< Jeremiah 51 >

1 Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof, who have lifted up their heart against me.
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.
2 And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and shall destroy her land: for they are come upon her on every side in the day of her affliction.
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.
3 Let not him that bendeth, bend his bow, and let not, him go up that is armed with a coat of mail: spare not her young men, destroy all her army.
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!
4 And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in the regions thereof.
And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.
5 For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God the Lord of hosts: but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
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.”
6 Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let every one save his own life: be not silent upon her iniquity: for it is the time of revenge from the Lord, he will I render unto her what she hath deserved.
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.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore they have staggered.
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.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed.
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
9 We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us forsake her, and let us go every man to his own land: because her judgment hath reached even to the heavens, and is lifted up to the clouds.
“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.”
10 The Lord hath brought forth our justices: Come, and let us declare in Sion the work of the Lord our God.
“The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.”
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: and his mind is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.
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.
12 Upon the walls of Babylon set up the standard, strengthen the watch: set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
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.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, rich in treasures, thy end is come for thy entire destruction.
You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.
14 The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying: I will fill thee with men as with locusts, and they shall lift up a joyful shout against thee.
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.”
15 He that made the earth by his power, that hath prepared the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
16 When he uttereth his voice the waters are multiplied in heaven: he lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth, he hath turned lightning into rain: and hath brought forth the wind out of his treasures.
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.
17 Every man is become foolish by his knowledge: every founder is confounded by his idol, for what he hath cast is a lie, and there is no breath in them.
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.
18 They are vain works, and worthy to be laughed at, in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he that made all things he it is, and Israel is the sceptre of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.
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.
20 Thou dashest together for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms:
“You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
21 And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider, and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth up into it:
With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver.
22 And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin:
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.
23 And with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his dock, and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers.
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.
24 And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, before your eyes, saith the Lord.
Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,”
25 Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which corruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
“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.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for the corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the Lord.
No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,”
27 Set ye up a standard in the land: sound with the trumpet among the nations: prepare the nations against her: call together against her the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez: number Taphsar against her, bring the horse as the stinging locust.
“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.
28 Prepare the nations against her, the kings of Media, their captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their dominion.
Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule.
29 And the land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled: for the design of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of Babylon desert and uninhabitable.
The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 The valiant men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have dwelt in holds: their strength hath failed, and they are become as women: her dwelling places are burnt, her bars are broken.
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.
31 One running post shall meet another, and messenger shall meet messenger: to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from one end to the other:
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.
32 And that the fords are taken, and the marshes are burnt with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”
33 For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a thrashingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
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.”
34 Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath eaten me up, he hath devoured me: he hath made me as an empty vessel: he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicate meats, and he hath cast me out.
“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.
35 The wrong done to me, and my flesh be upon Babylon, saith the habitation of Sion: and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem.
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.
36 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause, and will take vengeance for thee, and I will make her sea desolate, and will dry up her spring.
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.
37 And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant.
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like lions, they shall shake their manes like young lions.
They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.
39 In their heat I will set them drink: and I will make them drunk, that they may slumber, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and awake no more, saith the Lord.
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.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with kids.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41 How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?
How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
42 The sea is come up over Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves.
43 Her cities are become an astonishment, a land uninhabited and desolate, a land wherein none can dwell, nor son of man pass through it.
Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through.
44 And I will visit against Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he had swallowed down: and the rations shall no more flow together to him, for the wall also of Babylon shall fall.
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.
45 Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.
Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD.
46 And lest your hearts faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land: and a rumour shall come in one year, and after this year another rumour: and iniquity in the land, and ruler upon ruler.
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.
47 Therefore behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
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.
48 And the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them shall give praise for Babylon: for spoilers shall come to her from the north, saith the Lord.
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,”
49 And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel: so of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the earth.
“Babylon must fall on account of the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
50 You that have escaped the sword, come away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: because strangers are come upon the sanctuaries of the house of the Lord.
“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.”
52 Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit her graven things, and in all her land the wounded shall groan:
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
53 If Babylon should mount up to heaven, and establish her strength on high: from me there should come spoilers upon her, saith the Lord.
Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD.
54 The noise of a cry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 Because the Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many waters: their voice hath made a noise:
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.
56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, that is, upon Babylon, and her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord, who is a strong revenger, will surely repay.
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.
57 And I will make her princes drunk. and her wise men, and her captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the whose name is Lord of hosts.
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.
58 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labours of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations shall go to the fire, and shall perish.
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.”
59 The word that Jeremias the prophet commanded Saraias the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sedecias to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign: now Saraias was chief over the prophecy.
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.
60 And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come upon Babylon: all these words that are written against Babylon.
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.
61 And Jeremias said to Saraias: When thou shalt come into Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,
62 Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to destroy it: so that there should be neither man nor beast to dwell therein, and that it should be desolate for ever.
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.’
63 And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the Euphrates:
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates.
64 And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.
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.

< Jeremiah 51 >