Jeremiah 51
51
1 Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will raise up, over Babylon and over its inhabitants, who have lifted up their heart against me, something like a pestilent wind.
2 And I will send winnowers into Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will demolish her land. For they will overwhelm her from every side in the day of her affliction.
3 Let him who draws the bow, not draw his bow. And let him who wears armor, not rise up. Do not spare her young men. Destroy her entire military.
4 And the slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in its regions.
5 Yet Israel and Judah have not been widowed by their God, the Lord of hosts, though their land has been filled with transgression against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon! And let each one save his own life. Do not be silent about her iniquity. For it is the time of revenge from the Lord. He himself will repay her, in her turn.
7 Babylon is a gold cup in the hand of the Lord, inebriating the entire earth. The nations have drunk from her wine, and therefore they have staggered.
8 Suddenly, Babylon has fallen and been crushed. Wail over her! Take a balm to her pain, if perhaps she may be healed."
9 "We would have cured Babylon, but there is no cure. Let us abandon her, and let each one of us go to his own land. For her judgment has reached even to the heavens, and has been lifted up even to the clouds.
10 The Lord has brought forth our justices. Come and let us describe in Zion the work of the Lord our God."
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers. The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. And his mind is against Babylon, so that he may destroy her. For this is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.
12 Upon the walls of Babylon, lift up a sign. Increase the watch! Rouse the watchmen! Prepare ambushes! For the Lord has planned and has accomplished all that he has spoken, against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who live above many waters, rich in treasures: your end has arrived, your measure has been cut short.
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself, saying: "For I will fill you with men as with locusts, and they will sing a rhythmic chant against you."
15 The One who made the earth by his strength, who prepared the world by his wisdom, and who stretched out the heavens by his prudence:
16 when he utters his voice, the waters will be multiplied in the heavens. The One who lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth: he has turned lightning into rain, and he has brought forth wind from his storehouses.
17 Each man has become foolish before his own knowledge. Each sculptor has been confounded by his own sculpture. For what he has formed of them is a lie, and there is no spirit in them.
18 They are empty works, deserving of ridicule. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like their portion. For the One who made all things is his portion, and Israel is the scepter of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name:
20 "For me, you strike together the instruments of war; and with you, I will strike together nations; and with you, I will scatter the kingdoms.
21 And with you, I will strike together the horse and his rider; and with you, I will strike together the chariot and its rider.
22 And with you, I will strike together man and woman; and with you, I will strike together the old man and the boy; and with you, I will strike together the young man and the virgin.
23 And with you, I will strike together the pastor and his flock; and with you, I will strike together the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you, I will strike together military leaders and civil leaders.
24 And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion, before your eyes, says the Lord.
25 Behold, I am against you, you pestilent mountain, says the Lord, for you are corrupting the entire earth. And I will extend my hand over you, and I will roll you down from the rocks, and I will make you into a burning mountain.
26 And they will not take from you a stone for the corner, nor a stone for the foundations. Instead, you will be destroyed unto eternity," says the Lord.
27 Lift up a sign in the land! Sound the trumpet among the nations! Sanctify the nations against her. Announce against her the kings of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Number against her Taphsar. Lead in the horse, like the stinging locust.
28 Sanctify the nations against her: the kings of Media, their military leaders, and all their civil leaders, and the entire land under their authority.
29 And the earth will be shaken and will be disturbed. For the plan of the Lord against Babylon will awaken, so that he may make the land of Babylon desolate and uninhabitable.
30 The strong ones of Babylon have ceased to do battle. They have lived in fortresses. Their health has been devoured, and they have become like women. Her tabernacles have been set ablaze; her bars have been broken.
31 Runner will go forth to meet runner, and messenger will meet messenger, so as to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, from one end to the other,
32 and that the fords were seized in advance, and that the marshes have been burned with fire, and that the men of war have been set in disarray.
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor. This is the time of her threshing. A little while longer, and the time of her harvest will arrive."
34 "Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has consumed me, has devoured me. He has made me like an empty vessel. He has swallowed me like a dragon. He has filled his belly with my tender ones, and he has cast me out.
35 This iniquity is against me, and so my flesh is upon Babylon," says the habitation of Zion. "And my blood is upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.
36 Because of this, thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will judge your case, and I will avenge your vengeance, and I will make her sea into a desert, and I will dry up her spring.
37 And Babylon will become a tumult, the habitation of dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant.
38 They will roar together, like lions, they will shake their manes, like young lions.
39 In their heat, I will give them a drink, and I will inebriate them, so that they become drowsy, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and do not rise up, says the Lord.
40 I will lead them away, like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with young goats.
41 How was Sesac captured, and how was the renowned one of all the earth seized? How has Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?
42 The sea has ascended over Babylon; she has been covered by the multitude of its waves.
43 Her cities have become an astonishment, an uninhabited and desolate land, a land in which no one may live, nor may a son of man pass through it.
44 And I will visit against Bel in Babylon, and I will cast from his mouth what he has swallowed. And the nations will no longer flow together before him. For even the wall of Babylon will also fall.
45 Go forth from her midst, my people, so that each one may save his life from the wrath of the fury of the Lord.
46 For otherwise, your heart may faint, and you may be afraid at the news that is heard in the land. And the news will arrive within a year, and after that year more news will arrive. And iniquity will be in the land, and one ruler will be over another ruler.
47 Because of this, behold, the days are approaching, when I will visit against the graven images of Babylon. And her entire land will be confounded, and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 And the heavens and the earth, and all the things that are in them, will give praise over Babylon. For despoilers will approach her from the north, says the Lord.
49 And in the manner that Babylon has caused the slain to fall in Israel, so the slain of Babylon will fall over the entire earth.
50 You who have fled from the sword, approach, do not stand still. Remember from afar the Lord, and let Jerusalem rise up in your heart.
51 We have been confounded, for we heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have overwhelmed the holiness of the house of the Lord.
52 Because of this, behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will visit against her graven images, and within all her land the wounded will groan.
53 If Babylon were to ascend to heaven, and establish her strength on high, her despoilers would go forth from me, says the Lord."
54 A voice of outcry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord has despoiled Babylon, and he has perished the great voice from her. And their wave will make a sound like many waters. Their voice has uttered a noise.
56 For the despoiler has overwhelmed her, that is, Babylon, and her strong ones have been apprehended, and their bow has been weakened. For the Lord, the powerful revenger, will certainly repay.
57 "And I will inebriate her leaders, and her wise ones, and her military rulers, and her civil rulers, and her strong ones. And they will sleep an everlasting sleep, and they will not awaken," says the King: the Lord of hosts is his name.
58 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "That very wide wall of Babylon will be utterly overturned, and her exalted gates will be burned with fire, and the labors of the people will be as nothing, and the labors of the nations will be sent into the fire and will perish."
59 The word that Jeremiah, the prophet, instructed to Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he traveled with king Zedekiah into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was the leader of the prophets.
60 And Jeremiah wrote in one book all the evil that was to overwhelm Babylon; all these words were written against Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: "When you will enter into Babylon, and you will see and read all these words,
62 you will say: 'O Lord, you have spoken against this place so that you may destroy it, so that there would not be anyone, from man even to beast, who may live in it, and so that it may be desolate forever.'
63 And when you will have completed reading this book, you will tie a stone to it, and you will cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.
64 And you will say: 'So shall Babylon be submerged! And she will not rise up before the face of the affliction that I will lead over her. And she will be broken.' " The words of Jeremiah thus far.
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Jeremiah 51: CPDV
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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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