Jeremiah 51
New American Standard Bible
Babylon Judged for Sins against Israel
51 This is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am going to stir up
[a]The (A)spirit of a destroyer against Babylon
And against the inhabitants of [b]Leb-kamai.
2 I will send [c]foreigners to Babylon so that they may (B)winnow her
And devastate her land;
For they will be opposed to her on every side
On the day of her disaster.
3 Let not [d]him who [e](C)bends his bow [f]bend it,
Nor let him rise up in his (D)coat of armor.
Do not spare her young men;
Devote all her army to destruction.
4 They will fall down [g]dead in the land of the Chaldeans,
And (E)pierced through in their streets.”
5 For (F)neither Israel nor Judah has been [h]forsaken
By his God, the Lord of armies,
Although their land is (G)full of guilt
[i]Before the Holy One of Israel.
6 (H)Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And each of you save his life!
Do not (I)perish in her [j]punishment,
For this is the (J)Lord’s time of vengeance;
He is going to (K)repay to her what she deserves.
7 Babylon has been a golden (L)cup in the hand of the Lord,
Intoxicating all the earth.
The (M)nations have drunk of her wine;
Therefore the nations are (N)going insane.
8 Suddenly (O)Babylon has fallen and been broken;
(P)Wail over her!
(Q)Bring [k]balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.
9 We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;
Abandon her and (R)let’s each go to his own country,
For her judgment has (S)reached to heaven
And it rises to the clouds.
10 The Lord has (T)brought [l]about our vindication;
Come and let’s (U)recount in Zion
The work of the Lord our God!
11 (V)Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
Because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it;
For it is the (W)vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for His temple.
12 (X)Lift up a signal flag against the walls of Babylon;
Post a strong guard,
Station [m]sentries,
Set up an ambush!
For the Lord has both (Y)planned and performed
What He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who (Z)live by many waters,
Abundant in (AA)treasures,
Your end has come,
The [n]measure of your [o](AB)end.
14 The (AC)Lord of armies has sworn by Himself:
“I will certainly fill you with a [p]population like (AD)locusts,
And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you.”
15 It is (AE)He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding He (AF)stretched out the heavens.
16 When He utters His (AG)voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
And He makes the (AH)clouds ascend from the end of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
And brings out (AI)wind from His storehouses.
17 (AJ)Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his [q]idols,
For his cast metal images are (AK)deceitful,
And there is no breath in them.
18 They are (AL)worthless, a work of mockery;
At the time of their punishment they will perish.
19 The (AM)portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the [r]Maker of everything,
And of the [s]tribe of His inheritance;
The (AN)Lord of armies is His name.
20 He says, “You are My [t](AO)war-club, My weapon of war;
And with you I (AP)shatter nations,
And with you I destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I (AQ)shatter the horse and his rider,
And with you I shatter the (AR)chariot and its rider,
22 And with you I shatter (AS)man and woman,
And with you I shatter the old man and (AT)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.
24 “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of (AU)Chaldea for (AV)all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord.
25 “Behold, (AW)I am against you, mountain of (AX)destruction
That destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,
“And I will stretch out My hand against you,
And roll you down from the rocky cliffs,
And I will make you a (AY)burnt out mountain.
26 They will not take from you even a stone for a corner
Nor a stone for foundations,
But you will be (AZ)desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
27 (BA)Lift up a signal flag in the land,
Blow a trumpet among the nations!
Consecrate the nations against her,
Summon against her the (BB)kingdoms of (BC)Ararat, Minni, and (BD)Ashkenaz;
Appoint an officer against her,
Bring up the (BE)horses like bristly locusts.
28 Consecrate the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
[u]Their governors and all [v]their officials,
And every land [w]under their control.
29 So the (BF)land quakes and writhes,
For the plans of the Lord against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon
[x]A (BG)desolation without inhabitants.
30 The (BH)warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They stay in the strongholds;
(BI)Their strength is [y]exhausted,
They are becoming (BJ)like women;
Their homes are set on fire,
The (BK)bars of her gates are broken.
31 One [z](BL)courier runs to meet [aa]another,
And one [ab](BM)messenger to meet [ac]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 (BN)threshing floor
At the time that [ad]it is tread down;
In just a little while the time of (BO)harvest will come for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has (BP)devoured me, he has crushed me,
He has set me down like an (BQ)empty vessel;
He has (BR)swallowed me like a monster,
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has washed me away.
35 May the (BS)violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The [ae]inhabitant of Zion will say;
And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am going to (BT)plead your case
And (BU)take vengeance for you;
And (BV)I will dry up her [af]sea
And make her fountain dry.
37 (BW)Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,
An (BX)object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.
38 They will roar together like (BY)young lions,
They will growl like lions’ cubs.
39 When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet
And (BZ)make them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph,
And may (CA)sleep a perpetual sleep
And not wake up,” declares the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down like [ag]lambs (CB)to the slaughter,
Like rams together with male goats.
41 “How [ah](CC)Sheshak has been captured,
And (CD)the praise of the whole earth has been seized!
How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
42 The [ai](CE)sea has come up over Babylon;
She has been engulfed by its roaring waves.
43 Her cities have become an (CF)object of horror,
A dry land and a desert,
A land in which (CG)no one lives
And through which no [aj]one of mankind passes.
44 (CH)I will punish Bel in Babylon,
And I will make what he has swallowed (CI)come out of his mouth;
And the nations will no longer (CJ)stream toward him.
Even the (CK)wall of Babylon has fallen down!
45 “(CL)Come out from her midst, My people,
And each of you (CM)save yourselves
From the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 Now, (CN)so that your heart does not grow faint,
And you are not afraid at the (CO)report that will be heard in the land—
For the report will come in [ak]one year,
And after that [al]another report in [am]another year,
And violence will be in the land
With (CP)ruler against ruler—
47 Therefore behold, days are coming
When I will punish the (CQ)idols of Babylon;
And her whole land will be (CR)put to shame.
And all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 Then (CS)heaven and earth and everything that is in them
Will shout for joy over Babylon,
Because (CT)the destroyers will come to her from the north,”
Declares the Lord.
49 (CU)Indeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,
As (CV)the slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon.
50 You (CW)who have escaped the sword,
Go! Do not stay!
(CX)Remember the Lord from far away,
And let Jerusalem [an]come to your mind.
51 (CY)We are ashamed because we have heard rebuke;
Disgrace has covered our faces,
Because (CZ)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 (DA)idols,
And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.
53 Though Babylon (DB)ascends to the heavens,
And though she fortifies [ao]her lofty stronghold,
Destroyers will come from (DC)Me to her,” declares the Lord.
54 The (DD)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 [ap]noise vanish from her.
And their (DE)waves will roar like many waters;
The clamor of their voices [aq]sounds forth.
56 For the (DF)destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
And her warriors will be captured,
Their (DG)bows shattered;
For the Lord is a God of (DH)retribution,
He will fully repay.
57 “I will (DI)make her leaders and her wise men drunk,
Her governors, her officials, and her warriors,
So that they will sleep a (DJ)perpetual sleep and not wake up,”
(DK)Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of armies.
58 This is what the Lord of armies says:
“The broad (DL)wall of Babylon will be completely demolished,
And her high (DM)gates will be set on fire;
So the peoples will (DN)labor for nothing,
And the nations become (DO)exhausted only for fire.”
59 The [ar]command that Jeremiah the prophet [as]gave Seraiah the son of (DP)Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with (DQ)Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (And Seraiah was quartermaster.) 60 Jeremiah (DR)wrote [at]on a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. 61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, 62 and say, ‘You, Lord, have [au]promised concerning this place to (DS)cut it off, so that there will be (DT)nothing living in it, [av]whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.’ 63 And as soon as you finish reading this [aw]scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and (DU)throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and (DV)not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become (DW)exhausted.’” (DX)To this point are the words of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 Or a destroying wind
- Jeremiah 51:1 Cryptic name for Chaldea; or the heart of those who rise up against Me
- Jeremiah 51:2 Some ancient versions winnowers
- Jeremiah 51:3 I.e., the Chaldean defender
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit step(s) on; MT in order to string
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit step(s) on; MT in order to string
- Jeremiah 51:4 Lit killed; or wounded
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit widowed
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit From
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or penalty for wrongdoing
- Jeremiah 51:8 Or balsam resin
- Jeremiah 51:10 Lit forth
- Jeremiah 51:12 Or watchmen
- Jeremiah 51:13 Lit cubit
- Jeremiah 51:13 Lit being cut off
- Jeremiah 51:14 Or mankind
- Jeremiah 51:17 Or images
- Jeremiah 51:19 Lit Fashioner
- Jeremiah 51:19 Or scepter; cf. Num 24:17
- Jeremiah 51:20 Lit shatterer
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit of his dominion
- Jeremiah 51:29 Or An object of horror
- Jeremiah 51:30 Lit dried up
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit announcer
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit announcer
- Jeremiah 51:33 Lit of treading it
- Jeremiah 51:35 Lit inhabitress
- Jeremiah 51:36 Or broad river
- Jeremiah 51:40 Or young rams
- Jeremiah 51:41 Cryptic name for Babylon
- Jeremiah 51:42 Or broad river
- Jeremiah 51:43 Lit son of man
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:50 Lit come upon your heart
- Jeremiah 51:53 Lit the height of her strength
- Jeremiah 51:55 Or voice
- Jeremiah 51:55 Lit is given
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit word
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit commanded
- Jeremiah 51:60 Or in...book
- Jeremiah 51:62 Lit spoken
- Jeremiah 51:62 Lit from man even to beast
- Jeremiah 51:63 Or book
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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