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 says the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the middle of them that rise up 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 will send to Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 because of their wickedness, which they have wrought to provoke me, [by] going to burn incense to other gods, whom you knew not.
Against him that bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifts himself up in his brigandine: and spare you not her young men; destroy you utterly all her host.
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 slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.
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 has not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin 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 middle of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.
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;
Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
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?
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be 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 have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
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 has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
11 Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold I do set my face against [you]
Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, 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 up the standard on the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD has both devised and done that which he spoke against 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 you that dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness.
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 hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you.
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 has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
16 [As for] the word which you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.
When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind 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.
Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven 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, the work of errors: 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 Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD 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 battle ax and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
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 with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
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;
With you also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces old and young; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
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 will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
24 And Jeremias said to the people, and to the women, Hear you the word of the Lord.
And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says 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].
Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the LORD, which destroy all the earth: and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.
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.
And they shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says 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 you up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.
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 captains thereof, and all the rulers 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 sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation 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 mighty men of Babylon have declined to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars 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.
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
32 Thus has the Lord said to you, O Baruch.
And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
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 says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest 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.
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my delicates, he has 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 violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood on the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.
In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the LORD.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
The sea is come up on Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.
And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
My people, go you out of the middle of her, and deliver you every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
And lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment on the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the middle of her.
Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come to her from the north, says the LORD.
As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
You that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house.
Why, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will do judgment on her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come to her, says the LORD.
A sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
Because the LORD has spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:
Because the spoiler is come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompenses shall surely requite.
And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
Thus says the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, and shall see, and shall read all these words;
Then shall you say, O LORD, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of Euphrates:
And you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
