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
International Standard Version
Judgment against Babylon
51 This is what the Lord says:
“Look, I’m going to stir up a destroying wind
against Babylon and the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.[a]
2 I’ll send foreigners to Babylon,
and they’ll winnow her,
and devastate[b] her land.
They’ll come against her from every side
on the day of her[c] disaster.
3 Don’t let the archer[d] bend the bow;
don’t let him rise up in his armor.
Don’t spare her young men.
Completely destroy her entire army.
4 The slain will fall in the land of Chaldea,
pierced through in her streets.
5 Indeed, Israel and Judah haven’t been
abandoned[e] by their[f] God,
by the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
although their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.”
6 Flee from Babylon,[g]
and each of you, escape with your life!
Don’t be destroyed[h] because of her guilt,
for it’s time for the Lord’s vengeance.
He is paying back what is due to her.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine,
therefore the nations have gone mad.
8 Suddenly, Babylon fell down and was shattered.
Wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound,
perhaps she will be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she wouldn’t be healed.
Leave her, and let each of us go to his own country.
For her judgment has reached to the heavens,
and is lifted up to the sky.
10 The Lord will vindicate us.
Come! Let us declare the work of the Lord our God in Zion.
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit
of the kings of the Medes—
he has decided to destroy Babylon.
Indeed, it’s the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for his Temple.
12 Lift up the battle standard[i] against Babylon’s walls.
Strengthen the guard;
post watchmen.[j]
Set men in position for an ambush.
For the Lord will both plan and carry out what he has
declared against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who live beside many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.[k]
14 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies
has sworn by himself:
“I’ll surely fill you with soldiers[l] like a swarm of locusts,
and they’ll sing songs of victory over you.”
Praise to the God of Jacob
15 He made the earth by his power.
He established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding he spread out the heavens.
16 When his voice sounds, there is thunder from
the waters of heaven,
and he makes clouds rise up
from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings wind out of his storehouses.
17 Everyone is stupid[m] and without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his own idols,
for his images are false,[n]
and there is no life in them.
18 They’re worthless, a work of mockery,
and when the time of punishment comes,[o]
they’ll perish.
19 The Portion of Jacob[p] is not like these.
He made everything,
including the tribe of his inheritance.
The Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name.
The Lord’s Instrument of Judgment
20 “You are my war-club and
weapons of war.
I’ll smash nations with you
and destroy kingdoms with you.
21 I’ll smash the horse and its rider with you.
I’ll smash the chariot and its rider with you.
22 I’ll smash man and woman with you.
I’ll smash old man and young boy with you.
I’ll smash young man and young woman[q] with you.
23 I’ll smash the shepherd and his flock with you.
I’ll smash the farmer and his team of oxen with you.
I’ll smash governors and officials with you.
24 “Before your eyes I’ll repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil that they did in Zion,” declares the Lord.
25 “Look, I’m against you, destroying mountain,
who destroys the whole earth,”
declares the Lord.
“I’ll stretch out my hand against you
and roll you down from the crags.
And I’ll make you a burned-out mountain.
26 They won’t get a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will be a wasteland forever,”
declares the Lord.
27 Lift up a battle standard in the land.
Blow a trumpet among the nations.
Consecrate the nations against her.
Summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni,
and Ashkenaz against her.
Appoint a commander against her,
bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 Consecrate the nations against her,
the kings of the Medes, their governors, their prefects,
and every land under their domination.
29 The land quakes and writhes
because the Lord’s purposes
against Babylon stand firm,
to make the land of Babylon a waste without inhabitants.
30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They stay in their strongholds;
their strength is dried up;
they have become like women.
Her buildings are set on fire;
the bars of her gates are broken.
31 One runner runs to meet another runner,[r]
and one messenger to meet another messenger,[s]
to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been seized
from one end to the other.[t]
32 The fords have been captured,
and the marshes burned with fire.
The soldiers are terrified.
33 For this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
the God of Israel, says:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it’s pounded down.[u]
In just a little while, the time of her harvest will come.”
Judah’s Complaint against Babylon
34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me
and crushed me.
He set me down
like an empty vessel.
He swallowed me like a monster,
and filled his belly with my delicacies.
Then he washed me away.
35 May the violence done to me
and my flesh be on Babylon,”
says the inhabitant of Zion.
“May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Look, I’m going to argue your case
and take vengeance for you.
I’ll dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry.[v]
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a refuge for jackals,
a desolate place
and an object of scorn.[w]
38 They’ll roar together like young lions;
they’ll growl like lion cubs.
39 When they’re excited[x] I’ll serve them their banquet,
and make them drunk until they’re merry.
They’ll sleep forever and won’t wake up,”
declares the Lord.
40 “I’ll bring them down like lambs for the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
41 “How Sheshak[y] will be captured,
and the prince of all the earth seized!
How Babylon will become an object of horror
among the nations!
42 The sea will come up against Babylon,
and she will be covered by wave upon wave.[z]
43 Her cities will become an object of horror,
a dry land and a desert,
a land in which no one lives,
and through which no human being passes.
44 I’ll punish Bel[aa] in Babylon,
and I’ll make what he has swallowed
come out of his mouth.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
Even the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 “Come out of her, my people,
flee for your lives from the Lord’s anger!
46 Do this[ab] now, so your heart does not grow faint,
and so you don’t become frightened
because of the rumors[ac] that are heard in the land—
a rumor comes one year[ad] and then after it
another rumor[ae] comes the next year[af]
about violence in the land
and one ruler against another ruler.[ag]
47 Therefore, look, days are coming
when I’ll punish the idols of Babylon.
Her entire land will be put to shame,
and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 Then the heavens and the earth
and all that are in them
will shout for joy about Babylon
because the destroyers will come
out of the north against her,”
declares the Lord.
49 “So Babylon will fall
because of the slain of Israel,
even as the slain of all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.
50 Go, you who escaped the sword!
Don’t stand around!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51 We have been put to shame
because we have heard insults.
Disgrace has covered our faces because foreigners have
come into the Holy Places of the Lord’s house.
52 “Therefore, look, days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when I’ll punish her idols,
and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
53 Though Babylon should reach up to the heavens
and fortify her high fortresses,
from me destroyers will come to her,”
declares the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry is coming from Babylon,
great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.
55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon,
and he will make the loud sounds from her disappear.[ah]
Their waves will roar like many waters,
the noise of their voices will sound forth.
56 Indeed, the destroyer is coming against her,
against Babylon.
Her warriors are captured,
and her bows are broken.
For the Lord is a God of recompense,
and he will repay in full.
57 I’ll make their leaders, their wise men,
their governors, their deputies,
and their warriors drunk so that they sleep forever
and don’t wake up,”
declares the King
whose name is the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says:
“The broad wall of Babylon will be completely leveled,
and its high gate set on fire.
and so the peoples toil for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”
Jeremiah’s Symbolic Message against Babylon
59 This is[ai] the message that Jeremiah the prophet delivered[aj] to Neriah’s son Seraiah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote on a single scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these things that were written about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘Lord, you have declared about this place that you would destroy it so that there wouldn’t be an inhabitant in it, neither human nor animal, because it will be a wasteland forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock around it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64 Then say, ‘Babylon will sink like this and won’t rise from the disaster that I’m bringing on her. Her people[ak] will be exhausted.’”
This concludes the writings of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 I.e. a cryptogram for Chaldea
- Jeremiah 51:2 Lit. empty out
- Jeremiah 51:2 The Heb. lacks her
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit. one who bends the bow
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit. widowed
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit. his
- Jeremiah 51:6 Lit. from the midst of Babylon
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or silent
- Jeremiah 51:12 I.e. Give the signal to attack
- Jeremiah 51:12 Or guards
- Jeremiah 51:13 Or the measure of your unjust gain
- Jeremiah 51:14 Lit. men
- Jeremiah 51:17 I.e. like a beast
- Jeremiah 51:17 Lit. deception
- Jeremiah 51:18 Lit. at the time of their punishment
- Jeremiah 51:19 I.e. Portion of Jacob is a name for the Lord
- Jeremiah 51:22 Or virgin
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit. to meet a runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit. to meet a messenger
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit. from the end
- Jeremiah 51:33 I.e. threshing floors were pounded and smoothed in preparation for an upcoming harvest
- Jeremiah 51:36 I.e. dry up the source of Babylon’s waters
- Jeremiah 51:37 Lit. hissing; i.e. as a sign of mocking and contempt
- Jeremiah 51:39 Lit. hot
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:42 Lit. its many waves
- Jeremiah 51:44 Bel was another name for Marduk, the sun god of Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. And
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. rumor
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. in a year
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. a rumor
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. in a year
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. a ruler against a ruler
- Jeremiah 51:55 Lit. perish
- Jeremiah 51:59 The Heb. lacks This is
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit. commanded
- Jeremiah 51:64 Lit. They
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