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
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
51 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to stir up a destructive wind[a]
against Babylon
and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai,[b](A)
2 and I will send winnowers to Babylon,
and they shall winnow her.
They shall empty her land
when they come against her from every side
on the day of trouble.(B)
3 Let not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not array himself in his coat of mail.
Do not spare her young men;
utterly destroy her entire army.(C)
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
and wounded in her streets.
5 Indeed, Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Israel.(D)
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon;
save your lives, each of you!
Do not perish because of her guilt,
for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
he is repaying her what is due.(E)
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
and so the nations went mad.(F)
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
perhaps she may be healed.(G)
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Forsake her, and let each of us go
to our own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.(H)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.(I)
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for his temple.(J)
12 Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon;
make the watch strong;
post sentinels;
prepare the ambushes,
for the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.(K)
13 You who live by mighty waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.(L)
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with troops like a swarm of locusts,
and they shall raise a shout of victory over you.(M)
15 It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.(N)
16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.(O)
17 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
and there is no breath in them.(P)
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.(Q)
19 Not like these is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.(R)
Israel the Creator’s Instrument
20 You are my war club, my weapon of battle:
with you I smash nations;
with you I destroy kingdoms;(S)
21 with you I smash the horse and its rider;
with you I smash the chariot and the charioteer;
22 with you I smash man and woman;
with you I smash the old man and the boy;
with you I smash the young man and the girl;(T)
23 with you I smash shepherds and their flocks;
with you I smash farmers and their teams;
with you I smash governors and deputies.
The Doom of Babylon
24 I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion, says the Lord.(U)
25 I am against you, O destroying mountain,
says the Lord,
that destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you
and roll you down from the crags
and make you a burned-out mountain.(V)
26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
says the Lord.(W)
27 Raise a standard in the land;
blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
summon against her the kingdoms,
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like bristling locusts.(X)
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
and every land under their dominion.
29 The land trembles and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.(Y)
30 The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting;
they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
they have become women;
her buildings are set on fire;
her bars are broken.(Z)
31 One runner runs to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
that his city is taken from end to end:(AA)
32 the fords have been seized,
the marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.(AB)
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her harvest will come.(AC)
34 “King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has spewed me out.(AD)
35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”
the inhabitants of Zion shall say.
“May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem shall say.(AE)
36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
I am going to defend your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,(AF)
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
a den of jackals,
an object of horror and of hissing,
without inhabitant.(AG)
38 Like lions they shall roar together;
they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
39 When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink
and make them drunk, until they become merry
and then sleep a perpetual sleep
and never wake, says the Lord.(AH)
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(AI)
41 How Sheshach[c] is taken;
the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
an object of horror among the nations!(AJ)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.(AK)
43 Her cities have become an object of horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one lives
and through which no mortal passes.(AL)
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him disgorge what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer stream to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.(AM)
45 Come out of her, my people!
Save your lives, each of you,
from the fierce anger of the Lord!(AN)
46 Do not be fainthearted or fearful
at the rumors heard in the land—
one year one rumor comes,
the next year another,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.(AO)
47 Assuredly, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in her midst.(AP)
48 Then the heavens and the earth
and all that is in them
shall shout for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against her out of the north,
says the Lord.(AQ)
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.(AR)
50 You survivors of the sword,
go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:(AS)
51 We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;
dishonor has covered our faces,
for aliens have come
into the holy places of the Lord’s house.(AT)
52 Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.(AU)
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
says the Lord.(AV)
54 Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!(AW)
55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters;
the sound of their clamor resounds,(AX)
56 for a destroyer has come against her,
against Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will repay in full.(AY)
57 I will make her officials and her sages drunk,
also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,
says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.(AZ)
58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
the nations only for fire,
and they have become weary.(BA)
Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah
59 The word that the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.(BB) 60 Jeremiah wrote in a[d] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.(BC) 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O Lord, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither humans nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’(BD) 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,(BE) 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’ ”[e]
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.(BF)
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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.