Jeremiah 51
American Standard Version
51 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in [a]Leb-kamai, a destroying wind. 2 And I will send unto Babylon [b]strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3 [c]Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; [d]destroy ye utterly all her host. 4 And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel is not [e]forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Jehovah’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense. 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10 Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.
11 Make [f]sharp the arrows; [g]hold firm the [h]shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy [i]covetousness. 14 Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, [j]Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm; [k]and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens. 16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries. 17 Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.
20 Thou art my [l]battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; 21 and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; 22 and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin; 23 and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces [m]governors and deputies. 24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith Jehovah.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith Jehovah.
27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, [n]prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm. 28 [o]Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion. 29 And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken. 31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter: 32 and the [p]passages are seized, and the [q]reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
33 For thus saith Jehovah 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 harvest shall come for her. 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured [r]me, he hath crushed [s]me, he hath made [t]me an empty vessel, he hath, like a monster, swallowed [u]me up, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath cast [v]me out. 35 [w]The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the [x]inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. 36 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. 38 They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions’ whelps. 39 When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
41 How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become [y]a desolation among the nations! 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the [z]multitude of the waves thereof. 43 Her cities are become [aa]a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. 44 And I will [ab]execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Jehovah. 46 And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the tidings that shall be heard in the land; for tidings shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come tidings, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. 47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, saith Jehovah. 49 [ac]As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the [ad]land.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah’s house. 52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, saith Jehovah.
54 The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! 55 For Jehovah layeth Babylon waste, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered: 56 for the destroyer is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Jehovah is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite. 57 And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts. 58 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: [ae]The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly [af]overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was [ag]chief chamberlain. 60 And Jeremiah wrote in [ah]a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, [ai]then see that thou read all these words, 62 and say, O Jehovah, thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: 64 and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary.
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 That is, The heart of them that rise up against me.
- Jeremiah 51:2 Or, winnowers
- Jeremiah 51:3 Or, as otherwise read, Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift
- Jeremiah 51:3 Hebrew devote ye all etc.
- Jeremiah 51:5 Or, widowed
- Jeremiah 51:11 Or, bright. Hebrew clean.
- Jeremiah 51:11 Hebrew fill.
- Jeremiah 51:11 Or, suits of armor
- Jeremiah 51:13 Or, dishonest gain
- Jeremiah 51:14 Or, Though I have filled
- Jeremiah 51:14 Or, yet
- Jeremiah 51:20 Or, maul
- Jeremiah 51:23 Or, lieutenants
- Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew sanctify.
- Jeremiah 51:28 Hebrew Sanctify.
- Jeremiah 51:32 Or, fords
- Jeremiah 51:32 Or, marshes. Hebrew pools.
- Jeremiah 51:34 Another reading is, us.
- Jeremiah 51:34 Another reading is, us.
- Jeremiah 51:34 Another reading is, us.
- Jeremiah 51:34 Another reading is, us.
- Jeremiah 51:34 Another reading is, us.
- Jeremiah 51:35 Hebrew My wrong and my flesh.
- Jeremiah 51:35 Hebrew inhabitress.
- Jeremiah 51:41 Or, an astonishment
- Jeremiah 51:42 Or, tumult
- Jeremiah 51:43 Or, an astonishment
- Jeremiah 51:44 Hebrew visit upon.
- Jeremiah 51:49 Or, Both Babylon is to fall, O ye slain of Israel, and at etc.
- Jeremiah 51:49 Or, earth
- Jeremiah 51:58 Or, The walls of broad Babylon
- Jeremiah 51:58 Or, made bare
- Jeremiah 51:59 Or, quartermaster
- Jeremiah 51:60 Or, one book
- Jeremiah 51:61 Or, and shalt see, and read . . . then shalt thou say etc.
Jeremiah 51
Lexham English Bible
51 Thus says Yahweh:
“Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon
and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.
2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon,
and they will winnow her,
and they will lay waste her land,
for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.
3 Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow,
and let him not rise high in his body armor.
And you must not spare her young men;
destroy her whole army.
4 And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and pierced through in her streets.
5 For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God,
from Yahweh of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.”
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life.
You must not perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh,
he will repay her what is deserved.
7 Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh,
making drunk all the earth.
The nations drank of her wine.
Therefore[a] the nations acted like madmen.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered.
Wail over her!
Take balm for her wounds,
perhaps she may be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed.
Forsake her and let us go each one to his country,
for her judgment has reached to the heavens,
and it has been lifted up to the skies.
10 Yahweh has brought forth our vindication.
Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it,
for that is the vengeance of Yahweh,
the vengeance for his temple.
12 Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner;
post a strong watch,[b] post watchmen, prepare the ambushes,
for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed
what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who live by mighty waters, rich in treasures,
your end has come, the measure of your life.[c]
14 Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself,
“Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts,[d]
and they will sing over you a war cry.”
15 He is the one who made the earth by his power,
the one who created the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16 At the giving of his voice
there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
and he causes the patches of mist
to go up from the end of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17 All humankind turns out to be stupid,
without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by the divine image.
For his cast image is a lie,
and there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,
a work of mockery.
At the time of their punishment,
they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the creator of everything,[e]
and the tribe of his inheritance.
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
20 He says, “You are a war club for me,
a weapon of battle,
and I smash nations with you,
and I destroy kingdoms with you.
21 And I smash the horse with you,
and its rider,
and I smash the chariot with you,
and its rider.
22 And I smash man and woman with you,
and I smash the old man and the boy with you,
and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.
23 And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you,
and I smash the farmer and his team with you,
and I smash the governors and the officials with you.
24 And I will repay Babylon,
and all the inhabitants of Chaldea,
all their wickedness that they have done in Zion
before your eyes,” declares[f] Yahweh.
25 “Look, I am against you,
O mountain of the destruction,” declares[g] Yahweh,
“the one that destroys the whole earth.
And I will stretch out my hand against you,
and I will roll you down from the cliffs,
and I will make you as a mountain burned away.
26 They will not take from you
a stone for a corner,
and a stone for a foundation,
for you will be an everlasting desolation,”[h] declares[i] Yahweh.
27 Raise a banner in the land;
blow a horn among the nations;
prepare for holy war against her;
summon the nations against her,
the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
summon against her an official;
bring up horses[j] like bristling creeping locusts.[k]
28 Prepare the nations for holy war against her,
the kings of the Medes,
with their governors and all their officials,
and every land of their dominion.
29 And the land quakes and writhes,
for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon as a horror,
without[l] inhabitant.
30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight,
they remain in the strongholds,
their power has dried up,
they have become as women.
Her dwelling places are set on fire,
her bars are broken.
31 one runner runs to meet another runner,
and one messenger to meet another messenger,
to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured,
from end to end.[m]
32 And the fords have been seized,
and the reed marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers[n] are horrified.
33 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trodden down,
just a little while[o]
and the time of the harvest will come for her.”
34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
has devoured me and sucked me dry;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like the sea monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me.
35 “May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,”
the inhabitants[p] of Zion will say;
and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore[q] thus says Yahweh,
“Look, I am going to contend your case,
and I will avenge your vengeance,
and I will cause her sea to dry up,
and I will cause her fountain to dry up.
37 And Babylon will become as a heap of stones,
a lair of jackals,
an object of horror, and an object of hissing,
without[r] inhabitants.
38 They will roar together like the young lions,
they will growl like the cubs of lions.
39 At their becoming hot I will set their banquets,
and I will make them drunk,
so that they will fall into a swoon,
and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,[s]
and they will not wake up,” declares[t] Yahweh.
40 “I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 How Sheshach is captured,
and the glory of all the earth is seized!
How Babylon has become as an object of horror
among the nations!
42 The sea has risen over Babylon,
she has been covered by the roar of its waves.
43 Her cities have become as an object of horror,
a dry land and a wilderness,[u]
a land in which no person lives,
nor does a son of humankind pass through it.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and I will wrench out from his mouth what he has swallowed.[v]
And the nations will not stream towards him any longer
what’s worse,[w] the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45 Come out from her midst, my people,
and save each one his life
from the burning anger of[x] Yahweh.
46 Now so that you are not fainthearted,[y]
and you are afraid at the rumors[z] that are heard in the land—
and in the year the rumor comes,
and in the year after it the rumor,
and violence is in the land,
with ruler against ruler—
47 therefore[aa] look, days are coming,
and I will punish the images of Babylon,
and all her land will be put to shame,
and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
for from the north
the destroyers will come to it,” declares[ab] Yahweh.
49 Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel,
but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.
50 Survivors of the sword, go!
You must not linger!
Remember Yahweh from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.[ac]
51 We are ashamed,
for we have heard taunts,[ad]
disgrace covers our faces,
for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.
52 “Therefore[ae] look, days are coming,” declares[af] Yahweh,
“and I will punish her images,
and the fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.
53 Though Babylon goes up to the heavens,
and though she fortifies the high place of her strength,
from me destroyers will come to her,” declares[ag] Yahweh.
54 The sound of a cry for help from Babylon,
and a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.
55 For Yahweh is devastating Babylon,
and he obliterates her loud noise[ah] from her.
Their waves roar like mighty waters,
the roar of their voices[ai] resounds.
56 For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
and her warriors are captured.
Their bows are broken;
for Yahweh is a God of recompense,
certainly he will repay.
57 “And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men,
her governors, and her officials, and her warriors,
and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,[aj]
and they will not wake up,”
declares[ak] the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.
58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished,
and her high gates will burn with fire,
and the peoples will labor for nothing,[al]
and the nations for fire,[am]
and they will grow weary.”
The Scroll Concerning Babylon is Thrown into the Euphrates
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was the quartermaster.[an] 60 And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters[ao] that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “At your coming to Babylon, then you must see that you read aloud all these words. 62 And you must say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that there will not be in it anything living, from humankind to animals,[ap] for it will be an everlasting desolation.’[aq] 63 And then[ar] when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64 And you must say, ‘Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, because of[as] the face of the disasters[at] that I am bringing on her, and they will grow weary.’” Thus far[au] the words of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:7 Literally “Unto thus”
- Jeremiah 51:12 Literally “make strong the guard”
- Jeremiah 51:13 Literally “the cubit of your severing”
- Jeremiah 51:14 Hebrew “locust”
- Jeremiah 51:19 Literally “the all”
- Jeremiah 51:24 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:25 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:26 Literally “a desolation of everlasting”
- Jeremiah 51:26 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew “horse”
- Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew “locust”
- Jeremiah 51:29 Literally “from there is not”
- Jeremiah 51:31 Literally “from end”
- Jeremiah 51:32 Literally “the men of the war”
- Jeremiah 51:33 Literally “still a little”
- Jeremiah 51:35 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Jeremiah 51:36 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 51:37 Literally “from there is not”
- Jeremiah 51:39 Literally “a sleep of eternity”
- Jeremiah 51:39 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:43 Or “Arabah”
- Jeremiah 51:44 Literally “what has been swallowed by him”
- Jeremiah 51:44 Literally “also”
- Jeremiah 51:45 Literally “the blazing of the nose of”
- Jeremiah 51:46 Literally “so that your heart is not timid”
- Jeremiah 51:46 Hebrew “rumor”
- Jeremiah 51:47 Literally “to thus”
- Jeremiah 51:48 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:50 Literally “heart”
- Jeremiah 51:51 Hebrew “taunt”
- Jeremiah 51:52 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 51:52 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:53 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:55 Or “voice”
- Jeremiah 51:55 Hebrew “voice”
- Jeremiah 51:57 Literally “a sleep of eternity”
- Jeremiah 51:57 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:58 Literally “for enough of empty”
- Jeremiah 51:58 Literally “for enough of fire”
- Jeremiah 51:59 Literally “official of the resting place”
- Jeremiah 51:60 Hebrew “disaster”
- Jeremiah 51:62 Hebrew “animal”
- Jeremiah 51:62 Literally “a desolation of eternity”
- Jeremiah 51:63 Literally “And it will happen”
- Jeremiah 51:64 Literally “from”
- Jeremiah 51:64 Hebrew “disaster”
- Jeremiah 51:64 Literally “Up to here”
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