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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)
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)
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)
They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
    and wounded in her streets.
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)

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Footnotes

  1. 51.1 Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer
  2. 51.1 That is, Chaldea

51 This is what the Lord says:
“I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon
    and the people of Babylonia.[a]
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.
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]
They will fall dead in the land of the Babylonians,[c]
    slashed to death in her streets.
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.”

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Footnotes

  1. 51:1 Hebrew of Leb-kamai, a code name for Babylonia.
  2. 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.
  3. 51:4 Or Chaldeans; also in 51:54.