Jeremiah 51

1 Thus said YHWH: “Behold, I am stirring up against Babylon, And the inhabitants of Leb, My withstanders, A destroying wind,

2 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 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 And the wounded have fallen in the land of the Chaldeans, And the pierced-through in her streets.

5 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 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 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 Babylon has suddenly fallen, Indeed, she is broken, howl for her, Take balm for her pain, perhaps she may be healed.

9 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 YHWH has brought forth our righteousnesses, Come, and we recount in Zion the work of our God YHWH.

11 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 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 O dweller on many waters, abundant in treasures, Your end has come—the measure of your dishonest gain.

14 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 Making [the] earth by His power, Establishing [the] world by His wisdom, Who by His understanding stretched out the heavens,

16 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 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 They [are] vanity—a work of errors, They perish in the time of their inspection.

19 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 You [are] My shatterer—weapons of war, And I have broken in pieces nations by you, And I have destroyed kingdoms by you,

21 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 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 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 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 “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 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 “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 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 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 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 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 And the passages have been captured, And they have burned the reeds with fire, And the men of war have been troubled.

33 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 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 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.

36 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.

37 And Babylon has been for heaps, A habitation of dragons, An astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.

38 They roar together as young lions, They have shaken themselves as lions’ whelps.

39 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.

40 “I cause them to go down as lambs to slaughter, As rams with male goats.

41 How Sheshach has been captured, Indeed, the praise of the whole earth is caught, How Babylon has been for an astonishment among nations.

42 The sea has come up over Babylon, She has been covered with a multitude of its billows.

43 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.

44 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.

45 Go forth from her midst, O My people, And let each deliver his soul, Because of the fierceness of the anger of YHWH,

46 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;

47 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.

48 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.

49 “As Babylon [has caused the] pierced of Israel to fall, So they of Babylon have fallen, You pierced of all the earth.

50 You escaped of the sword, go on, do not stand, Remember YHWH from afar, And let Jerusalem come up on your heart.

51 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.

52 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.

53 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.

54 “A voice of a cry [is] from Babylon, And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldean.

55 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.

56 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.

57 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.

58 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!”

59 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;

60 and Jeremiah writes all the calamity that comes to Babylon on one scroll—all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

61 And Jeremiah says to Seraiah, “When you enter Babylon, then you have seen, and have read all these words,

62 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.

63 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,

64 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.