Jeremiah 51:49-64

English Standard Version

⁴⁹Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
^(A)just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

⁵⁰^(B)“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^(C)‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
    ^(D)dishonor has covered our face,
^(E)for foreigners have come
    into the holy places of the Lord's house.’

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

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

⁵⁸“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad ^(P)wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
^(Q)and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
^(R)The peoples labor for nothing,
    and ^(S)the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

⁵⁹The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah ^(T)the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, ^(U)in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. ⁶⁰^(V)Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, ^(W)all these words that are written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶²and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so ^(X)that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be ^(Y)desolate forever.’ ⁶³When you finish reading this book, ^(Z)^(AA)tie a stone to it ^(AB)and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴and say, ^(AC)‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, ^(AD)and they shall become exhausted.’”