Jeremiah 51:24-44
New American Standard Bible 1995
24 “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of (A)Chaldea for (B)all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord.
25 “Behold, (C)I am against you, (D)O destroying mountain,
Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,
“And I will stretch out My hand against you,
And roll you down from the crags,
And I will make you a (E)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 (F)desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
27 (G)Lift up a [a]signal in the land,
Blow a trumpet among the nations!
Consecrate the nations against her,
Summon against her the (H)kingdoms of (I)Ararat, Minni and (J)Ashkenaz;
Appoint a marshal against her,
Bring up the (K)horses like bristly locusts.
28 Consecrate the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
[b]Their governors and all [c]their [d]prefects,
And every land of [e]their dominion.
29 So the (L)land quakes and writhes,
For the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon
[f]A (M)desolation without inhabitants.
30 The (N)mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They stay in the strongholds;
(O)Their strength is [g]exhausted,
They are becoming (P)like women;
Their dwelling places are set on fire,
The (Q)bars of her gates are broken.
31 One [h](R)courier runs to meet [i]another,
And one [j](S)messenger to meet [k]another,
To tell 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 the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a (T)threshing floor
At the time [l]it is stamped firm;
Yet in a little while the time of (U)harvest will come for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has (V)devoured me and crushed me,
He has set me down like an (W)empty vessel;
He has (X)swallowed me like a monster,
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has washed me away.
35 “May the (Y)violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The [m]inhabitant of Zion will say;
And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore thus says the Lord,
“Behold, I am going to (Z)plead your case
And (AA)exact full vengeance for you;
And (AB)I will dry up her [n]sea
And make her fountain dry.
37 “(AC)Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,
An (AD)object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.
38 “They will roar together like (AE)young lions,
They will growl like lions’ cubs.
39 “When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet
And (AF)make them drunk, that they may become jubilant
And may (AG)sleep a perpetual sleep
And not wake up,” declares the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down like [o]lambs (AH)to the slaughter,
Like rams together with male goats.
41 “How [p](AI)Sheshak has been captured,
And (AJ)the praise of the whole earth been seized!
How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
42 “The [q](AK)sea has come up over Babylon;
She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves.
43 “Her cities have become an (AL)object of horror,
A parched land and a desert,
A land in which (AM)no man lives
And through which no son of man passes.
44 “(AN)I will punish Bel in Babylon,
And I will make what he has swallowed (AO)come out of his mouth;
And the nations will no longer (AP)stream to him.
Even the (AQ)wall of Babylon has fallen down!
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:27 Or standard
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit Her
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit Her
- Jeremiah 51:28 I.e. lieutenant governors
- Jeremiah 51:28 Lit his
- 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
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
