Jeremiah 51
Authorized (King James) Version
51 Thus saith the Lord;
Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me,
a destroying wind;
2 and will send unto Babylon fanners,
that shall fan her, and shall empty her land:
for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow,
and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine:
and spare ye not her young men;
destroy ye utterly all her host.
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
and they that are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel hath not been forsaken,
nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts;
though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon,
and deliver every man his soul:
be not cut off in her iniquity;
for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
he will render unto her a recompence.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
that made all the earth drunken:
the nations have drunken of her wine;
therefore the nations are mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed:
howl for her; take balm for her pain,
if so be she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon,
but she is not healed:
forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country:
for her judgment reacheth unto heaven,
and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness:
come, and let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
11 Make bright the arrows;
gather the shields:
the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes:
for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it;
because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
the vengeance of his temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon,
make the watch strong, set up the watchmen,
prepare the ambushes:
for the Lord hath both devised and done
that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters,
abundant in treasures,
thine end is come,
and the measure of thy covetousness.
14 The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying,
Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers;
and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
15 He hath made the earth by his power,
he hath established the world by his wisdom,
and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
16 When he uttereth his voice,
there is a multitude of waters in the heavens;
and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth:
he maketh lightnings with rain,
and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge;
every founder is confounded by the graven image:
for his molten image is falsehood,
and there is no breath in them.
18 They are vanity, the work of errors:
in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like them;
for he is the former of all things:
and Israel is the rod of his inheritance:
the Lord of hosts is his name.
20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war:
for with thee will I break in pieces the nations,
and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
21 and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
22 with thee also will I break in pieces man and woman;
and with thee will I break in pieces old and young;
and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock;
and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen;
and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
24 And I will render unto Babylon
and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea
all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord,
which destroyest all the earth:
and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee,
and roll thee down from the rocks,
and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner,
nor a stone for foundations;
but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord.
27 Set ye 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 Ashchenaz;
appoint a captain against her;
cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes,
the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof,
and all the land of his dominion.
29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow:
for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight,
they have remained in their holds:
their might hath failed;
they became as women:
they have burned her dwellingplaces;
her bars are broken.
31 One post shall run to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
32 and that the passages are stopped,
and the reeds they have burned with fire,
and the men of war are affrighted.
33 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor,
it is time to thresh her:
yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me,
he hath crushed me,
he hath made me an empty vessel,
he hath swallowed me up like a dragon,
he hath filled his belly with my delicates,
he hath cast me out.
35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,
shall the inhabitant of Zion say;
and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,
shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus saith the Lord;
Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee;
and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
37 And Babylon shall become heaps,
a dwellingplace for dragons,
an astonishment, and an hissing,
without an inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like lions:
they shall yell as lions’ whelps.
39 In their heat I will make their feasts,
and I will make them drunken,
that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep,
and not wake, saith the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with he goats.
41 How is Sheshach taken!
and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised!
how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea is come up upon Babylon:
she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
43 Her cities are a desolation,
a dry land, and a wilderness,
a land wherein no man dwelleth,
neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up:
and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him:
yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her,
and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 And lest your heart faint,
and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land;
a rumour shall both come one year,
and after that in another year shall come a rumour,
and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come,
that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon:
and her whole land shall be confounded,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon:
for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the Lord.
49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall,
so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword,
go away, stand not still:
remember the Lord afar off,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach:
shame hath covered our faces:
for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will do judgment upon her graven images:
and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify the height of her strength,
yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.
54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon,
and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
55 because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon,
and destroyed out of her the great voice;
when her waves do roar like great waters,
a noise of their voice is uttered:
56 because the spoiler is come upon her,
even upon Babylon,
and her mighty men are taken,
every one of their bows is broken:
for the Lord God of recompences shall surely requite.
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men,
her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men:
and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake,
saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58 Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken,
and her high gates shall be burned with fire;
and the people shall labour in vain,
and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince. 60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; 62 then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: 64 and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary.
Jeremiah 51
Evangelical Heritage Version
51 This is what the Lord says:
Watch, I will stir up a destroying wind against Babylon
and against the people who live in Leb Kamai.[a]
2 I will send foreigners to Babylon
to winnow her and empty her land.
They will oppose her on every side in the day of trouble.
3 Bend your bow against anyone who bends a bow
and against anyone who stands in armor.[b]
Do not spare the young men.
Completely destroy her army.
4 They fall down, slain in the land of Chaldea,
mortally wounded in her streets.
5 Israel and Judah are not forsaken by God, the Lord of Armies,
though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon!
Everyone, save your lives!
Do not be cut off because of her guilt,
for it is the time for the Lord’s vengeance.
He will punish them as they deserve.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand.
She made the whole world drunk.
The nations have drunk her wine,
and now they have gone mad.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is broken.
Wail for her.
Take balm to her for her pain.
Perhaps she can be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed.
Leave her! Everyone go to his own land,
because her judgment reaches to the heavens.
It rises up to the clouds.
10 The Lord has brought our vindication.
Come, let us declare in Zion what the Lord our God has done.
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Hang on to the shields!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
because his purpose is to destroy Babylon.
This is the vengeance of the Lord,
vengeance for his temple.
12 Raise a signal flag against the walls of Babylon!
Strengthen the guard!
Set the watch,
and prepare an ambush!
The Lord has done what he said he would do
against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who live by many waters,
you who are rich in treasures,
your end has come,
the full measure[c] of your violence.
14 The Lord of Armies has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men,
as if I were filling you with locusts.
They will raise the shout of victory over you.
A Hymn of Praise
15 He is the One who made the earth by his power
and established the world by his wisdom.
By his understanding he stretched out the heavens.
16 He thunders, and the waters in the heavens roar.
He makes storm clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings the wind out from his warehouses.
17 But as for mankind, they are all stupid.
Their knowledge has dried up.
Every goldsmith is embarrassed by his idols.
The images he makes are false.
There is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,
an achievement to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment, they will perish.
19 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
because he is the Maker of all things,
including the tribe that is his possession.
The Lord of Armies is his name.
Babylon, the Hammer of the Lord
20 You are my hammer, my war weapon.
With you I shatter nations.
With you I destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I shatter horse and rider.
With you I shatter chariot and driver.
22 With you I shatter man and woman.
With you I shatter the old and the young.
With you I shatter the young man and the virgin.
23 With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock.
With you I shatter the plowman and the team in his yoke.
With you I shatter governors and officials.
24 Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and everyone who lives in Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion, declares the Lord. 25 Look, I am against you, declares the Lord.
You destroying mountain,
you destroy the whole world.
I will stretch out my hand against you.
I will roll you off the cliffs,
and I will make you a burned-out volcano.
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor as a foundation stone.
You will be desolate forever, declares the Lord.
27 Raise a signal flag in the land!
Blow the ram’s horn among the nations!
Set apart the nations against her!
Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat,
Minni, and Ashkenaz!
Appoint a field marshal against her!
Bring up horses like a thick swarm of locusts!
28 Consecrate the nations against her—
the kings of the Medes, their governors, all their officials,
and all the land under their dominion.
Babylon’s Punishment
29 The land trembles and writhes
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand.
He will make the land of Babylon a desolation with no one living there.
30 The strong warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They stay in their strongholds.
Their power has failed.
They have become as weak as women.
Her dwellings are set on fire.
The bars of the gates are broken.
31 Runner follows runner,
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city is taken in every quarter.
32 The fords have been captured,
the marshes[d] are on fire,
and the soldiers are in a panic.
33 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is trampled.
In just a little while, the time of her harvest will come.
34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured us.[e]
He has crushed us
and made us like an empty jar.
Like a monster, he has swallowed us,
filled his stomach with our tastiest parts,
and spit out the rest.
35 “May the violence done to us and to our children[f] be upon Babylon,”
says she who dwells in Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
Watch! I will defend your cause
and take revenge for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a haunt for jackals,
a horror and a target of contempt,[g]
and no one will live there.
38 They will all roar together like young lions.
They will growl like lion cubs.
39 When they are ravenous, I will spread a feast.
I will make them drunk,
so that they will celebrate,[h]
and then they will go to sleep forever
and never wake up, declares the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41 How Sheshak[i] is captured!
The pride of the whole earth is seized!
Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations.
42 The sea has come all the way up to Babylon,
and she is covered with its rolling waves.
43 Her cities have become desolate,
a desert and a wasteland,
a land in which no one lives,
a land through which no man passes.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make his mouth spit out what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
The wall of Babylon will fall.
45 Come out of her, my people!
Save yourselves, every one of you,
from the Lord’s fierce anger.
46 Do not be faint of heart.
Do not fear the rumors you will hear in the land.
Rumors will come one year,
and the next year another rumor will come:
“Violence in the land!”
“Ruler against ruler!”
47 For the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Her whole land will be disgraced,
and all her slain will fall within her.
48 Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them
will rejoice over Babylon.
The destroyers will attack her from the north, declares the Lord.
49 Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
A Message to the Israelites in Babylon
The Lord or the Prophet[j]
50 You who have escaped the sword, go!
Do not delay!
Remember the Lord from afar,
and think of Jerusalem.
The Exiles
51 We are disgraced,
because we have heard a taunt.
Dishonor covers our faces,
because strangers have come into the holy places of
the House of the Lord.
The Lord
52 So keep watch. The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will punish all her idols.
Through her whole land the wounded will groan.
53 Even if Babylon could reach the sky
and fortify the very heights of her stronghold,
I would still send destroyers to her, declares the Lord.
Further Destruction on Babylon
54 The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.
55 The Lord is destroying Babylon,
and he will silence her mighty voice.
Waves roar like many waters.
The sound of their noise rises!
56 The destroyer has come against her, against Babylon.
Her mighty warriors are captured.
Their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of retribution.
He will repay in full.
57 I will make her officials and her wise men drunk,
and her governors, officers, and strong warriors as well.
They will sleep for a long time,
and they will not wake up,
declares the King, whose name is the Lord of Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled,
and her high gates will be set on fire.
The people will toil for nothing.
The work of the nations will be nothing but fuel for the fire.
They will be worn out.
Jeremiah’s Message Is Sent to Babylon
59 These are the instructions Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (Seraiah was Zedekiah’s personal aide.[k])
60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disaster that was coming to Babylon—all of these things that had been written about Babylon.
61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words aloud. 62 Say, ‘O Lord, you have spoken against this place, announcing that you would destroy it, that no one will live here anymore, neither man nor animal, and that it will be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and throw it in the middle of the Euphrates. 64 Then say, ‘In this same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster that I will bring on her. And her people[l] will be worn out.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 Leb Kamai seems to be a cryptogram for Chaldea. Taking the letters of the Hebrew word for Chaldeans and writing them in reverse alphabet (A=Z, B=Y, etc.) produces Leb Kamai, which means heart of my adversaries.
- Jeremiah 51:3 Or let no one bend a bow or stand up in armor. The Hebrew text and the meaning of these two lines are uncertain.
- Jeremiah 51:13 Literally the cubit
- Jeremiah 51:32 Or fortresses
- Jeremiah 51:34 Hebrew variant me. The same variant occurs throughout verse 34.
- Jeremiah 51:35 Or flesh
- Jeremiah 51:37 Literally hissing
- Jeremiah 51:39 The translation follows the Hebrew. The Greek and Latin read pass out.
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cypher or cryptogram for Babylon. It is written in reverse alphabet: A=Z, B=Y, etc. In the Hebrew alphabet, bbl reversed is shshk.
- Jeremiah 51:50 Because of the unannounced changes of speaker, the headings mark the speaker of each section.
- Jeremiah 51:59 Literally officer of rest
- Jeremiah 51:64 Hebrew they
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.