Jeremiah 51:15-58

New American Standard Bible

¹⁵ It is ^(A)He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding He ^(B)stretched out the heavens.
¹⁶ When He utters His ^(C)voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
And He makes the ^(D)clouds ascend from the end of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
And brings out ^(E)wind from His storehouses.
^17 (F)Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his ^[a]idols,
For his cast metal images are ^(G)deceitful,
And there is no breath in them.
¹⁸ They are ^(H)worthless, a work of mockery;
At the time of their punishment they will perish.
¹⁹ The ^(I)portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the ^[b]Maker of everything,
And of the ^[c]tribe of His inheritance;
The ^(J)Lord of armies is His name.
²⁰ He says, “You are My ^[d](K)war-club, My weapon of war;
And with you I ^(L)shatter nations,
And with you I destroy kingdoms.
²¹ With you I ^(M)shatter the horse and his rider,
And with you I shatter the ^(N)chariot and its rider,
²² And with you I shatter ^(O)man and woman,
And with you I shatter the old man and ^(P)youth,
And with you I shatter the young man and virgin,
²³ And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,
And with you I shatter the farmer and his team,
And with you I shatter governors and officials.

^27 (W)Lift up a signal flag in the land,
Blow a trumpet among the nations!
Consecrate the nations against her,
Summon against her the ^(X)kingdoms of ^(Y)Ararat, Minni, and ^(Z)Ashkenaz;
Appoint an officer against her,
Bring up the ^(AA)horses like bristly locusts.
²⁸ Consecrate the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
^[e]Their governors and all ^[f]their officials,
And every land ^[g]under their control.
²⁹ So the ^(AB)land quakes and writhes,
For the plans of the Lord against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon
^[h]A ^(AC)desolation without inhabitants.
³⁰ The ^(AD)warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They stay in the strongholds;
^(AE)Their strength is ^[i]exhausted,
They are becoming ^(AF)like women;
Their homes are set on fire,
The ^(AG)bars of her gates are broken.
³¹ One ^[j](AH)courier runs to meet ^[k]another,
And one ^[l](AI)messenger to meet ^[m]another,
To tell the king of Babylon
That his city has been captured from end to end;
³² The river crossing places have been seized,
And they have burned the marshes with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.

³³ For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a ^(AJ)threshing floor
At the time that ^[n]it is tread down;
In just a little while the time of ^(AK)harvest will come for her.”

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has ^(AL)devoured me, he has crushed me,
He has set me down like an ^(AM)empty vessel;
He has ^(AN)swallowed me like a monster,
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has washed me away.
³⁵ May the ^(AO)violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The ^[o]inhabitant of Zion will say;
And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.

⁴¹ “How ^[r](AY)Sheshak has been captured,
And ^(AZ)the praise of the whole earth has been seized!
How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
⁴² The ^[s](BA)sea has come up over Babylon;
She has been engulfed by its roaring waves.
⁴³ Her cities have become an ^(BB)object of horror,
A dry land and a desert,
A land in which ^(BC)no one lives
And through which no ^[t]one of mankind passes.
^44 (BD)I will punish Bel in Babylon,
And I will make what he has swallowed ^(BE)come out of his mouth;
And the nations will no longer ^(BF)stream toward him.
Even the ^(BG)wall of Babylon has fallen down!

⁴⁵ “^(BH)Come out from her midst, My people,
And each of you ^(BI)save yourselves
From the fierce anger of the Lord.
⁴⁶ Now, ^(BJ)so that your heart does not grow faint,
And you are not afraid at the ^(BK)report that will be heard in the land—
For the report will come in ^[u]one year,
And after that ^[v]another report in ^[w]another year,
And violence will be in the land
With ^(BL)ruler against ruler—
⁴⁷ Therefore behold, days are coming
When I will punish the ^(BM)idols of Babylon;
And her whole land will be ^(BN)put to shame.
And all her slain will fall in her midst.
⁴⁸ Then ^(BO)heaven and earth and everything that is in them
Will shout for joy over Babylon,
Because ^(BP)the destroyers will come to her from the north,”
Declares the Lord.

^49 (BQ)Indeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,
As ^(BR)the slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon.
⁵⁰ You ^(BS)who have escaped the sword,
Go! Do not stay!
^(BT)Remember the Lord from far away,
And let Jerusalem ^[x]come to your mind.
^51 (BU)We are ashamed because we have heard rebuke;
Disgrace has covered our faces,
Because ^(BV)strangers have entered
The holy places of the Lord’s house.

⁵² “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will punish her ^(BW)idols,
And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.
⁵³ Though Babylon ^(BX)ascends to the heavens,
And though she fortifies ^[y]her lofty stronghold,
Destroyers will come from ^(BY)Me to her,” declares the Lord.

⁵⁴ The ^(BZ)sound of an outcry from Babylon,
And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
⁵⁵ For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon,
And He will make her loud ^[z]noise vanish from her.
And their ^(CA)waves will roar like many waters;
The clamor of their voices ^[aa]sounds forth.
⁵⁶ For the ^(CB)destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
And her warriors will be captured,
Their ^(CC)bows shattered;
For the Lord is a God of ^(CD)retribution,
He will fully repay.
⁵⁷ “I will ^(CE)make her leaders and her wise men drunk,
Her governors, her officials, and her warriors,
So that they will sleep a ^(CF)perpetual sleep and not wake up,”
^(CG)Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of armies.