Add parallel Print Page Options

51 Yahweh says:

“Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
    and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
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.
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!
They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
    and thrust through in her streets.
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.

Read full chapter

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.”

Read full chapter

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.