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 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 Thus has the Lord God of Israel said; You 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 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 because of their wickedness, which they have wrought to provoke me, [by] going to burn incense to other gods, whom you knew not.
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 yet I sent to you my servants the prophets early in the morning, and I sent, saying, Do not you this abominable thing which I hate.
Thus the slaine shall fall in the lande of the Caldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streetes.
5 But they listened not to me, and inclined not their ear to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn incense to strange gods.
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 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 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 And now thus has the Lord Almighty said, Therefore do you 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;
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 by provoking me with the works of your hands, to burn incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you entered to dwell there, that you might be cut off, and that you might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
Babel is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howle for her, bring balme for her sore, if she may be healed.
9 Have you 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 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 And have not ceased even to this day, and they have not kept to my ordinances, which I set before their fathers.
The Lord hath brought forth our righteousnesse: come and let vs declare in Zion the worke of the Lord our God.
11 Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold I do set my face against [you]
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 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.
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 And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have visited Jerusalem, with sword and with famine:
O thou that dwellest vpon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine ende is come, euen the ende of thy couetousnes.
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.
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 Then all the men that knew that their wives burned incense, and all the women, a great multitude, and all the people that lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathura, answered Jeremias, saying,
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 [As for] the word which you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.
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 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.
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 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 vanitie, and the worke of errours: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
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 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 Then Jeremias answered all the people, the mighty men, and the women, and all the people that returned him [these] words for answer, saying,
Thou art mine hammer, and weapons of warre: for with thee will I breake the nations, and with thee wil I destroy kingdomes,
21 Did not the Lord remember the incense which you burned in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, and your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land? and came it not into his heart?
And by thee wil I breake horse and horseman, and by thee will I breake the charet and him that rideth therein.
22 And the Lord could no longer bear [you], because of the wickedness of your doings, and because of your abominations which you wrought; and so your land became a desolation and a waste, and a curse, as at this day;
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 because of your burning incense, and [because] of the things wherein you sinned against the Lord: and you have not listened 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.
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 Jeremias said to the people, and to the women, Hear you the word of 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 Thus has the Lord God of Israel said; You women have spoken with your mouth, and you 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 you keep to your vows, and you have indeed performed [them].
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 Therefore hear you the word of the Lord, all Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 this [shall be] a sign to you, that I will visit you for evil.
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 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 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 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.
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 Thus has the Lord said to you, O Baruch.
And that the passages are stopped, and the reedes burnt with fire, and the me of war troubled.
33 Whereas you have said, Alas! alas! for the Lord has laid a grievous trouble upon me; I lay down in groaning, I found no rest;
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 say you to him, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I pull down those whom I have built up, and I pluck up those whom I have planted.
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 And will you seek great things for yourself? seek [them] not: for, behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, says the Lord: but I will give [to you] your life for a spoil in every place whither you shall go.
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.
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.
And Babel shall be as heapes, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
They shall rore together like lions, and yell as the lyons whelpes.
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.
I wil bring them downe like lambes to the slaughter, and like rams and goates.
How is Sheshach taken! and howe is the glory of the whole earth taken! how is Babel become an astonishment among the nations!
The sea is come vp vpon Babel: he is couered with the multitude of the waues thereof.
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.
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.
My people, go out of the middes of her, and deliuer yee euery man his soule from the fierce wrath of the Lord,
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.
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.
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.
As Babel caused the slaine of Israel to fal, so by Babel the slaine of all the earth did fall.
Ye that haue escaped the sworde, goe away, stand not still: remember the Lord a farre of, and let Ierusalem come into your minde.
Wee are confounded because wee haue heard reproch: shame hath couered our faces, for straungers are come into the Sanctuaries of the Lordes House.
Wherefore behold, the dayes come, sayth the Lord, that I will visite her grauen images, and through all her land the wounded shall grone.
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.
A sound of a cry commeth from Babel, and great destruction from the land of the Caldeans,
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
So Ieremiah wrote in a booke all the euill that should come vpon Babel: euen al these things, that are written against Babel.
And Ieremiah sayd to Sheraiah, Whe thou commest vnto Babel, and shalt see, and shalt reade all these wordes,
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.
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,
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.
