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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Jeremiah 51
51
The Lord's Judgment on Babylon
1Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; 2and 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. 3Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. 4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chalde´ans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. 5For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense. 7#Rev 17.2-4; 18.3. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations 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. 9#Rev 18.5. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. 12Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. 13#Rev 17.1. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. 14The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
15He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. 16When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. 17Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by 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 hosts is his name.
20Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; 21and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; 22with thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; 23I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. 24And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chalde´a all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.
25Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine 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, saith the Lord.
27Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ar´arat, Minni, and Ash´kenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars. 28Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. 29And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed 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 hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken. 31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, 32and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. 33For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34Nebuchadrez´zar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. 35The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chalde´a, shall Jerusalem say. 36Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs 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 yell as lions' whelps. 39In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord. 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
41How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! 42The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. 43Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. 44And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord. 46And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. 47Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48#Rev 18.20. Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the Lord. 49#Rev 18.24. As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
50Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces; for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house. 52Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.
54A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chalde´ans: 55because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: 56because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows 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 a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is The Lord of hosts. 58Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
59The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Serai´ah the son of Neri´ah, the son of Ma-asei´ah, when he went with Zedeki´ah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Serai´ah was a quiet prince. 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 Serai´ah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; 62then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63#Rev 18.21. And 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 Euphra´tes: 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 weary.
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.