Jeremiah 51

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

1  Thus says the Lord:
"Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon,
against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,t
2  and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
and they shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
when they come against her from every side
on the day of trouble.
3  Let not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not stand up in his armor.
Spare not her young men;
devote to destructiont all her army.
4  They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and wounded in her streets.
5  For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeanst is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.

6  "Flee from the midst of Babylon;
let every one save his life!
Be not cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance,
the repayment he is rendering her.
7  Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine;
therefore the nations went mad.
8  Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
wail for her!
Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9  We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go
each to his own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10  The Lord has brought about our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.

11  "Sharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple.

12  "Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
prepare the ambushes;
for the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13  O 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 has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,
and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

15  "It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
16  When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17  Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
18  They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19  Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.

20  "You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I break nations in pieces;
with you I destroy kingdoms;
21  with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22  with you I break in pieces man and woman;
with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
23  with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

24 "I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord.

25  "Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
declares the Lord,
which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
and roll you down from the crags,
and make you a burnt mountain.
26  No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
declares the Lord.

27  "Set up a standard on the earth;
blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
summon against her the kingdoms,
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28  Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
and every land under their dominion.
29  The land trembles and writhes in pain,
for the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
30  The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
they have become women;
her dwellings are on fire;
her bars are broken.
31  One runner runs to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
that his city is taken on every side;
32  the fords have been seized,
the marshes are burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.
33  For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her harvest will come."

34  "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me out.t
35  The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,"
let the inhabitant of Zion say.
"My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,"
let Jerusalem say.
36  Therefore thus says the Lord:
"Behold, I will plead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,
37  and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
the haunt of jackals,
a horror and a hissing,
without inhabitant.

38  "They shall roar together like lions;
they shall growl like lions' cubs.
39  While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
then sleep a perpetual sleep
and not wake, declares the Lord.
40  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and male goats.

41  "How Babylont is taken,
the praise of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
42  The sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43  Her cities have become a horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
44  And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer flow to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.

45  "Go out of the midst of her, my people!
Let every one save his life
from the fierce anger of the Lord!
46  Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
at the report heard in the land,
when a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
and ruler is against ruler.

47  "Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48  Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the Lord.
49  Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

50  "You who have escaped from the sword,
go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51  'We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
dishonor has covered our face,
for foreigners have come
into the holy places of the Lord's house.'

52  "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will execute judgment upon her images,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
53  Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
declares the Lord.

54  "A voice! A cry from Babylon!
The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55  For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like many waters;
the noise of their voice is raised,
56  for a destroyer has come upon her,
upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken in pieces,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will surely repay.
57  I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58  "Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
The peoples labor for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire."

59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,62 and say, 'O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.'63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,

64 and say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.'"
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 51

1 The Lord says,
“I will cause a destructive winds to blow
againstt Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia.s

2 I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff.ts
They will winnow her and strip her land bare.t
This will happen whent they come against her from every direction,
when it is time to destroy her.t

3 Do not give her archers time to string their bows
or to put on their coats of armor.s
Do not spare any of her young men.
Completely destroys her whole army.

4 Let them fallt slain in the land of Babylonia,t
mortally wounded in the streets of her cities.t

5 “For Israel and Judah will not be forsakents
by their God, the Lord who rules over all.t
For the land of Babylonia ist full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.s

6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people.t
Flee to save your lives.
Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.
For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.
He will pay Babyloniat back for what she has done.t

7 Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand.
She had made the whole world drunk.
The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath.ts
So they have all gone mad.t

8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed.t
Cry out in mourning over it!
Get medicine for her wounds!
Perhaps she can be healed!

9 Foreigners living there will say,t
‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed.
Let’s leave Babyloniat and each go back to his own country.
For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions.
It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’t

10 The exiles from Judah will say,t
‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us!t
Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion
what the Lord our God has done!’

11 “Sharpens your arrows!
Fill your quivers!t
The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility int the kings of Media.s
For he intends to destroy Babylonia.
For that is how the Lord will get his revenge –
how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple.ts

12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall!t
Bring more guards!t
Post them all around the city!t
Put men in ambush!ts
For the Lord will do what he has planned.
He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.t

13 “You who live along the rivers of Babylon,s
the time of your end has come.
You who are rich in plundered treasure,
it is time for your lives to be cut off.t

14 The Lord who rules over allt has solemnly sworn,t
‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers.
They will swarm over it like locusts.t
They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’

15 He is the one whot by his power made the earth.
He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place,
by his understanding he spread out the heavens.

16 When his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar.
He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.
He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.
He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.

17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.
For the image he forges is merely a sham.
There is no breath in any of those idols.

18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed.
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

19 The Lord, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob, is not like them.
For he is the one who created everything,
including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own.t
He is known as the Lord who rules over all.s

20 “Babylon,t you are my war club,t
my weapon for battle.
I used you to smash nations.t
I used you to destroy kingdoms.

21 I used you to smash horses and their riders.t
I used you to smash chariots and their drivers.

22 I used you to smash men and women.
I used you to smash old men and young men.
I used you to smash young men and young women.

23 I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks.
I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen.
I used you to smash governors and leaders.”t

24 “But I will repay Babylon
and all who live in Babylonia
for all the wicked things they did in Zion
right before the eyes of you Judeans,”t
says the Lord.t

25 The Lord says,t “Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon!t
You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.
I will unleash my power against you;t
I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.ts

26 No one will use any of your stones as a cornerstone.
No one will use any of them in the foundation of his house.
For you will lie desolate forever,”ts
says the Lord.t

27 “Raise up battle flags throughout the lands.
Sound the trumpets calling the nations to do battle.
Prepare the nations to do battle against Babylonia.t
Call for these kingdoms to attack her:
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.s
Appoint a commander to lead the attack.t
Send horsess against her like a swarm of locusts.t

28 Prepare the nations to do battle against her.t
Prepare the kings of the Medes.
Prepare their governors and all their leaders.t
Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her.s

29 The earth will tremble and writhe in agony.s
For the Lord will carry out his plan.
He plans to make the land of Babyloniat
a wasteland where no one lives.t

30 The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting.
They will remain in their fortified cities.
They will lose their strength to do battle.t
They will be as frightened as women.t
The houses in her cities will be set on fire.
The gates of her cities will be broken down.t

31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon.
One messenger after another will come bringing news.t
They will bring news to the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured.t

32 They will report that the fords have been captured,
the reed marshes have been burned,
the soldiers are terrified.ts

33 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says,
‘Fair Babylons will be like a threshing floor
which has been trampled flat for harvest.
The time for her to be cut down and harvested
will come very soon.’ts

34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
devoured me and drove my people out.
Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.
He filled his belly with my riches.
He made me an empty dish.
He completely cleaned me out.”ts

35 The person who lives in Zion says,
“May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives.”
Jerusalem says,
“May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people.”t

36 Therefore the Lord says,
“I will stand up for your cause.
I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you.t
I will dry up their sea.
I will make their springs run dry.ts

37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.
Jackals will make their home there.t
It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,
a place where no one lives.t

38 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey.
They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat.t

39 When their appetites are all stirred up,t
I will set out a banquet for them.
I will make them drunk
so that they will pass out,s
they will fall asleep forever,
they will never wake up,”s
says the Lord.t

40 “I will lead them off to be slaughtered
like lambs, rams, and male goats.”ts

41 “See how Babylons has been captured!
See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken!
See what an object of horror
Babylon has become among the nations!ts

42 The sea has swept over Babylon.
She has been covered by a multitudet of its waves.ts

43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.
She has become a dry and barren desert.
No one lives in those towns any more.
No one even passes through them.t

44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.
I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.
The nations will not come streaming to him any longer.
Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.”ts

45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!
Flee to save your lives
from the fierce anger of the Lord!ts

46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid
because of the reports that are heard in the land.
For a report will come in one year.
Another report will follow it in the next.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler fighting against ruler.”

47 “So the time will certainly comet
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Her whole land will be put to shame.
All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst.t

48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will sing for joy over Babylon.
For destroyers from the north will attack it,”
says the Lord.t

49 “Babylon must fallt
because of the Israelites she has killed,t
just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell
because of Babylon.t

50 You who have escaped the sword,s
go, do not delay.t
Remember the Lord in a faraway land.
Think about Jerusalem.ts

51 ‘Wes are ashamed because we have been insulted.t
Our faces show our disgrace.t
For foreigners have invaded
the holy roomst in the Lord’s temple.’

52 Yes, but the time will certainly come,”t says the Lord,t
“when I will punish her idols.
Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.

53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the skyt
and fortifies her elevated stronghold,t
I will send destroyers against her,”t
says the Lord.t

54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

55 For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon,
and put an end to her loud noise.
Their wavest will roar like turbulentt waters.
They will make a deafening noise.t

56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon.t
Her warriors will be captured;
their bows will be broken.t
For the Lord is a God who punishes;t
he pays back in full.t

57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
along with her governors, leaders,s and warriors.
They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,”s
says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all.t

58 This is what the Lord who rules over alls says,
“Babylon’s thick wallt will be completely demolished.t
Her high gates will be set on fire.
The peoples strive for what does not satisfy.t
The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.”t
59 This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign.s (Seraiah was a quartermaster.)t60 Jeremiah recordedt on one scroll all the judgmentst that would come upon Babylon – all these propheciest written about Babylon.61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make suret you read aloud all these prophecies.t62 Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.t

64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgmentst I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”
The prophecies of Jeremiah end here.s