall fall.
50You who have escaped the sword, go away! Do not stand still! Remember יהוה from afar, and let Yerushalayim come to your heart.
51We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the set-apart places of the House of יהוה.#See Psa. 79:1-7; Lam. 1:10; Dan. 8:13; Dan. 11:31; Mat. 24:15
52“Therefore see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “that I shall bring punishment on her carved images, while the wounded groan throughout all her land.
53“Though Baḇel should mount up to the heavens, and though she should make the height of her strength inaccessible, ravagers shall come to her from Me,” declares יהוה.
54Listen! A cry from Baḇel, and great destruction from the land of the Kasdim,
55because יהוה is ravaging Baḇel, and shall silence her loud voice. And her waves shall roar like great waters, the noise of their voice shall resound,
56because the ravager shall come against her, against Baḇel, and her mighty men shall be captured. Every one of their bows shall be broken, for יהוה is the Ěl of recompense, He shall certainly repay.
57“And I shall make her rulers drunk, and her wise men, her governors, and her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a lasting sleep, and not awake,” declares the Sovereign, whose Name is יהוה of hosts.
58Thus said יהוה of hosts, “The broad walls of Baḇel are completely demolished, and her high gates are burned with fire, and peoples labour in vain, and the nations weary themselves for fire.”
59The word that Yirmeyahu the prophet commanded Serayah son of Nĕriyah, son of Maḥsĕyah, when he went with Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign of Yehuḏah to Baḇel in the fourth year of his reign. And Serayah was a quartermaster.
60So Yirmeyahu wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Baḇel, all these words which have been written concerning Baḇel.
61And Yirmeyahu said to Serayah, “When you come to Baḇel and see it, and read all these words,
62then you shall say, ‘O יהוה, You have spoken concerning this place to cut it off, so that none shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, for it is a ruin forever.’
63“And it shall be, when you have ended reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the midst of the Euphrates,
64and shall say, ‘So does Baḇel sink and not rise from the evil that I am bringing upon her, and they shall weary themselves.’ ” Thus far are the words of Yirmeyahu.
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Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 51: TS2009
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Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 51
51
1This is what the Lord says:
“I will cause a destroying wind to blow.
It will blow against Babylon and the Babylonian people.
2I will send foreign people to destroy Babylon
like a wind that blows chaff away.
Those people will make Babylon empty.
Armies will surround the city
when disaster comes upon her.
3The Babylonian soldiers will not use their bows and arrows.
Those soldiers will not even put on their armor.
Don’t feel sorry for the young men of Babylon.
Completely destroy her army.
4Babylon’s soldiers will be killed in Babylon.
They will be badly injured in Babylon’s streets.
5The Lord God of heaven’s armies
did not leave Israel and Judah alone.
They are fully guilty of leaving the Holy One of Israel.
But he has not left them.
6“Run away from Babylon!
Run to save your lives!
Don’t stay and be killed because of Babylon’s sins.
It is time for the Lord to punish Babylon.
Babylon will get the punishment it deserves.
7Babylon was like a gold cup in the Lord’s hand.
It made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank Babylon’s wine.
So they went crazy.
8Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.
Cry for her!
Get balm for her pain.
Maybe she can be healed.
9“Foreigners in Babylon say, ‘We tried to heal Babylon.
But she cannot be healed.
So let us leave her and each go to his own country.
Babylon’s guilt is as high as the clouds.
Babylon’s guilt reaches to the sky.’
10“The people of Judah say, ‘The Lord has shown us to be right.
Come, let us tell about it in Jerusalem.
Let us tell about what the Lord our God has done.’
11“Sharpen the arrows.
Pick up your shields!
The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes.
He has stirred them up because he wants to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will give the people of Babylon the punishment they deserve.
This is because Babylon destroyed his Temple in Jerusalem.
12Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon!
Bring more guards.
Put the watchmen in their places.
Get ready for a secret attack!
The Lord will do what he has planned.
He will do what he said he would do against the people of Babylon.
13People of Babylon, you live near much water.
You are rich with treasures.
But your end as a nation has come.
It is time for you to be destroyed.
14The Lord of heaven’s armies has promised in his own name:
‘Babylon, I will surely fill you with so many enemy soldiers they will be like a swarm of locusts.
They will stand over you and shout their victory.’
15“The Lord made the earth by his power.
He used his wisdom to build the world.
He used his understanding to stretch out the skies.
16When he thunders, the waters in the skies roar.
He makes clouds rise in the sky all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17“People are so stupid and know so little.
Goldsmiths are made ashamed by their idols.
Those statues are only false gods.
They have no breath in them.
18They are worth nothing.
People make fun of them.
When they are judged, they will be destroyed.
19But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols.
God made everything.
And he made Israel to be his special people.
The Lord of heaven’s armies is his name.
20“You are my war club.
You are my battle weapon.
I use you to smash nations.
I use you to destroy kingdoms.
21I use you to smash horse and rider.
I use you to smash chariot and driver.
22I use you to smash men and women.
I use you to smash old men and young men.
I use you to smash young men and young women.
23I use you to smash shepherds and flocks.
I use you to smash farmers and oxen.
I use you to smash governors and officers.
24“But I will pay Babylon back, and I will pay back all the Babylonians for all the evil things they did to Jerusalem,” says the Lord.
25The Lord says,
“Babylon, you are a destroying mountain.
And I am against you.
You have destroyed the whole land.
I will put my hand out against you.
I will roll you off the cliffs.
I will make you a burned-out mountain.
26People will not find any rocks in Babylon big enough for cornerstones.
People will not take any rocks from Babylon to use for the foundation of a building.
This is because your city will be just a pile of ruins forever,” says the Lord.
27“Lift up the banner in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.
Call these kingdoms to come fight against Babylon:
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.
Choose a commander to lead the army against Babylon.
Send so many horses that they are like a swarm of locusts.
28Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.
Get the kings of the Medes ready.
Get their governors and all their officers ready.
Get all the countries they rule ready for battle against Babylon.
29The land shakes and moves like it is in pain.
It will shake when the Lord does what he planned to Babylon.
His plan is to make Babylon into an empty desert.
No one will live there.
30Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting.
They stay in their protected cities.
Their strength is gone.
They have become like frightened women.
Babylon’s houses are burning.
The bars of her gates are broken.
31One messenger follows another.
Messenger follows messenger.
They announce to the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured.
32The river crossings have been captured.
The swamplands are burning.
All of Babylon’s soldiers are terribly afraid.”
33This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says:
“The city of Babylon is like a threshing floor,
where people crush the grain at harvest time.
The time to harvest Babylon is coming soon.”
34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has destroyed us.
In the past he took our people away.
And we became like an empty jar.
He was like a giant snake that swallowed us.
He ate everything until he was full of our best things.
Then he spit us out.
35Babylon did terrible things to hurt us.
Now let those things happen to Babylon,”
say the people of Jerusalem.
“The people of Babylon are guilty of killing our people.
Now let them be punished for the evil they did,” says Jerusalem.
36So this is what the Lord says:
“I will defend you, Judah.
I will make sure that Babylon is punished.
I will dry up Babylon’s sea.
And I will make her springs become dry.
37Babylon will become a pile of ruins.
Wild dogs will live there.
People will be shocked by what happened there.
No one lives there anymore.
38Babylon’s people are like roaring young lions.
They growl like baby lions.
39While they are stirred up,
I will give a feast for them.
I will make them drunk.
They will shout and laugh.
And they will sleep forever and never wake up!” says the Lord.
40“I will take the people of Babylon to be killed.
They will be like lambs,
like male sheep and goats waiting to be killed.
41“How Babylon will be defeated!
The pride of the whole earth will be taken captive.
People from other nations will be shocked at what happened to Babylon.
And the things they see will make them afraid.
42The sea will rise over Babylon.
Its roaring waves will cover her.
43Babylon’s towns will be ruined and empty.
Babylon will become a dry, desert land.
It will become a land where no one lives.
People will not even travel through Babylon.
44I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.
I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.
Nations will no longer come to Babylon.
And the wall around the city will fall.
45“Come out of Babylon, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the Lord’s great anger.
46Don’t lose courage.
Rumors will spread, but don’t be afraid.
One rumor comes this year, and another comes the next year.
There will be rumors of terrible fighting in the country.
There will be rumors of rulers fighting against rulers.
47The time will surely come
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
And the whole land will be disgraced.
There will be many dead people lying all around.
48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy about Babylon.
They will shout because the army came from the north
and fought against Babylon,” says the Lord.
49“Babylon killed people from Israel.
Babylon killed people from everywhere on earth.
So Babylon must fall.
50You people escaped being killed with swords.
You must hurry and leave Babylon.
Don’t wait!
Remember the Lord in the faraway land where you are.
And think about Jerusalem.”
51“We people of Judah are disgraced.
We have been insulted.
We have been shamed.
This is because strangers have gone into
the holy places of the Lord’s Temple!”
52The Lord says, “The time is coming
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Wounded people will cry with pain
all over that land.
53Babylon might grow until she touches the sky.
She might make her cities strong.
But I will send people to destroy that city,” says the Lord.
54“We can hear people crying in Babylon.
We hear the sound of people destroying things
in the land of the Babylonians.
55The Lord will destroy Babylon.
He will make the loud sounds of the city become silent.
Enemies will come roaring in like ocean waves.
People all around will hear that roar.
56The army will come and destroy Babylon.
Babylon’s soldiers will be taken captive.
Their bows will be broken.
This is because the Lord is a God who punishes people for the evil they do.
He gives them the full punishment they deserve.
57I will make Babylon’s rulers and wise men drunk.
I will make her governors, officers and soldiers drunk, too.
Then they will sleep forever and never wake up,” says the King.
His name is the Lord of heaven’s armies.
58This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“Babylon’s thick wall will be pulled down.
Her high gates will be burned.
The people will work hard, but it won’t help.
Their work will only become fuel for the flames!”
A Message to Babylon
59This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the officer Seraiah. Seraiah was the son of Neriah, who was the son of Mahseiah. Seraiah went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah. This happened in the fourth year Zedekiah was king of Judah. 60Jeremiah had written on a scroll all the terrible things that would happen to Babylon. He had written all these words about Babylon. 61Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “Go to Babylon. Be sure to read this message so all the people can hear you. 62Then say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy this place. You will destroy it so that no people or animals will live in it. It will be an empty ruin forever.’ 63After you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it. And throw it into the Euphrates River. 64Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink. It will not rise again. It will sink because of the terrible things I will make happen here. Her people will fall.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
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