Jeremiah 51
51
The Utter Destruction of Babylon
1Thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will stir up #[ch. 4:11; Isa. 21:1]the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon,
against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,#51:1 A code name for Chaldea
2and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
and #[Matt. 3:12]; See ch. 15:7 they shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
when they come against her from every side
# [ch. 2:28] on the day of trouble.
3 # [ch. 50:14, 29] Let not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not stand up in his armor.
Spare not her young men;
# [ch. 50:21] devote to destruction#51:3 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction) all her army.
4They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
# ch. 49:26 and wounded in her streets.
5 # See Isa. 54:5-7 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeans#51:5 Hebrew their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 # ver. 45; ch. 50:8 “Flee from the midst of Babylon;
let every one save his life!
# [Gen. 19:15] Be not cut off in her punishment,
# ch. 50:15 for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance,
the repayment he is rendering her.
7Babylon was #[Ps. 75:8; Rev. 17:4] a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
#
Rev. 14:8 making all the earth drunken;
# See ch. 25:15, 16 the nations drank of her wine;
therefore the nations went mad.
8 # See Isa. 21:9 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
#
Isa. 13:6; Rev. 18:9, 11, 19; [ch. 48:20] wail for her!
# [ch. 46:11] Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
# ver. 6, 45; ch. 50:8 Forsake her, and #[ch. 50:16]; See Isa. 13:14 let us go
each to his own country,
for #Rev. 18:5her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10 #
Ps. 37:6; [ch. 23:6] The Lord has brought about our vindication;
# ch. 50:28 come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
11 # ch. 46:4 “Sharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!
# See Isa. 13:17 The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of #2 Kgs. 17:6; Dan. 5:31 the Medes, because #[ch. 50:45] his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, #ch. 50:28for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for #ch. 50:28his temple.
12 # ver. 27; ch. 50:2; [Isa. 13:2] “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
# [Isa. 21:5; Nah. 2:1] make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
prepare the ambushes;
# [See ver. 11 above] for the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 #
Rev. 17:1, 15; [ver. 36] O you who dwell by many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.
14 # See ch. 22:5 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, #[Ps. 105:34; Joel 1:4; 2:25] as many as locusts,
#
Isa. 16:9
and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
15 # For ver. 15-19, see ch. 10:12-16 “It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
16When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
18They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
20“You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I #[Dan. 7:7, 19, 23]break nations in pieces;
with you I destroy kingdoms;
21with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22with you I break in pieces man and woman;
with you I break in pieces #2 Chr. 36:17; [Isa. 13:16, 18]the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces #2 Chr. 36:17; [Isa. 13:16, 18]the young man and the young woman;
23with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
with you I break in pieces #ver. 28, 57governors and commanders.
24 # ch. 50:15, 29; [Ps. 137:8] “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord.
25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
declares the Lord,
which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
and roll you down from the crags,
#
Rev. 8:8; [Rev. 18:8, 9] and make you a burnt mountain.
26No #[Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16] stone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be #ver. 62; ch. 25:12a perpetual waste,
declares the Lord.
27 # See ver. 12 “Set up a standard on the earth;
# See ch. 4:5 blow the trumpet among the nations;
# See ch. 6:4 prepare #See ch. 25:14 the nations for war against her;
summon against her #[ch. 50:41] the kingdoms,
#
Gen. 8:4; 2 Kgs. 19:37 Ararat, Minni, and #Gen. 10:3; 1 Chr. 1:6 Ashkenaz;
appoint a #Nah. 3:17 marshal against her;
# See ver. 14 bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 # [See ver. 27 above] Prepare #[See ver. 27 above] the nations for war against her,
the kings of #See ver. 11 the Medes, #ver. 23, 57 with their governors #ver. 23, 57 and deputies,
and every #[ch. 34:1]land under their dominion.
29 # See ch. 8:16 The land trembles and writhes in pain,
# ch. 50:45 for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
30The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
# ch. 50:37; [Isa. 19:16] they have become women;
#
Isa. 47:14 her dwellings are on fire;
#
Lam. 2:9; Nah. 3:13 her bars are broken.
31One #[2 Chr. 30:6]runner runs to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
that his city is taken on every side;
32the fords have been #ver. 41seized,
the marshes are burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.
33For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
# See Isa. 21:10 The daughter of Babylon is like #See Isa. 21:10 a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and #[Isa. 17:5; Joel 3:13; Rev. 14:15]the time of her harvest will come.”
34“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon #ch. 50:17 has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
# ver. 44 he has swallowed me like #Ps. 74:13a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me out.#51:34 Or he has expelled me
35The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
let Jerusalem say.
36Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, #ch. 50:34 I will plead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
#
Isa. 44:27; [ch. 50:38] I will dry up her sea
and #[ver. 13]make her fountain dry,
37and Babylon shall become #Isa. 25:2 a heap of ruins,
#
Isa. 13:22 the haunt of jackals,
# See ch. 18:16 a horror #See ch. 18:16and a hissing,
without inhabitant.
38 # [Amos 3:4] “They shall roar together #Nah. 2:11, 12like lions;
they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
39 # [Isa. 21:5] While they are inflamed #[Isa. 21:5] I will prepare them a feast
and #ver. 57make them drunk, that they may become merry,
# ver. 57 then sleep a perpetual sleep
and not wake, declares the Lord.
40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and male goats.
41“How #ch. 25:26 Babylon#51:41 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon is taken,
# [Isa. 13:19] the praise of the whole earth #ver. 32seized!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
42 # [ver. 55; Isa. 8:7, 8] The sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43Her cities have become a horror,
# ch. 50:12 a land of drought and a desert,
# ch. 50:40 a land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
44And I will punish #ch. 50:2; See Isa. 46:1 Bel in Babylon,
and #ver. 34; [Ezra 1:7, 8] take out of his mouth #ver. 34 what he has swallowed.
# [ch. 31:12; Isa. 2:2] The nations shall no longer flow to him;
# ver. 58 the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45“Go out of the midst of her, #See ver. 6 my people!
Let every one save his life
from #See ch. 12:13the fierce anger of the Lord!
46Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
# [Isa. 37:7] at the report heard in the land,
#
Matt. 24:6, 7 when a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
#
Matt. 24:6, 7 and ruler is against ruler.
47“Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when #[ch. 50:2] I will punish the images of Babylon;
# [ch. 50:12] her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 # [Rev. 18:20]; See Isa. 44:23 Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
# ch. 50:3 for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the Lord.
49Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
# [ver. 24] just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50 # [ch. 44:28] “You who have escaped from the sword,
go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51 # ch. 7:19; Ps. 44:15, 16 ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
# ch. 7:19; Ps. 44:15, 16 dishonor has covered our face,
#
Lam. 1:10
for foreigners have come
into the holy places of the Lord’s house.’
52“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when #[See ver. 47 above] I will execute judgment upon her images,
#
Job 24:12; Ezek. 26:15 and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
53Though Babylon should #[ver. 25]; See Isa. 14:13 mount up to heaven,
and though she should #[ch. 49:16]fortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
declares the Lord.
54 # ch. 50:22 “A voice! A cry from Babylon!
The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her mighty voice.
# [ver. 42]; See ch. 5:22 Their waves roar like many waters;
the noise of their voice is raised,
56for a destroyer has come upon her,
upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken in pieces,
# ch. 50:15; Isa. 59:18 for the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will surely repay.
57 # ver. 39 I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
# ver. 23, 28 her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
declares #See ch. 46:18the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad #ver. 44; ch. 50:15 wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
# [Isa. 45:2] and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
#
Hab. 2:13 The peoples labor for nothing,
and #ver. 64the nations weary themselves only for fire.”
59The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah #[ch. 32:12] the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, #[ch. 28:1]in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60#[ch. 36:2] Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, #See ver. 1-58; ch. 50:1-46all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so #ch. 50:3 that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be #ver. 26desolate forever.’ 63When you finish reading this book, #[ch. 19:10, 11] #[Rev. 18:21]tie a stone to it #[ch. 19:10, 11] and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64and say, #[See ver. 63 above] ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, #ver. 58and they shall become exhausted.’”
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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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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