Jeremiah 51
New Living Translation
51 This is what the Lord says:
“I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon
and the people of Babylonia.[a]
2 Foreigners will come and winnow her,
blowing her away as chaff.
They will come from every side
to rise against her in her day of trouble.
3 Don’t let the archers put on their armor
or draw their bows.
Don’t spare even her best soldiers!
Let her army be completely destroyed.[b]
4 They will fall dead in the land of the Babylonians,[c]
slashed to death in her streets.
5 For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
has not abandoned Israel and Judah.
He is still their God,
even though their land was filled with sin
against the Holy One of Israel.”
6 Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves!
Don’t get trapped in her punishment!
It is the Lord’s time for vengeance;
he will repay her in full.
7 Babylon has been a gold cup in the Lord’s hands,
a cup that made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank Babylon’s wine,
and it drove them all mad.
8 But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen.
Weep for her.
Give her medicine.
Perhaps she can yet be healed.
9 We would have helped her if we could,
but nothing can save her now.
Let her go; abandon her.
Return now to your own land.
For her punishment reaches to the heavens;
it is so great it cannot be measured.
10 The Lord has vindicated us.
Come, let us announce in Jerusalem[d]
everything the Lord our God has done.
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Lift up the shields![e]
For the Lord has inspired the kings of the Medes
to march against Babylon and destroy her.
This is his vengeance against those
who desecrated his Temple.
12 Raise the battle flag against Babylon!
Reinforce the guard and station the watchmen.
Prepare an ambush,
for the Lord will fulfill all his plans against Babylon.
13 You are a city by a great river,
a great center of commerce,
but your end has come.
The thread of your life is cut.
14 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has taken this vow
and has sworn to it by his own name:
“Your cities will be filled with enemies,
like fields swarming with locusts,
and they will shout in triumph over you.”
A Hymn of Praise to the Lord
15 The Lord made the earth by his power,
and he preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
he stretched out the heavens.
16 When he speaks in the thunder,
the heavens roar with rain.
He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.
He sends the lightning with the rain
and releases the wind from his storehouses.
17 The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!
The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
These idols have no breath or power.
18 Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!
On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
19 But the God of Israel[f] is no idol!
He is the Creator of everything that exists,
including his people, his own special possession.
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!
Babylon’s Great Punishment
20 “You[g] are my battle-ax and sword,”
says the Lord.
“With you I will shatter nations
and destroy many kingdoms.
21 With you I will shatter armies—
destroying the horse and rider,
the chariot and charioteer.
22 With you I will shatter men and women,
old people and children,
young men and young women.
23 With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks,
farmers and oxen,
captains and officers.
24 “I will repay Babylon
and the people of Babylonia[h]
for all the wrong they have done
to my people in Jerusalem,” says the Lord.
25 “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth!
I am your enemy,” says the Lord.
“I will raise my fist against you,
to knock you down from the heights.
When I am finished,
you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble.
26 You will be desolate forever.
Even your stones will never again be used for building.
You will be completely wiped out,”
says the Lord.
27 Raise a signal flag to the nations.
Sound the battle cry!
Mobilize them all against Babylon.
Prepare them to fight against her!
Bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a commander,
and bring a multitude of horses like swarming locusts!
28 Bring against her the armies of the nations—
led by the kings of the Medes
and all their captains and officers.
29 The earth trembles and writhes in pain,
for everything the Lord has planned against Babylon stands unchanged.
Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant.
30 Her mightiest warriors no longer fight.
They stay in their barracks, their courage gone.
They have become like women.
The invaders have burned the houses
and broken down the city gates.
31 The news is passed from one runner to the next
as the messengers hurry to tell the king
that his city has been captured.
32 All the escape routes are blocked.
The marshes have been set aflame,
and the army is in a panic.
33 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
the God of Israel, says:
“Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor,
about to be trampled.
In just a little while
her harvest will begin.”
34 “King Nebuchadnezzar[i] of Babylon has eaten and crushed us
and drained us of strength.
He has swallowed us like a great monster
and filled his belly with our riches.
He has thrown us out of our own country.
35 Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,”
say the people of Zion.
“Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,”
says Jerusalem.
The Lord’s Vengeance on Babylon
36 This is what the Lord says to Jerusalem:
“I will be your lawyer to plead your case,
and I will avenge you.
I will dry up her river,
as well as her springs,
37 and Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
haunted by jackals.
She will be an object of horror and contempt,
a place where no one lives.
38 Her people will roar together like strong lions.
They will growl like lion cubs.
39 And while they lie inflamed with all their wine,
I will prepare a different kind of feast for them.
I will make them drink until they fall asleep,
and they will never wake up again,”
says the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats to be sacrificed.
41 “How Babylon[j] is fallen—
great Babylon, praised throughout the earth!
Now she has become an object of horror
among the nations.
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
she is covered by its crashing waves.
43 Her cities now lie in ruins;
she is a dry wasteland
where no one lives or even passes by.
44 And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon,
and make him vomit up all he has eaten.
The nations will no longer come and worship him.
The wall of Babylon has fallen!
A Message for the Exiles
45 “Come out, my people, flee from Babylon.
Save yourselves! Run from the Lord’s fierce anger.
46 But do not panic; don’t be afraid
when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces.
For rumors will keep coming year by year.
Violence will erupt in the land
as the leaders fight against each other.
47 For the time is surely coming
when I will punish this great city and all her idols.
Her whole land will be disgraced,
and her dead will lie in the streets.
48 Then the heavens and earth will rejoice,
for out of the north will come destroying armies
against Babylon,” says the Lord.
49 “Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel
and others throughout the world,
so must her people be killed.
50 Get out, all you who have escaped the sword!
Do not stand and watch—flee while you can!
Remember the Lord, though you are in a far-off land,
and think about your home in Jerusalem.”
51 “We are ashamed,” the people say.
“We are insulted and disgraced
because the Lord’s Temple
has been defiled by foreigners.”
52 “Yes,” says the Lord, “but the time is coming
when I will destroy Babylon’s idols.
The groans of her wounded people
will be heard throughout the land.
53 Though Babylon reaches as high as the heavens
and makes her fortifications incredibly strong,
I will still send enemies to plunder her.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Babylon’s Complete Destruction
54 “Listen! Hear the cry of Babylon,
the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon.
He will silence her loud voice.
Waves of enemies pound against her;
the noise of battle rings through the city.
56 Destroying armies come against Babylon.
Her mighty men are captured,
and their weapons break in their hands.
For the Lord is a God who gives just punishment;
he always repays in full.
57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
along with her captains, officers, and warriors.
They will fall asleep
and never wake up again!”
says the King, whose name is
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground,
and her massive gates will be burned.
The builders from many lands have worked in vain,
for their work will be destroyed by fire!”
Jeremiah’s Message Sent to Babylon
59 The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, a staff officer, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign.[k] 60 Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words written here. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.’ 63 When you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Then say, ‘In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.’”
This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages.
Footnotes
- 51:1 Hebrew of Leb-kamai, a code name for Babylonia.
- 51:3 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
- 51:4 Or Chaldeans; also in 51:54.
- 51:10 Hebrew Zion; also in 51:24.
- 51:11 Greek version reads Fill up the quivers.
- 51:19 Hebrew the Portion of Jacob. See note on 5:20.
- 51:20 Possibly Cyrus, whom God used to conquer Babylon. Compare Isa 44:28; 45:1.
- 51:24 Or Chaldea; also in 51:35.
- 51:34 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
- 51:41 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon.
- 51:59 The fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign was 593 B.c.
Jeremiah 51
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh Sends Calamity to Babylon
51 Thus says Yahweh:
“Behold, I am going to arouse against Babylon
And against the inhabitants of [a]Leb-kamai
[b]The (A)spirit of a destroyer.
2 I will send [c]strangers to Babylon that they may (B)winnow her
And may empty her land to destruction;
For on every side they will be against her
In the day of her calamity.
3 [d]Let not [e]him who [f](C)bends his bow [g]bend it,
[h]Nor let him rise up in his (D)scale-armor;
So do not spare her young men;
Devote all her army to destruction.
4 They will fall down [i]slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
And (E)pierced through in their streets.”
5 For (F)neither Israel nor Judah has been widowed
By his God, by Yahweh of hosts,
Although their land is (G)full of guilt
[j]Before the Holy One of Israel.
6 (H)Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And each of you escape with his life!
Do not be [k](I)silenced in her [l]iniquity,
For this is (J)Yahweh’s time of vengeance;
He is going to (K)render recompense to her.
7 Babylon has been a golden (L)cup in the hand of Yahweh,
Intoxicating all the earth.
The (M)nations have drunk of her wine;
Therefore the nations are (N)going mad.
8 Suddenly (O)Babylon has fallen and been broken;
(P)Wail over her!
(Q)Take [m]balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.
9 We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;
Forsake her and (R)let us each go to his own country,
For her judgment has (S)touched heaven
And lifts up to the very skies.
10 Yahweh has (T)brought [n]about our righteousness;
Come and let us (U)recount in Zion
The work of Yahweh our God!
11 (V)Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
Yahweh has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes
Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it;
For it is the (W)vengeance of Yahweh, vengeance for His temple.
12 (X)Lift up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
Make strong the watch;
Raise up [o]watchmen;
Establish men in ambush!
For Yahweh has both (Y)purposed and performed
What He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who (Z)dwell by abundant waters,
Abundant in (AA)treasures,
Your end has come,
The [p]measure of your [q](AB)end.
14 (AC)Yahweh of hosts has sworn by Himself:
“Surely I will fill you with a [r]population like (AD)locusts,
And they will cry out with [s]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 gives forth His (AG)voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And He causes the (AH)clouds to ascend from the end of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain
And brings forth the (AI)wind from His storehouses.
17 (AJ)All mankind is senseless, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image,
For his molten images are (AK)a lie,
And there is no breath in them.
18 They are (AL)vanity, a work of mockery;
In the time of their punishment they will perish.
19 The (AM)portion of Jacob is not like these;
For the [t]Maker of all is He,
And of the [u]tribe of His inheritance;
(AN)Yahweh of hosts is His name.
20 He says, “You are My (AO)instrument of shattering, 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 old man and (AT)youth,
And with you I shatter choice man and virgin,
23 And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,
And with you I shatter the farmer and his pair of oxen,
And with you I shatter governors and prefects.
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 Yahweh.
25 “Behold, (AW)I am against you, (AX)O destroying mountain,
Who destroys the whole earth,” declares Yahweh,
“And I will stretch out My hand against you
And roll you down from the crags,
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 a perpetual (AZ)desolation,” declares Yahweh.
27 (BA)Lift up a standard in the land,
Blow a trumpet among the nations!
Set apart the nations against her;
Summon against her the (BB)kingdoms of (BC)Ararat, Minni, and (BD)Ashkenaz;
Appoint a marshal against her;
Bring up the (BE)horses like bristly locusts.
28 Set apart the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
[v]Their governors and all [w]their [x]prefects
And every land of [y]their rule.
29 So the (BF)land quakes and writhes,
For the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon
[z]A (BG)desolation without inhabitants.
30 The (BH)mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting;
They inhabit the strongholds;
(BI)Their might is dried up;
They are becoming (BJ)like women;
Their dwelling places are set on fire;
The (BK)bars of her gates are broken.
31 One (BL)runner runs to meet [aa]another,
And one (BM)messenger to meet [ab]another,
To give a message to the king of Babylon
That his city has been captured from end to end;
32 The fords also have been seized,
And they have burned the marshes with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.
33 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a (BN)threshing floor
At the time [ac]it is stamped firm;
Yet in a little while the time of (BO)harvest will come for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has (BP)devoured me and brought me into confusion;
He has set me down like an (BQ)empty vessel;
He has (BR)swallowed me like a sea monster;
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has rinsed me away.
35 May the (BS)violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The [ad]inhabitant of Zion will say;
And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore thus says Yahweh,
“Behold, I am going to (BT)plead your case
And (BU)exact full vengeance for you;
And (BV)I will dry up her [ae]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 set before them their feast
And (BZ)make them drunk, that they may exult
And may (CA)sleep a perpetual sleep
And not wake up,” declares Yahweh.
40 “I will bring them down like [af]lambs (CB)to the slaughter,
Like rams together with male goats.
41 “How [ag](CC)Sheshak has been captured,
And (CD)the praise of the whole earth been seized!
How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
42 The [ah](CE)sea has come up over Babylon;
She has been covered with its tumultuous waves.
43 Her cities have become an (CF)object of horror,
A parched land, and a desert,
A land in which (CG)no man lives
And through which no son of man 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 to him.
Even the (CK)wall of Babylon has fallen down!
45 “(CL)Come forth from her midst, My people,
And each of you (CM)escape with his life
From the burning anger of Yahweh.
46 Now (CN)lest your heart grow faint,
And you fear the (CO)report that will be heard in the land—
For the report will come [ai]one year,
And after that [aj]another report in [ak]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)graven images 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 all that is in them
Will shout for joy over Babylon,
For (CT)the destroyers will come to her from the north,”
Declares Yahweh.
49 (CU)Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,
As also for Babylon (CV)the slain of all the earth have fallen.
50 You (CW)who have escaped the sword,
Go! Do not stand around!
(CX)Remember Yahweh from afar,
And let Jerusalem come upon your heart.
51 (CY)We are ashamed because we have heard reproach;
Dishonor has covered our faces,
For (CZ)strangers have entered
The holy places of the house of Yahweh.
52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,
“When I will punish her (DA)graven images,
And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.
53 Though Babylon should (DB)ascend to the heavens,
And though she should fortify [al]her lofty stronghold,
From (DC)Me destroyers will come to her,” declares Yahweh.
54 The (DD)sound of an outcry from Babylon,
And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For Yahweh is going to destroy Babylon,
And He will make her loud [am]noise [an]vanish from her.
And their (DE)waves will roar like many waters;
The rumbling of their voices [ao]sounds forth.
56 For the (DF)destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
And her mighty men will be captured;
Their (DG)bows are shattered;
For Yahweh is a God of (DH)recompense,
He will fully repay.
57 “I will (DI)make her princes and her wise men drunk,
Her governors, her prefects, and her mighty men,
That they may sleep a (DJ)perpetual sleep and not wake up,”
(DK)Declares the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts.
58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“The broad (DL)wall of Babylon will be completely razed,
And her high (DM)gates will be set on fire;
So the peoples will (DN)toil for nothing,
And the nations become (DO)weary only for fire.”
59 The [ap]message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded 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. (Now Seraiah was quartermaster.) 60 So Jeremiah (DR)wrote in a single [aq]scroll all the calamity which would come upon 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, then see that you read all these words aloud, 62 and then you will say, ‘You, O Yahweh, have [ar]promised concerning this place to (DS)cut it off, so that there will be (DT)nothing inhabiting it, [as]whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation.’ 63 And as soon as you finish reading this [at]scroll, you will tie a stone to it and (DU)throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64 and then you will say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and (DV)not rise again because of the calamity that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become (DW)utterly weary.’” (DX)Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 Cryptic name for Chaldea; or the heart of those who rise up against Me
- Jeremiah 51:1 Or A destroying wind
- Jeremiah 51:2 Some versions winnowers
- Jeremiah 51:3 M.T. Against him who
- Jeremiah 51:3 The Chaldean defender
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit tread(s) (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit tread(s) (in order to string)
- Jeremiah 51:3 M.T. Against him who
- Jeremiah 51:4 Or wounded
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit From
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or made lifeless
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or penalty for iniquity
- Jeremiah 51:8 Or balsam resin
- Jeremiah 51:10 Lit forth
- Jeremiah 51:12 Or sentries
- Jeremiah 51:13 Lit cubit
- Jeremiah 51:13 Lit being cut off
- Jeremiah 51:14 Or mankind
- Jeremiah 51:14 Something like the song of grape treaders
- Jeremiah 51:19 Lit Fashioner
- Jeremiah 51:19 Or Scepter, cf. Num 24:17
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit Her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit Her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lieutenant governors
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit his
- Jeremiah 51:29 Or An object of horror
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Or messenger; 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 51:46 Lit in the
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit the
- Jeremiah 51:53 Lit the height of her strength
- Jeremiah 51:55 Or voice
- Jeremiah 51:55 Lit perish
- Jeremiah 51:55 Lit is given
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit word
- Jeremiah 51:60 Or book
- Jeremiah 51:62 Lit spoken
- Jeremiah 51:62 Lit from man even to beast
- Jeremiah 51:63 Or book
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