Jeremiah 51:24-45

English Standard Version

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,
    ^(B)and make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶ No ^(C)stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be ^(D)a perpetual waste,
    declares the Lord.

^27 (E)“Set up a standard on the earth;
    ^(F)blow the trumpet among the nations;
^(G)prepare ^(H)the nations for war against her;
    summon against her ^(I)the kingdoms,
    ^(J)Ararat, Minni, and ^(K)Ashkenaz;
appoint a ^(L)marshal against her;
    ^(M)bring up horses like bristling locusts.
^28 (N)Prepare ^(O)the nations for war against her,
    the kings of ^(P)the Medes, ^(Q)with their governors ^(R)and deputies,
    and every ^(S)land under their dominion.
^29 (T)The land trembles and writhes in pain,
    ^(U)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;
    ^(V)they have become women;
^(W)her dwellings are on fire;
    ^(X)her bars are broken.
³¹ One ^(Y)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 ^(Z)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:
^(AA)The daughter of Babylon is like ^(AB)a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
    and ^(AC)the time of her harvest will come.”

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon ^(AD)has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
    ^(AE)he has swallowed me like ^(AF)a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.^[a]
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, ^(AG)I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
^(AH)I will dry up her sea
    and ^(AI)make her fountain dry,
³⁷ and Babylon shall become ^(AJ)a heap of ruins,
    ^(AK)the haunt of jackals,
^(AL)a horror ^(AM)and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.

^38 (AN)“They shall roar together ^(AO)like lions;
    they shall growl like lions' cubs.
^39 (AP)While they are inflamed ^(AQ)I will prepare them a feast
    and ^(AR)make them drunk, that they may become merry,
^(AS)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 ^(AT)Babylon^[b] is taken,
    ^(AU)the praise of the whole earth ^(AV)seized!
How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
^42 (AW)The sea has come up on Babylon;
    she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
⁴³ Her cities have become a horror,
    ^(AX)a land of drought and a desert,
^(AY)a land in which no one dwells,
    and through which no son of man passes.
⁴⁴ And I will punish ^(AZ)Bel in Babylon,
    and ^(BA)take out of his mouth ^(BB)what he has swallowed.
^(BC)The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    ^(BD)the wall of Babylon has fallen.

⁴⁵ “Go out of the midst of her, ^(BE)my people!
    Let every one save his life
    from ^(BF)the fierce anger of the Lord!