Jeremiah 51
Christian Standard Bible
God’s Judgment on Babylon
51 This is what the Lord says:
I am about to rouse the spirit of a destroyer[a] against Babylon(A)
and against the population of Leb-qamai.[b][c]
2 I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,(B)
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
3 Don’t let the archer string his bow;
don’t let him put on[d] his armor.(C)
Don’t spare her young men;
completely destroy her entire army!
4 Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets.(D)
5 For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the Lord of Armies,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.(E)
6 Leave Babylon;(F)
save your lives, each of you!(G)
Don’t perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance—
he will pay her what she deserves.(H)
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand,(I)
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;(J)
therefore, the nations go mad.(K)
8 Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.
Wail for her;
get balm(L) for her wound—
perhaps she can be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,(M)
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.(N)
10 The Lord has brought about our vindication;(O)
come, let’s tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has accomplished.(P)
11 Sharpen the arrows!(Q)
Fill the quivers![e]
The Lord has roused the spirit
of the kings of the Medes
because his plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for his temple.(R)
12 Raise up a signal flag(S)
against the walls of Babylon;
fortify the watch post;
set the watchmen in place;
prepare the ambush.
For the Lord has both planned and accomplished
what he has threatened
against those who live in Babylon.(T)
13 You who reside by abundant water,(U)
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.
14 The Lord of Armies has sworn by himself:
I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will sing the victory song over you.
15 He made the earth by his power,
established the world(V) by his wisdom,(W)
and spread out the heavens by his understanding.(X)
16 When he thunders,[f]
the waters in the heavens are tumultuous,(Y)
and he causes the clouds
to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from his storehouses.(Z)
17 Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,(AA)
for his cast images are a lie;(AB)
there is no breath in them.(AC)
18 They are worthless,(AD) a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.(AE)
19 Jacob’s Portion[g] is not like these
because he is the one who formed all things.(AF)
Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;(AG)
the Lord of Armies is his name.(AH)
20 You are my war club,
my weapons of war.
With you I will smash nations;
with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
21 With you I will smash the horse and its rider;
with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
22 With you I will smash man and woman;(AI)
with you I will smash the old man and the youth;
with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
23 With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock;
with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team.[h]
With you I will smash governors and officials.
24 “Before your very eyes, I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion.”(AJ)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 Look, I am against you, devastating mountain.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
You devastate the whole earth.
I will stretch out my hand against you,(AK)
roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain.
26 No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will become desolate forever.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
27 Raise a signal flag(AL) in the land;
blow a ram’s horn among the nations;(AM)
set apart the nations against her.(AN)
Summon kingdoms against her—
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like a swarm[i] of locusts.
28 Set apart the nations for battle against her—
the kings of Media,
her governors and all her officials,
and all the lands they rule.
29 The earth quakes(AO) and trembles
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.(AP)
Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,
her gate bars are shattered.(AQ)
31 Messenger races to meet messenger,(AR)
and herald to meet herald,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured
from end to end.(AS)
32 The fords have been seized,(AT)
the marshes set on fire,
and the fighting men are terrified.
33 For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled.(AU)
In just a little while her harvest time will come.(AV)
34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty dish;
he has swallowed me like a sea monster;(AW)
he filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has vomited me out.[j]
35 Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon,”
says the inhabitant of Zion.
“Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am about to champion your cause(AX)
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea(AY)
and make her fountain run dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,(AZ)
without inhabitant.(BA)
38 They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
39 While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk so that they celebrate.[k](BB)
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams together with male goats.(BC)
41 How Sheshak[l](BD) has been captured,(BE)
the praise(BF) of the whole earth seized.
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(BG)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;(BH)
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43 Her cities have become a desolation,(BI)
an arid desert,
a land where no one lives,
where no human being even passes through.
44 I will punish Bel(BJ) in Babylon.
I will make him vomit what he swallowed.(BK)
The nations will no longer stream to him;(BL)
even Babylon’s wall will fall.
45 Come out from among her, my people!(BM)
Save your lives, each of you,(BN)
from the Lord’s burning anger.
46 May you not become cowardly and fearful
when the report is proclaimed in the land,
for the report will come one year,
and then another the next year.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, look, the days are coming(BO)
when I will punish Babylon’s carved images.(BP)
Her entire land will suffer shame,
and all her slain will lie fallen within her.(BQ)
48 Heaven and earth and everything in them
will shout for joy(BR) over Babylon
because the destroyers from the north(BS)
will come against her.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
49 Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel,
even as the slain of the whole earth fell
because of Babylon.
50 You who have escaped the sword,(BT)
go and do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51 We are ashamed
because we have heard insults.(BU)
Humiliation covers our faces
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s temple.(BV)
52 Therefore, look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will punish her carved images,
and the wounded will groan
throughout her land.
53 Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens(BW)
and fortify her tall fortresses,
destroyers will come against her from me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
54 The sound of a cry from Babylon!(BX)
The sound of terrible destruction(BY)
from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the Lord is going to devastate Babylon;
he will silence her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like a huge torrent;
the tumult of their voice resounds,
56 for a destroyer is coming against her,
against Babylon.
Her warriors will be captured,
their bows shattered,
for the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will certainly repay.
57 I will make her princes and sages drunk,
along with her governors, officials, and warriors.
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.(BZ)
This is the King’s declaration;
the Lord of Armies is his name.(CA)
58 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished,(CB)
and her high gates set ablaze.
The peoples will have labored for nothing;(CC)
the nations will weary themselves only to feed the fire.
59 This is what the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah,(CD) the quartermaster, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. 60 Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon;(CE) all these words were written against Babylon.
61 Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Say, ‘Lord, you have threatened to cut off(CF) this place so that no one will live in it—people or animals.(CG) Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.’ 63 When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.(CH) 64 Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
Jeremiah 51
Common English Bible
51 The Lord proclaims:
I’m stirring up a violent wind against Babylon
and those who live in Leb-qamai.[a]
2 I will send mercenaries[b] to Babylon
who will sift her and clear out her land.
They will surround her
on the day of disaster.
3 Let the archers draw their bows;
let them prepare their armor.
Show no mercy to her young men;
wipe out her entire company!
4 They will fall wounded in the land of Babylon,
struck down in her streets.
5 God, the Lord of heavenly forces,
hasn’t abandoned Israel and Judah,
even though they live in a land filled with guilt
before the holy one of Israel.
6 Escape from Babylon;
each of you run for your lives!
Don’t perish because of her guilt,
because this is the time
for the Lord’s retribution,
a day of reckoning for all that Babylon[c] has done.
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand;
it made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine
and went mad.
8 But suddenly Babylon fell
and shattered into pieces.
Wail for her!
Bring medicine for her pain;
perhaps she will recover.
9 We tried to cure Babylon,
but she was beyond help.
Let’s depart from her
and return to your own country, each of you.
Her punishment reaches to heaven
and extends to the clouds.
10 The Lord has come to our defense,
so let’s declare in Zion
what the Lord our God has done!
11 Sharpen your arrows;
prepare your shields.
The Lord is stirring up
the spirit of kings from Media.
He intends to destroy Babylon;
this is the Lord’s retribution,
a day of reckoning for his temple.
12 Set up a flag on the walls of Babylon,
fortify the guards,
post watchmen,
prepare an ambush,
because the Lord has a plan
against the inhabitants of Babylon.
He will accomplish it,
just as he said he would.
13 You live beside a great river,
and you are rich in treasures.
But your time has come;
your cruelty has caught up with you.[d]
14 The Lord of heavenly forces has sworn by his own name:
I’m going to fill your cities[e]
with soldiers like a swarm of locusts;
they will celebrate their victory over you.
15 God made the earth by his might,
shaped the world by his wisdom,
and crafted the skies by his knowledge.
16 At the sound of God’s voice,
the heavenly waters roar.
God raises the clouds from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and sends the wind from his treasuries.
17 Everyone is too foolish to understand;
every smith is shamed by his idols,
for their images are shams;
they aren’t alive.
18 They are a delusion, a charade;
at the appointed time they will be ruined!
19 But the portion of Jacob is utterly different,
for he has formed all things,
including his very own tribe;
the Lord of heavenly forces is his name!
20 You are my hammer,
my weapon of war.
With you I will crush the nations.
With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I will crush horse and rider.
With you I will crush chariot and driver.
22 With you I will crush men and women.
With you I will crush old and young.
With you I will crush young men and young women.
23 With you I will crush shepherds and flocks.
With you I will crush farmers and oxen.
With you I will crush governors and officials.
24 I will repay Babylon and all its inhabitants
for the terrible things
they have done to Zion in your sight,
declares the Lord.
25 I’m against you, you mountain of destruction,
declares the Lord,
you destroyer of the whole earth!
I will reach out against you;
I will topple you from your heights;
I will turn you into a rubbish heap.
26 They will never remove a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you.
You will be a wasteland forever,
declares the Lord.
27 Set up a flag in the land;
sound the alarm among the nations!
Prepare them for war against her;
summon kingdoms against her—
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a commander against her;
call up the troops,
like swarms of locusts!
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of Media,
its governors, all its officials,
and all the countries they rule.
29 The earth quakes and trembles
because the Lord’s plans against Babylon are fulfilled:
to reduce Babylon to a wasteland,
with no one left in it.
30 Babylon’s warriors quit fighting;
they hide in their fortifications.
Their strength is worn out;
their courage is gone!
Babylon’s houses are burned down,
and its gates are smashed.
31 Courier joins courier,
messenger joins messenger
to relate the news to the king of Babylon
that his entire city has fallen.
32 The river crossings are blocked;
the marshes are on fire;
the soldiers are terrified.
33 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
ready to be trampled down.
In a little while her harvest will come.
34 Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar has eaten us alive;
he’s drained us of strength;
he’s left us for dead.[f]
He’s gobbled us up like a great sea monster;
he’s filled his belly with our treasures;
and he’s spit us out.
35 May Babylon be violated as our bodies were,
say the inhabitants of Zion.
May our blood be on the Babylonians,
say those from Jerusalem.
36 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
I’m going to defend your cause;
I’ll turn the tables on your attacker.
I’ll dry up her sea;
I’ll shut up her springs.
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a den of wild dogs, a wasteland
with no one left in it.
38 Like lions they will roar together;
they will growl like lions’ cubs.
39 They are ready to devour,
so I’ll prepare the feast
and mix the drinks!
But after their noisy drunkenness,
they will fall fast asleep.
They will sleep forever,
never to get up,
declares the Lord.
40 I’ll lead them off
like lambs for slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 How Sheshach[g] has been defeated,
the pride of the whole earth taken captive!
How Babylon has become a wasteland
among the nations!
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
its pounding waves overwhelm her.
43 Her towns are devastated;
her land is scorched and barren,
a place where no one lives
or dares to pass through.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon;
I will force him to vomit what he’s consumed.
Then nations will no longer stream to him,
and Babylon’s walls will collapse!
45 Get out of Babylon, my people!
Run for your lives
from the Lord’s fierce anger.
46 Don’t be distracted or frightened
by the rumors you hear in the land.
Sometimes you hear one thing
and another time something else:
rumors of violence and uprisings.
47 The time is coming
when I will deal with Babylon’s idols;
the whole land will be disgraced,
and her wounded will fall in her midst.
48 Then all creation will rejoice over Babylon,
because out of the north
destroying armies will come to attack her,
declares the Lord.
49 Babylon must fall
for the dead in Israel,
as the dead of all the earth
have fallen to Babylon.
50 You survivors of war,
leave now; don’t delay!
Remember the Lord,
from a faraway land.
Keep Jerusalem alive in your hearts.
51 We’re humiliated by their taunts;
we’re disgraced that strangers have violated the sacred places
of the Lord’s temple.
52 The time is coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will deal with her idols,
and the wounded in her land will groan.
53 Even if Babylon scales the heavens
and strengthens its towering defenses,
the destroying armies will still come
against her, at my command,
declares the Lord.
54 Listen to the cries for help from Babylon,
signs of massive devastation in the land,
declares the Lord.
55 The Lord is destroying Babylon
and silencing her outcry,
whose roar is like the crushing waves,
a deafening crash.
56 He certainly comes against her;
the destroyer comes against Babylon.
Her warriors are captured;
their bows are broken.
The Lord is an exacting God
who repays in full.
57 I’ll make her leaders and sages drunk,
her governors, officials, and warriors as well.
They will sleep forever, never to get up,
declares the king,
whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces.
58 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
Babylon’s massive walls will come down,
down to the ground;
and its high gates will be burned to the ground.
People labor in vain;
nations toil for nothing but ashes!
59 This is what the prophet Jeremiah instructed the staff officer[h] Seraiah, Neriah’s son and Mahseiah’s grandson, when Seraiah went to Babylon with Judah’s King Zedekiah in the fourth year of his rule. 60 Jeremiah wrote down in a single scroll all the disasters that would happen to Babylon—all these things concerning Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When you get to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words. 62 Then say, “Lord, you declared that this place will be destroyed and nothing will remain in it—neither human nor animal; that it will forever be a wasteland!” 63 When you finish reading the scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Then say, “In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I’m bringing against it.”
Jeremiah’s words end here.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 Or the inhabitants of Leb qamai, a reference to Chaldea (Babylonia); or those who rise up against me
- Jeremiah 51:2 Or foreigners
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or she or it
- Jeremiah 51:13 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 51:14 Heb lacks cities.
- Jeremiah 51:34 Or He’s made us an empty container.
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshach is a name for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:59 Or officer of rest, often translated as quartermaster
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