Jeremias 51
1 THE WORD THAT CAME TO JEREMIAS for all the Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt, and for those settled in Magdolo and in Taphnas, and in the land of Pathura, saying,
Thus said YHWH: “Behold, I am stirring up against Babylon, And the inhabitants of Leb, My withstanders, A destroying wind,
2 Thus has the Lord God of Israel said; Ye have seen all the evils which I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon the cities of Juda; and, behold, they are desolate without inhabitants,
And I have sent fanners to Babylon, And they have fanned her, and they empty her land, For they have been against her, All around—in the day of evil.
3 because of their wickedness, which they have wrought to provoke me, [by] going to burn incense to other gods, whom ye knew not.
Do not let the treader tread his bow, Nor lift himself up in his coat of mail, Nor have pity on her young men, Devote all her host to destruction.
4 yet I sent to you my servants the prophets early in the morning, and I sent, saying, Do not ye this abominable thing which I hate.
And the wounded have fallen in the land of the Chaldeans, And the pierced-through in her streets.
5 But they hearkened not to me, and inclined not their ear to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn incense to strange gods.
For Israel and Judah are not forsaken By his God—by YHWH of Hosts, For their land has been full of guilt, Against the Holy One of Israel.
6 So mine anger and my wrath dropped [upon them], and was kindled in the gates of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a desolation and a waste, as at this day.
Flee from the midst of Babylon, And let each deliver his soul, Do not be cut off in her iniquity, For it [is] a time of vengeance for YHWH—His, He is rendering repayment to her.
7 And now thus has the Lord Almighty said, Wherefore do ye commit [these] great evils against your souls? to cut off man and woman of you, infant and suckling from the midst of Juda, to the end that not one of you should be left;
Babylon [is] a golden cup in the hand of YHWH, Making all the earth drunk, Nations have drunk of her wine, Therefore nations boast themselves.
8 by provoking me with the works of your hands, to burn incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which ye entered to dwell there, that ye might be cut off, and that ye might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
Babylon has suddenly fallen, Indeed, she is broken, howl for her, Take balm for her pain, perhaps she may be healed.
9 Have ye forgotten the sins of your fathers, and the sins of the kings of Juda, and the sins of your princes, and the sins of your wives, which they wrought in the land of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
We healed Babylon, and she was not healed, Forsake her, and we go, each to his land, For her judgment has come to the heavens, And it has been lifted up to the clouds.
10 And have not ceased even to this day, and they have not kept to my ordinances, which I set before their fathers.
YHWH has brought forth our righteousnesses, Come, and we recount in Zion the work of our God YHWH.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold I do set my face against [you]
Cleanse the arrows, fill the shields, YHWH has stirred up the spirit of the kings of Media, For His purpose [is] against Babylon to destroy her, For it [is] the vengeance of YHWH, The vengeance of His temple.
12 to destroy all the remnant that are in Egypt; and they shall fall by the sword, and by famine, and shall be consumed small and great: and they shall be for reproach, and for destruction, and for a curse.
Lift up an ensign to the walls of Babylon, Strengthen the watch, Establish the watchers, prepare the ambush, For YHWH has both devised and done that which He spoke, Concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have visited Jerusalem, with sword and with famine:
O dweller on many waters, abundant in treasures, Your end has come—the measure of your dishonest gain.
14 and there shall not one be preserved of the remnant of Juda that sojourn in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Juda, to which they hope in their hearts to return: they shall not return, but only they that escape.
YHWH of Hosts has sworn by Himself, That, Surely I have filled you [with] men as the cankerworm, And they have cried against you—shouting.
15 Then all the men that knew that their wives burned incense, and all the women, a great multitude, and all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathura, answered Jeremias, saying,
Making [the] earth by His power, Establishing [the] world by His wisdom, Who by His understanding stretched out the heavens,
16 [As for] the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee.
At the voice He gives forth, A multitude of waters [are] in the heavens, And He causes vapors to come up from the end of the earth, He has made lightnings for rain, And He brings out wind from His treasures.
17 For we will surely perform every word that shall proceed out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour drink-offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, and our kings and princes, in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and [so] we were filled with bread, and were well, and saw no evils.
Every man has been brutish by knowledge, Everyone has been put to shame—from refining a carved image, For his molten image [is] falsehood, And there is no breath in them.
18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, we have all been brought low, and have been consumed by sword and by famine.
They [are] vanity—a work of errors, They perish in the time of their inspection.
19 And whereas we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured drink-offerings to her, did we make cakes to her, and pour drink-offerings to her, without our husbands?
The Portion of Jacob [is] not like these, For He is forming the whole, And [Israel is] the tribe of His inheritance, YHWH of Hosts [is] His Name.
20 Then Jeremias answered all the people, the mighty men, and the women, and all the people that returned him [these] words for answer, saying,
You [are] My shatterer—weapons of war, And I have broken in pieces nations by you, And I have destroyed kingdoms by you,
21 Did not the Lord remember the incense which ye burned in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, and your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land? and came it not into his heart?
And I have broken in pieces horse and its rider by you, And I have broken in pieces chariot and its charioteer by you,
22 And the Lord could no longer bear [you], because of the wickedness of your doings, and because of your abominations which ye wrought; and so your land became a desolation and a waste, and a curse, as at this day;
And I have broken in pieces man and woman by you, And I have broken in pieces old and young by you, And I have broken in pieces young man and virgin by you,
23 because of your burning incense, and [because] of the things wherein ye sinned against the Lord: and ye have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in his ordinances, and in his law, and in his testimonies; and so these evils have come upon you.
And I have broken in pieces shepherd and his drove by you, And I have broken in pieces farmer and his team by you, And I have broken in pieces governors and prefects by you.
24 And Jeremias said to the people, and to the women, Hear ye the word of the Lord.
And I have repaid to Babylon, And to all inhabitants of Chaldea, All the evil that they have done in Zion, Before your eyes,” a declaration of YHWH.
25 Thus has the Lord God of Israel said; Ye women have spoken with your mouth, and ye fulfilled [it] with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour drink-offerings to her: full well did ye keep to your vows, and ye have indeed performed [them].
“Behold, I [am] against you, O destroying mountain,” A declaration of YHWH, “That is destroying all the earth, And I have stretched out My hand against you, And I have rolled you from the rocks, And given you for a burnt mountain.
26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, my name shall no longer be in the mouth of every Jew to say, The Lord lives, in all the land of Egypt.
And they do not take out of you a stone for a corner, And a stone for foundations, For you are continuous desolations,” A declaration of YHWH.
27 For I have watched over them, to hurt them, and not to do them good: and all the Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt shall perish by sword and by famine, until they are utterly consumed.
“Lift up an ensign in the land, Blow a horn among nations, Sanctify nations against it, Summon against it the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, Appoint an infant head against it, Cause the horse to ascend as the rough cankerworm.
28 And they that escape the sword shall return to the land of Juda few in number, and the remnant of Juda, who have continued in the land [of] Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose word shall stand.
Sanctify against it the nations with the kings of Media, Its governors and all its prefects, And all the land of its dominion.
29 And this [shall be] a sign to you, that I will visit you for evil.
And the land shakes, and it is pained, For the purposes of YHWH have stood against Babylon, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
30 Thus said the Lord; Behold, I [will] give Uaphres king of Egypt into the hands of his enemy, and into the hands of one that seeks his life; as I gave Sedekias king of Juda into the hands of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, his enemy, and who sought his life.
The mighty of Babylon have ceased to fight, They have remained in strongholds, Their might has failed, they have become [as] women, They have burned her dwelling places, Her bars have been broken.
31 THE WORD WHICH JEREMIAS THE PROPHET spoke to Baruch son of Nerias, when he wrote these words in the book from the mouth of Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.
Runner runs to meet runner, And announcer to meet announcer, To announce to the king of Babylon, For his city has been captured—at the extremity.
32 Thus has the Lord said to thee, O Baruch.
And the passages have been captured, And they have burned the reeds with fire, And the men of war have been troubled.
33 Whereas thou hast said, Alas! alas! for the Lord has laid a grievous trouble upon me; I lay down in groaning, I found no rest;
For thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon [is] as a threshing-floor, The time of her threshing—yet a little [while], And the time of her harvest has come.
34 say thou to him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I pull down those whom I have built up, and I pluck up those whom I have planted.
Devoured us, crushed us, has Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, He has set us [as] an empty vessel, He has swallowed us as a dragon, He has filled his belly with my delicacies, He has driven us away.
35 And wilt thou seek great things for thyself? seek [them] not: for, behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but I will give [to thee] thy life for a spoil in every place whither thou shalt go.
My wrong, and [that of] my flesh, [is] on Babylon—The inhabitant of Zion says; And my blood [is] on the inhabitants of Chaldea—Jerusalem says.
Therefore, thus said YHWH: Behold, I am pleading your cause, And I have avenged your vengeance, And dried up her sea, and made her fountains dry.
And Babylon has been for heaps, A habitation of dragons, An astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
They roar together as young lions, They have shaken themselves as lions’ whelps.
In their heat I make their banquets, And I have caused them to drink, so that they exult, And have slept a continuous sleep, And do not awaken,” a declaration of YHWH.
“I cause them to go down as lambs to slaughter, As rams with male goats.
How Sheshach has been captured, Indeed, the praise of the whole earth is caught, How Babylon has been for an astonishment among nations.
The sea has come up over Babylon, She has been covered with a multitude of its billows.
Her cities have been for a desolation, A dry land, and a wilderness, A land—none dwell in them, Nor does a son of man pass over into them.
And I have seen after Bel in Babylon, And I have brought forth that which he swallowed—from his mouth, And nations no longer flow to him, Also the wall of Babylon has fallen.
Go forth from her midst, O My people, And let each deliver his soul, Because of the fierceness of the anger of YHWH,
And lest your heart be tender, And you are afraid of the report that is heard in the land, And the report has come in [one] year, And after it [another] report in [another] year, And violence [is] in the land, ruler against ruler;
Therefore, behold, days are coming, And I have seen after the carved images of Babylon. And all its land is ashamed, And all its pierced ones fall in its midst.
And heavens and earth and all that [is] in them Have cried aloud against Babylon, For the spoilers come to her from the north,” A declaration of YHWH.
“As Babylon [has caused the] pierced of Israel to fall, So they of Babylon have fallen, You pierced of all the earth.
You escaped of the sword, go on, do not stand, Remember YHWH from afar, And let Jerusalem come up on your heart.
We have been ashamed, for we heard reproach, Shame has covered our faces, For strangers have come in against the sanctuaries of the house of YHWH.
Therefore, behold, days are coming,” A declaration of YHWH, “And I have seen after her carved images, And the wounded groan in all her land.
Because Babylon goes up to the heavens, And because she fortifies the high place of her strength, Spoilers come into her from Me,” A declaration of YHWH.
“A voice of a cry [is] from Babylon, And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldean.
For YHWH is spoiling Babylon, And has destroyed her great voice, And her billows have sounded as many waters, Their voice has given forth a noise.
For a spoiler has come in against her—against Babylon, And her mighty ones have been captured, Their bows have been broken, For the God of recompenses—YHWH—certainly repays.
And I have caused her princes to drink, And her wise men, her governors, And her prefects, and her mighty ones, And they have slept a continuous sleep, And they do not awaken—an affirmation of the King, YHWH of Hosts [is] His Name.
Thus said YHWH of Hosts: The wall of Babylon—The broad one—is made utterly bare, And her high gates are burned with fire, And peoples labor in vain, And nations in fire, and have been weary!”
The word that Jeremiah the prophet has commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, in his going with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign—and Seraiah [is] a quiet prince;
and Jeremiah writes all the calamity that comes to Babylon on one scroll—all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
And Jeremiah says to Seraiah, “When you enter Babylon, then you have seen, and have read all these words,
and have said: YHWH, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that there is none dwelling in it, from man even to livestock, for it is a continuous desolation.
And it has come to pass, when you finish reading this scroll, you bind a stone to it, and have cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,
and said, Thus Babylon sinks, and she does not arise, because of the calamity that I am bringing in against it, and they have been weary.” Until now [are the] words of Jeremiah.
