Jeremiah 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.
Thus sayth the Lord, Beholde, I wil raise vp against Babel, and against the inhabitants that lift vp their heart against me, a destroying 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.
And wil send vnto Babel fanners that shall fanne her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shalbe against her on euery side.
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.
Also to the bender that bendeth his bowe, and to him that lifteth himselfe vp in his brigandine, will I say, Spare not her yong men, but destroy all her hoste.
4 And the slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in its regions.
Thus the slaine shall fall in the lande of the Caldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streetes.
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.
For Israel hath bene no widowe, nor Iudah from his God, from the Lord of hostes, though their lande was filled with sinne 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.
Flee out of the middes of Babel, and deliuer euery man his soule: be not destroyed in her iniquitie: for this is the time of the Lordes vengeance he will render vnto her a recompence.
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.
Babel hath bene as a golden cuppe in the Lordes hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations haue drunken of her wine, therefore do the nations rage.
8 Suddenly, Babylon has fallen and been crushed. Wail over her! Take a balm to her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.”
Babel is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howle for her, bring balme for her sore, if 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.
We would haue cured Babel, but she could not be healed: forsake her, and let vs go euery one into his owne countrey: for her iudgement is come vp vnto heauen, and is lifted vp to ye cloudes.
10 The Lord has brought forth our justices. Come and let us describe in Zion the work of the Lord our God.”
The Lord hath brought forth our righteousnesse: come and let vs declare in Zion the worke 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.
Make bright the arrowes: gather the shieldes: the Lord hath raised vp the spirit of the King of the Medes: for his purpose is against Babel to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, and 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.
Set vp the standart vpon the walles of Babel, make the watch strong: set vp the watchmen: prepare the skoutes: for the Lord hath both deuised, and done that which he spake against the inhabitantes of Babel.
13 You who live above many waters, rich in treasures: your end has arrived, your measure has been cut short.
O thou that dwellest vpon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine ende is come, euen the ende of thy couetousnes.
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.”
The Lord of hostes hath sworne by him selfe, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers, and they shall cry and shoute against thee.
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:
He hath made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisedome, and hath stretched out the heauen by his discretion.
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.
Hee giueth by his voyce the multitude of waters in the heauen, and he causeth the cloudes to ascend from the endes of the earth: he turneth lightnings to raine, and bringeth forth the winde out of his treasures.
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.
Euery man is a beast by his owne knowledge: euery founder is confounded by the grauen image: for his melting is but falsehood, and there is no breath therein.
18 They are empty works, deserving of ridicule. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
They are vanitie, and the worke of errours: in the time of their visitation they shall 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:
The portion of Iaakob is not like them: for he is the maker of all things, and Israel is the rodde of his inheritance: the Lord of hostes 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.
Thou art mine hammer, and weapons of warre: for with thee will I breake the nations, and with thee wil I destroy kingdomes,
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.
And by thee wil I breake horse and horseman, and by thee will I breake the charet and him that rideth therein.
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.
By thee also will I breake man and woman, and by thee wil I breake olde and yong, and by thee wil I breake the yong man and the mayde.
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.
I wil also breake by thee the shepheard and his flocke, and by thee will I breake the husband man and his yoke of oxen, and by thee will I breake the dukes and princes.
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.
And I will render vnto Babel, and to all the inhabitants of the Caldeans all their euil, that they haue done in Zion, euen in your sight, sayth 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.
Beholde, I come vnto thee, O destroying mountaine, sayth the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand vpon thee, and rolle thee downe from the rockes, and wil make thee a burnt mountaine.
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.
They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for euer, sayth 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.
Set vp a standard in the lande: blowe the trumpets among the nations: prepare the nations against her: call vp the kingdomes of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz against her: appoynt the prince against her: cause horses to come vp as the rough caterpillers.
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.
Prepare against her the nations with the Kings of the Medes, the dukes thereof, and the princes thereof, and all the land of his dominion.
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.
And the land shall tremble and sorow: for the deuise of the Lord shalbe performed against Babel, to make the lande of Babel waste without an inhabitant.
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.
The strong men of Babel haue ceased to fight: they haue remayned in their holdes: their strength hath fayled, and they were like women: they haue burnt her dwelling places, and her barres are 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,
A post shall runne to meete the post, and a messenger to meete the messenger, to shew the King of Babel, that his citie is taken on a side thereof,
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.
And that the passages are stopped, and the reedes burnt with fire, and the me of war troubled.
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.”
For thus sayth the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, the daughter of Babel is like a threshing floore: the time of her threshing is come: yet a litle while, and the time of her haruest shall come.
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.
Nebuchad-nezzar the King of Babel hath deuoured me, and destroyed me: he hath made me an emptie vessel: he swallowed mee vp like a dragon, and filled his belly with my delicates, and hath 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.
The spoyle of me, and that which was left of me, is brought vnto Babel, shall the inhabitant of Zion say: and my blood vnto the inhabitantes of Caldea, shall Ierusalem say.
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.
Therefore thus sayth the Lord, Beholde, I will maintayne thy cause, and take vengeance for thee, and I will drie vp the sea, and drie vp her springes.
37 And Babylon will become a tumult, the habitation of dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant.
And Babel shall be as heapes, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They will roar together, like lions, they will shake their manes, like young lions.
They shall rore together like lions, and yell as the lyons whelpes.
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.
In their heate I will make them feastes, and I wil make them drunken, that they may reioyce, and sleepe a perpetual sleepe, and not wake, sayth the Lord.
40 I will lead them away, like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with young goats.
I wil bring them downe like lambes to the slaughter, and like rams and goates.
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?
How is Sheshach taken! and howe is the glory of the whole earth taken! how is Babel become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea has ascended over Babylon; she has been covered by the multitude of its waves.
The sea is come vp vpon Babel: he is couered with the multitude of the waues thereof.
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.
Her cities are desolate: the land is dry and a wildernes, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth the sonne of man passe thereby.
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.
I wil also visite Bel in Babel, and I wil bring out of his mouth, that which he hath swallowed vp, and the nations shall runne no more vnto him, and the wall of Babel shall 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.
My people, go out of the middes of her, and deliuer yee euery man his soule from the fierce wrath 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.
Least your heart euen faynt, and ye feare the rumour, that shalbe heard in the land: the rumour shall come this yeere, and after that in the other yeere shall come a rumour, and crueltie in the land, and ruler against 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.
Therefore beholde, the dayes come, that I will visite the images of Babel, and the whole land shalbe confounded, and all her slayne shall fall in the middes of her.
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.
Then the heauen and the earth, and all that is therein, shall reioyce for Babel: for the destroyers shall come vnto her from the North, saith 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.
As Babel caused the slaine of Israel to fal, so by Babel the slaine of all the earth did fall.
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.
Ye that haue escaped the sworde, goe away, stand not still: remember the Lord a farre of, and let Ierusalem come into your minde.
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.
Wee are confounded because wee haue heard reproch: shame hath couered our faces, for straungers are come into the Sanctuaries of the Lordes House.
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.
Wherefore behold, the dayes come, sayth the Lord, that I will visite her grauen images, and through all her land the wounded shall grone.
53 If Babylon were to ascend to heaven, and establish her strength on high, her despoilers would go forth from me, says the Lord.”
Though Babel should mount vp to heauen, and though shee should defend her strength on hye, yet from mee shall her destroyers come, sayth the Lord.
54 A voice of outcry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
A sound of a cry commeth from Babel, and great destruction from the land of the Caldeans,
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.
Because the Lord hath layde Babel waste and destroyed from her the great voyce, and her waues shall roare like great waters, and a sounde was made by their noyse:
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.
Because the destroyer is come vpon her, euen vpon Babel, and her strong men are taken, their bowes are broken: for the Lord God that recompenceth, shall surely recompence.
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.
And I will make drunke her princes, and her wise men, her dukes, and her nobles, and her strong men: and they shall sleepe a perpetuall sleepe, and not wake, sayth the King, whose Name is the Lord of hostes.
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.”
Thus saith the Lord of hostes, The thicke wall of Babel shalbe broken, and her hie gates shall be burnt with fire, and the people shall labour in vaine, and the folke in ye fire, for they shalbe weary.
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.
The worde which Ieremiah the Prophet commanded Sheraiah the sonne of Neriiah, the sonne of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the King of Iudah into Babel, in the fourth yeere of his reigne: and this Sheraiah was a peaceable prince.
60 And Jeremiah wrote in one book all the evil that was to overwhelm Babylon; all these words were written against Babylon.
So Ieremiah wrote in a booke all the euill that should come vpon Babel: euen al these things, that are written against Babel.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you will enter into Babylon, and you will see and read all these words,
And Ieremiah sayd to Sheraiah, Whe thou commest vnto Babel, and shalt see, and shalt reade all these wordes,
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.’
Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to destroy it, that none should remaine in it, neither man nor beast, but that it should be desolate for euer.
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.
And when thou hast made an ende of reading this booke, thou shalt binde a stone to it, and cast it in the middes of 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.
And shalt say, Thus shall Babel be drowned, and shall not rise from the euil, that I will bring vpon her: and they shall be weary. Thus farre are the wordes of Ieremiah.
