Jeremiah 51
1 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer.
Thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will awaken against Babylon, and against those that dwell in the midst of my opponents, a destroying wind;
2 I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
And I will send out unto Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and shall empty out her land; for they shall be against her round about on the day of trouble.
3 Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction!
Let the archer come against any one that bendeth his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his armor: and spare ye not her young men: destroy ye utterly all her host.
4 And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.
And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are pierced through, in her streets.
5 For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.”
For not widowed are Israel and Judah of their God, of the Lord of hosts; for the land of those was filled with guiltiness against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.
Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and save ye every man his life: perish not for her iniquity; for this is a time of vengeance unto the Lord; a recompense is he paying out unto her.
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
A golden cup hath Babylon been in the hand of the Lord, that made drunken all the earth: of her wine have nations drunk; therefore are the nations rendered mad.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
Suddenly is Babylon fallen and broken: wail ye for her; fetch balm for her wound, perhaps she may be healed.
9 “We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches to the clouds.”
“We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one unto his own country; for her punishment reacheth unto the heavens, and it is lifted up even to the skies.”
10 “The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.”
The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us relate in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11 Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD— vengeance for His temple.
Make bright the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord hath awakened the spirit of the kings of Media; for against Babylon is his intention, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple.
12 Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon; post the guard; station the watchmen; prepare the ambush. For the LORD has both devised and accomplished what He spoke against the people of Babylon.
Against the walls of Babylon lift up the standard, strengthen the watch, set up the watchmen, make ready the ambushes; for the Lord hath both intended and done what he had spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.
O thou that dwellest upon many waters, great in treasures, thy end is come, the full measure of thy selfish robbery.
14 The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”
Sworn hath the Lord of hosts by himself, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with locusts: and they shall lift up the battle-cry against thee.
15 The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
He made the earth by his power, he established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
At the sound when he giveth a multitude of waters in the heavens, and causeth clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; when he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures:
17 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
Then standeth every man as brutish without knowledge; ashamed is every goldsmith because of the graven image; for falsehood is his molten work, and there is no breath therein.
18 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
They are vanity, the work of deception: in the time of their punishment shall they vanish.
19 The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and of the tribe of His inheritance— the LORD of Hosts is His name.
Not like these is the portion of Jacob; for He is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.
20 “You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
Thou art a hammer unto me, weapons of war; and I strike down with thee nations, and I destroy with thee kingdoms;
21 With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver.
And I strike down with thee the horse and his rider; and I strike down with thee the chariot and its rider;
22 With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the maiden.
And I strike down with thee man and woman; and I strike down with thee the aged and the lad; and I strike down with thee the young man and the virgin:
23 With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials.
And I strike down with thee the shepherd and his flock; and I strike down with thee the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and I strike down with thee governors and rulers.
24 Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,”
But [now] will I repay unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes, saith the Lord.
25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand over thee, and I will roll thee down from the rocks, and will render thee a burnt mountain.
26 No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,”
And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but everlasting ruins shalt thou be, saith the Lord.
27 “Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts.
Lift ye up a standard in the land, blow ye the cornet among the nations, make ready against her nations, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint against her a commander; cause the horses to come up like the hairy locusts.
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule.
Make ready against her the nations with the kings of Media, its governors, and all its rulers, and all the land of their dominion.
29 The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
And the earth quaketh and trembleth; for every one of the purposes of the Lord is fulfilled against Babylon, to change the land of Babylon into a desolate country without an inhabitant.
30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.
The mighty men of Babylon have ceased to fight, they sit still in [their] strongholds; their might is vanished; they are become as women: they have burnt her dwelling-places; her bars are broken.
31 One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.
One runner shall run to meet another runner, and one messenger to meet another messenger, to tell unto the king of Babylon that his city is captured at all ends,
32 The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”
And that the passages have been seized, and that they have burnt the reeds with fire, and that the men of war are affrighted.
33 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
For thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, at the time they thresh therein; but yet a little while more, when the time of harvest shall come for her.
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.
“Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon devoured me, he crushed me, he set me down as an empty vessel, he swallowed me up like a huge serpent, he filled his belly with my delicacies: he drove me out.
35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” will the inhabitress of Zion say; and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” will Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.
Therefore thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will contend in thy cause, and execute vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and cause her springs to fail.
37 Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
And Babylon shall become ruinous heaps, a dwelling-place for monsters, an astonishment, and a derision, without an inhabitant.
38 They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.
Together like lions shall they roar: they shall yell like the lions' whelps.
39 While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.
When they are heated will I prepare their drinking-feasts, and I will make them drunken, in order that they may be joyful, and [then] sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake again, saith the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like wethers with he-goats.
41 How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
How is Sheshach captured! and how is conquered the praise of the whole earth! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves.
The sea is come up over Babylon: with the multitude of its waves is she covered.
43 Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through.
Her cities are become desolate places, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein not any man shall dwell, and through which no son of man shall pass along.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.
And I will inflict punishment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth what he hath swallowed up out of his mouth; and nations shall not assemble together like a stream unto him any more; yea, the wall of Babylon also is fallen.
45 Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Go ye out of the midst of her, my people, and save ye every man his life from the fierceness of the anger of the Lord.
46 Do not let your heart grow faint, and do not be afraid when the rumor is heard in the land; for a rumor will come one year— and then another the next year— of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.
And so that your heart may not faint, and ye fear at the report that is heard in the land: when the report cometh in one year, and after that in another year cometh another report, and when violence [be done] in the land, [by] ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.
Therefore, behold, days are coming, when I will inflict punishment on the graven images of Babylon, and her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fail in the midst of her.
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon because the destroyers from the north will come against her,”
And then shall the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, sing because of Babylon; for from the north shall come unto her the destroyers, saith the Lord.
49 “Babylon must fall on account of the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
Also Babylon is destined to fall, O ye slain ones of Israel, also at Babylon fall the slain of all the land.
50 You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
[But] ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember afar off the Lord, and let Jerusalem rise up in your heart.
51 “We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.”
“We had been made ashamed, because we had heard reproach: confusion had covered our faces; because strangers were come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house.”
52 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will inflict punishment on her graven images: and through all her land shall groan the deadly wounded.
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD.
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength; yet from me should destroyers come unto her, saith the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
A sound of a painful cry cometh from Babylon, and of a great breach from the land of the Chaldeans;
55 For the LORD will destroy Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. The waves will roar like great waters; the tumult of their voices will resound.
Because the Lord wasteth Babylon, and destroyeth out of her the loud noise; but their waves roar like great waters, the noise of their voice is sent forth;
56 For a destroyer is coming against her— against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken, for the LORD is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.
Because the destroyer is come over her, over Babylon, and her mighty men are caught, every one of their bows is broken; for the God of recompenses, the Lord, will surely requite.
57 I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.
And I will make drunken her princes, and her wise men, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake again, saith the King, The Lord of hosts is his name.
58 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”
Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Every one of the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire; so that nations shall have labored in vain, and the people for the fire, and so shall they have wearied themselves.
59 This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the quartermaster Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign.
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Serayah the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah unto Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Serayah was chief chamberlain.
60 Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.
And Jeremiah wrote down all the evil that should come upon Babylon in one book, namely, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,
And Jeremiah said to Serayah, As thou comest to Babylon, see to it, that thou read all these words;
62 and say, ‘O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain—neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.’
And thou shalt say, O Lord, thou thyself hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that there shall not be in it an inhabitant, either man or beast; but that it shall become a desolate place for ever.
63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates.
And it shall be, when thou hast finished reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and throw it into the midst of the Euphrates;
64 Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’” Here end the words of Jeremiah.
And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again from the evil that I will bring upon her: and her people shall be wearied. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
