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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Jeremiah 51: HCSB
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Jeremiah 51
51
1 Thus says Yahweh:
“Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon
and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.
2And I will send winnowers to Babylon,
and they will winnow her,
and they will lay waste her land,
for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.
3Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow,
and let him not rise high in his body armor.
And you must not spare her young men;
destroy her whole army.
4And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and pierced through in her streets.
5For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God,
from Yahweh of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.”
6Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life.
You must not perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh,
he will repay her what is deserved.
7Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh,
making drunk all the earth.
The nations drank of her wine.
Therefore#Literally “Unto thus” the nations acted like madmen.
8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered.
Wail over her!
Take balm for her wounds,
perhaps she may be healed.
9We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed.
Forsake her and let us go each one to his country,
for her judgment has reached to the heavens,
and it has been lifted up to the skies.
10Yahweh has brought forth our vindication.
Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it,
for that is the vengeance of Yahweh,
the vengeance for his temple.
12Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner;
post a strong watch,#Literally “make strong the guard” post watchmen, prepare the ambushes,
for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed
what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13O you who live by mighty waters, rich in treasures,
your end has come, the measure of your life.#Literally “the cubit of your severing”
14Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself,
“Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts,#Hebrew “locust”
and they will sing over you a war cry.”
15He is the one who made the earth by his power,
the one who created the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16At the giving of his voice
there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
and he causes the patches of mist
to go up from the end of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17All humankind turns out to be stupid,
without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by the divine image.
For his cast image is a lie,
and there is no breath in them.
18They are worthless,
a work of mockery.
At the time of their punishment,
they will perish.
19The portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the creator of everything,#Literally “the all”
and the tribe of his inheritance.
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
20He says, “You are a war club for me,
a weapon of battle,
and I smash nations with you,
and I destroy kingdoms with you.
21And I smash the horse with you,
and its rider,
and I smash the chariot with you,
and its rider.
22And I smash man and woman with you,
and I smash the old man and the boy with you,
and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.
23And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you,
and I smash the farmer and his team with you,
and I smash the governors and the officials with you.
24And I will repay Babylon,
and all the inhabitants of Chaldea,
all their wickedness that they have done in Zion
before your eyes,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
25“Look, I am against you,
O mountain of the destruction,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“the one that destroys the whole earth.
And I will stretch out my hand against you,
and I will roll you down from the cliffs,
and I will make you as a mountain burned away.
26They will not take from you
a stone for a corner,
and a stone for a foundation,
for you will be an everlasting desolation,”#Literally “a desolation of everlasting” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
27Raise a banner in the land;
blow a horn among the nations;
prepare for holy war against her;
summon the nations against her,
the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
summon against her an official;
bring up horses#Hebrew “horse” like bristling creeping locusts.#Hebrew “locust”
28Prepare the nations for holy war against her,
the kings of the Medes,
with their governors and all their officials,
and every land of their dominion.
29And the land quakes and writhes,
for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon as a horror,
without#Literally “from there is not” inhabitant.
30The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight,
they remain in the strongholds,
their power has dried up,
they have become as women.
Her dwelling places are set on fire,
her bars are broken.
31one runner runs to meet another runner,
and one messenger to meet another messenger,
to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured,
from end to end.#Literally “from end”
32And the fords have been seized,
and the reed marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers#Literally “the men of the war” are horrified.
33For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trodden down,
just a little while#Literally “still a little”
and the time of the harvest will come for her.”
34Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
has devoured me and sucked me dry;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like the sea monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me.
35“May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,”
the inhabitants#Hebrew “inhabitant” of Zion will say;
and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36Therefore#Literally “To thus” thus says Yahweh,
“Look, I am going to contend your case,
and I will avenge your vengeance,
and I will cause her sea to dry up,
and I will cause her fountain to dry up.
37And Babylon will become as a heap of stones,
a lair of jackals,
an object of horror, and an object of hissing,
without#Literally “from there is not” inhabitants.
38They will roar together like the young lions,
they will growl like the cubs of lions.
39At their becoming hot I will set their banquets,
and I will make them drunk,
so that they will fall into a swoon,
and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,#Literally “a sleep of eternity”
and they will not wake up,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
40“I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41How Sheshach is captured,
and the glory of all the earth is seized!
How Babylon has become as an object of horror
among the nations!
42The sea has risen over Babylon,
she has been covered by the roar of its waves.
43Her cities have become as an object of horror,
a dry land and a wilderness,#Or “Arabah”
a land in which no person lives,
nor does a son of humankind pass through it.
44And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and I will wrench out from his mouth what he has swallowed.#Literally “what has been swallowed by him”
And the nations will not stream towards him any longer
what’s worse,#Literally “also” the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45Come out from her midst, my people,
and save each one his life
from the burning anger of#Literally “the blazing of the nose of” Yahweh.
46Now so that you are not fainthearted,#Literally “so that your heart is not timid”
and you are afraid at the rumors#Hebrew “rumor” that are heard in the land—
and in the year the rumor comes,
and in the year after it the rumor,
and violence is in the land,
with ruler against ruler—
47therefore#Literally “to thus” look, days are coming,
and I will punish the images of Babylon,
and all her land will be put to shame,
and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.
48Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
for from the north
the destroyers will come to it,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
49Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel,
but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.
50Survivors of the sword, go!
You must not linger!
Remember Yahweh from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.#Literally “heart”
51We are ashamed,
for we have heard taunts,#Hebrew “taunt”
disgrace covers our faces,
for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.
52“Therefore#Literally “To thus” look, days are coming,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“and I will punish her images,
and the fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.
53Though Babylon goes up to the heavens,
and though she fortifies the high place of her strength,
from me destroyers will come to her,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
54The sound of a cry for help from Babylon,
and a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.
55For Yahweh is devastating Babylon,
and he obliterates her loud noise#Or “voice” from her.
Their waves roar like mighty waters,
the roar of their voices#Hebrew “voice” resounds.
56For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
and her warriors are captured.
Their bows are broken;
for Yahweh is a God of recompense,
certainly he will repay.
57“And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men,
her governors, and her officials, and her warriors,
and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,#Literally “a sleep of eternity”
and they will not wake up,”
declares#Literally “a declaration of” the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.
58Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished,
and her high gates will burn with fire,
and the peoples will labor for nothing,#Literally “for enough of empty”
and the nations for fire,#Literally “for enough of fire”
and they will grow weary.”
The Scroll Concerning Babylon is Thrown into the Euphrates
59The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was the quartermaster.#Literally “official of the resting place” 60And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters#Hebrew “disaster” that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “At your coming to Babylon, then you must see that you read aloud all these words. 62And you must say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that there will not be in it anything living, from humankind to animals,#Hebrew “animal” for it will be an everlasting desolation.’#Literally “a desolation of eternity” 63And then#Literally “And it will happen” when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64And you must say, ‘Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, because of#Literally “from” the face of the disasters#Hebrew “disaster” that I am bringing on her, and they will grow weary.’ ” Thus far#Literally “Up to here” the words of Jeremiah.
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