Jeremiah 51
World English Bible
51 Yahweh says:
“Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
2 I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her.
They will empty her land;
for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.
3 Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow,
also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail.
Don’t spare her young men!
Utterly destroy all her army!
4 They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God,
by Yahweh of Armies;
though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 “Flee out of the middle of Babylon!
Everyone save his own life!
Don’t be cut off in her iniquity;
for it is the time of Yahweh’s vengeance.
He will render to her a recompense.
7 Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand,
who made all the earth drunk.
The nations have drunk of her wine;
therefore the nations have gone mad.
8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed!
Wail for her!
Take balm for her pain.
Perhaps she may be healed.
9 “We would have healed Babylon,
but she is not healed.
Forsake her,
and let’s each go into his own country;
for her judgment reaches to heaven,
and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 ‘Yahweh has produced our righteousness:
come, and let’s declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.’
11 “Make the arrows sharp!
Hold the shields firmly!
Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it;
for it is the vengeance of Yahweh,
the vengeance of his temple.
12 Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon!
Make the watch strong!
Set the watchmen,
and prepare the ambushes;
for Yahweh has both purposed and done
that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures,
your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14 Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, saying,
‘Surely I will fill you with men,
as with the canker worm;
and they will lift up a shout against you.’
15 “He has made the earth by his power.
He has established the world by his wisdom.
By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.
16 When he utters his voice,
there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
17 “Every man has become brutish without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image;
for his molten image is falsehood,
and there is no breath in them.
18 They are vanity,
a work of delusion.
In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the former of all things;
including the tribe of his inheritance:
Yahweh of Armies is his name.
20 “You are my battle ax and weapons of war.
With you I will break the nations into pieces.
With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I will break in pieces
the horse and his rider.
22 With you I will break in pieces
the chariot and him who rides therein.
With you I will break in pieces
man and woman.
With you I will break in pieces
the old man and the youth.
With you I will break in pieces
the young man and the virgin.
23 With you I will break in pieces
the shepherd and his flock.
With you I will break in pieces
the farmer and his yoke.
With you I will break in pieces
governors and deputies.
24 “I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says Yahweh.
25 “Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says Yahweh,
“which destroys all the earth.
I will stretch out my hand on you,
roll you down from the rocks,
and will make you a burned mountain.
26 They won’t take a cornerstone from you,
nor a stone for foundations;
but you will be desolate forever,” says Yahweh.
27 “Set up a standard in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations against her!
Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz!
Appoint a marshal against her!
Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm!
28 Prepare against her the nations,
the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!
29 The land trembles and is in pain;
for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting,
they remain in their strongholds.
Their might has failed.
They have become as women.
Her dwelling places are set on fire.
Her bars are broken.
31 One runner will run to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.
32 So the passages are seized.
They have burned the reeds with fire.
The men of war are frightened.”
33 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden.
Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me.
He has crushed me.
He has made me an empty vessel.
He has, like a monster, swallowed me up.
He has filled his mouth with my delicacies.
He has cast me out.
35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!”
the inhabitant of Zion will say; and,
“May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!”
will Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore Yahweh says:
“Behold, I will plead your cause,
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea,
and make her fountain dry.
37 Babylon will become heaps,
a dwelling place for jackals,
an astonishment, and a hissing,
without inhabitant.
38 They will roar together like young lions.
They will growl as lions’ cubs.
39 When they are heated, I will make their feast,
and I will make them drunk,
that they may rejoice,
and sleep a perpetual sleep,
and not wake up,” says Yahweh.
40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
41 “How Sheshach is taken!
How the praise of the whole earth is seized!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
42 The sea has come up on Babylon.
She is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43 Her cities have become a desolation,
a dry land, and a desert,
a land in which no man dwells.
No son of man passes by it.
44 I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon,
and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up.
The nations will not flow any more to him.
Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 “My people, go away from the middle of her,
and each of you save yourselves from Yahweh’s fierce anger.
46 Don’t let your heart faint.
Don’t fear for the news that will be heard in the land.
For news will come one year,
and after that in another year news will come,
and violence in the land,
ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon;
and her whole land will be confounded.
All her slain will fall in the middle of her.
48 Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is therein,
will sing for joy over Babylon;
for the destroyers will come to her from the north,” says Yahweh.
49 “As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,
so the slain of all the land will fall at Babylon.
50 You who have escaped the sword, go!
Don’t stand still!
Remember Yahweh from afar,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”
51 “We are confounded,
because we have heard reproach.
Confusion has covered our faces,
for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh’s house.”
52 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,
“that I will execute judgment on her engraved images;
and through all her land the wounded will groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to the sky,
and though she should fortify the height of her strength,
yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says Yahweh.
54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,
and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For Yahweh lays Babylon waste,
and destroys out of her the great voice!
Their waves roar like many waters.
The noise of their voice is uttered.
56 For the destroyer has come on her,
even on Babylon.
Her mighty men are taken.
Their bows are broken in pieces,
for Yahweh is a God of retribution.
He will surely repay.
57 I will make her princes, her wise men,
her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk.
They will sleep a perpetual sleep,
and not wake up,”
says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
58 Yahweh of Armies says:
“The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown.
Her high gates will be burned with fire.
The peoples will labor for vanity,
and the nations for the fire;
and they will be weary.”
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’ 63 It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64 Then you shall say, ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.’”
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 51
Lexham English Bible
51 Thus says Yahweh:
“Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon
and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.
2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon,
and they will winnow her,
and they will lay waste her land,
for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.
3 Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow,
and let him not rise high in his body armor.
And you must not spare her young men;
destroy her whole army.
4 And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and pierced through in her streets.
5 For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God,
from Yahweh of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.”
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life.
You must not perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh,
he will repay her what is deserved.
7 Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh,
making drunk all the earth.
The nations drank of her wine.
Therefore[a] the nations acted like madmen.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered.
Wail over her!
Take balm for her wounds,
perhaps she may be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed.
Forsake her and let us go each one to his country,
for her judgment has reached to the heavens,
and it has been lifted up to the skies.
10 Yahweh has brought forth our vindication.
Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it,
for that is the vengeance of Yahweh,
the vengeance for his temple.
12 Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner;
post a strong watch,[b] post watchmen, prepare the ambushes,
for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed
what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who live by mighty waters, rich in treasures,
your end has come, the measure of your life.[c]
14 Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself,
“Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts,[d]
and they will sing over you a war cry.”
15 He is the one who made the earth by his power,
the one who created the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16 At the giving of his voice
there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
and he causes the patches of mist
to go up from the end of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17 All humankind turns out to be stupid,
without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by the divine image.
For his cast image is a lie,
and there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,
a work of mockery.
At the time of their punishment,
they will perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the creator of everything,[e]
and the tribe of his inheritance.
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
20 He says, “You are a war club for me,
a weapon of battle,
and I smash nations with you,
and I destroy kingdoms with you.
21 And I smash the horse with you,
and its rider,
and I smash the chariot with you,
and its rider.
22 And I smash man and woman with you,
and I smash the old man and the boy with you,
and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.
23 And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you,
and I smash the farmer and his team with you,
and I smash the governors and the officials with you.
24 And I will repay Babylon,
and all the inhabitants of Chaldea,
all their wickedness that they have done in Zion
before your eyes,” declares[f] Yahweh.
25 “Look, I am against you,
O mountain of the destruction,” declares[g] Yahweh,
“the one that destroys the whole earth.
And I will stretch out my hand against you,
and I will roll you down from the cliffs,
and I will make you as a mountain burned away.
26 They will not take from you
a stone for a corner,
and a stone for a foundation,
for you will be an everlasting desolation,”[h] declares[i] Yahweh.
27 Raise a banner in the land;
blow a horn among the nations;
prepare for holy war against her;
summon the nations against her,
the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
summon against her an official;
bring up horses[j] like bristling creeping locusts.[k]
28 Prepare the nations for holy war against her,
the kings of the Medes,
with their governors and all their officials,
and every land of their dominion.
29 And the land quakes and writhes,
for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon as a horror,
without[l] inhabitant.
30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight,
they remain in the strongholds,
their power has dried up,
they have become as women.
Her dwelling places are set on fire,
her bars are broken.
31 one runner runs to meet another runner,
and one messenger to meet another messenger,
to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured,
from end to end.[m]
32 And the fords have been seized,
and the reed marshes have been burned with fire,
and the soldiers[n] are horrified.
33 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trodden down,
just a little while[o]
and the time of the harvest will come for her.”
34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
has devoured me and sucked me dry;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like the sea monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me.
35 “May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,”
the inhabitants[p] of Zion will say;
and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore[q] thus says Yahweh,
“Look, I am going to contend your case,
and I will avenge your vengeance,
and I will cause her sea to dry up,
and I will cause her fountain to dry up.
37 And Babylon will become as a heap of stones,
a lair of jackals,
an object of horror, and an object of hissing,
without[r] inhabitants.
38 They will roar together like the young lions,
they will growl like the cubs of lions.
39 At their becoming hot I will set their banquets,
and I will make them drunk,
so that they will fall into a swoon,
and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,[s]
and they will not wake up,” declares[t] Yahweh.
40 “I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 How Sheshach is captured,
and the glory of all the earth is seized!
How Babylon has become as an object of horror
among the nations!
42 The sea has risen over Babylon,
she has been covered by the roar of its waves.
43 Her cities have become as an object of horror,
a dry land and a wilderness,[u]
a land in which no person lives,
nor does a son of humankind pass through it.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and I will wrench out from his mouth what he has swallowed.[v]
And the nations will not stream towards him any longer
what’s worse,[w] the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45 Come out from her midst, my people,
and save each one his life
from the burning anger of[x] Yahweh.
46 Now so that you are not fainthearted,[y]
and you are afraid at the rumors[z] that are heard in the land—
and in the year the rumor comes,
and in the year after it the rumor,
and violence is in the land,
with ruler against ruler—
47 therefore[aa] look, days are coming,
and I will punish the images of Babylon,
and all her land will be put to shame,
and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
for from the north
the destroyers will come to it,” declares[ab] Yahweh.
49 Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel,
but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.
50 Survivors of the sword, go!
You must not linger!
Remember Yahweh from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.[ac]
51 We are ashamed,
for we have heard taunts,[ad]
disgrace covers our faces,
for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.
52 “Therefore[ae] look, days are coming,” declares[af] Yahweh,
“and I will punish her images,
and the fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.
53 Though Babylon goes up to the heavens,
and though she fortifies the high place of her strength,
from me destroyers will come to her,” declares[ag] Yahweh.
54 The sound of a cry for help from Babylon,
and a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.
55 For Yahweh is devastating Babylon,
and he obliterates her loud noise[ah] from her.
Their waves roar like mighty waters,
the roar of their voices[ai] resounds.
56 For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,
and her warriors are captured.
Their bows are broken;
for Yahweh is a God of recompense,
certainly he will repay.
57 “And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men,
her governors, and her officials, and her warriors,
and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,[aj]
and they will not wake up,”
declares[ak] the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.
58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished,
and her high gates will burn with fire,
and the peoples will labor for nothing,[al]
and the nations for fire,[am]
and they will grow weary.”
The Scroll Concerning Babylon is Thrown into the Euphrates
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was the quartermaster.[an] 60 And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters[ao] that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “At your coming to Babylon, then you must see that you read aloud all these words. 62 And you must say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that there will not be in it anything living, from humankind to animals,[ap] for it will be an everlasting desolation.’[aq] 63 And then[ar] when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64 And you must say, ‘Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, because of[as] the face of the disasters[at] that I am bringing on her, and they will grow weary.’” Thus far[au] the words of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:7 Literally “Unto thus”
- Jeremiah 51:12 Literally “make strong the guard”
- Jeremiah 51:13 Literally “the cubit of your severing”
- Jeremiah 51:14 Hebrew “locust”
- Jeremiah 51:19 Literally “the all”
- Jeremiah 51:24 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:25 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:26 Literally “a desolation of everlasting”
- Jeremiah 51:26 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew “horse”
- Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew “locust”
- Jeremiah 51:29 Literally “from there is not”
- Jeremiah 51:31 Literally “from end”
- Jeremiah 51:32 Literally “the men of the war”
- Jeremiah 51:33 Literally “still a little”
- Jeremiah 51:35 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Jeremiah 51:36 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 51:37 Literally “from there is not”
- Jeremiah 51:39 Literally “a sleep of eternity”
- Jeremiah 51:39 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:43 Or “Arabah”
- Jeremiah 51:44 Literally “what has been swallowed by him”
- Jeremiah 51:44 Literally “also”
- Jeremiah 51:45 Literally “the blazing of the nose of”
- Jeremiah 51:46 Literally “so that your heart is not timid”
- Jeremiah 51:46 Hebrew “rumor”
- Jeremiah 51:47 Literally “to thus”
- Jeremiah 51:48 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:50 Literally “heart”
- Jeremiah 51:51 Hebrew “taunt”
- Jeremiah 51:52 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 51:52 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:53 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:55 Or “voice”
- Jeremiah 51:55 Hebrew “voice”
- Jeremiah 51:57 Literally “a sleep of eternity”
- Jeremiah 51:57 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 51:58 Literally “for enough of empty”
- Jeremiah 51:58 Literally “for enough of fire”
- Jeremiah 51:59 Literally “official of the resting place”
- Jeremiah 51:60 Hebrew “disaster”
- Jeremiah 51:62 Hebrew “animal”
- Jeremiah 51:62 Literally “a desolation of eternity”
- Jeremiah 51:63 Literally “And it will happen”
- Jeremiah 51:64 Literally “from”
- Jeremiah 51:64 Hebrew “disaster”
- Jeremiah 51:64 Literally “Up to here”
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