27 Raise a signal flag(A) in the land;
blow a ram’s horn among the nations;
set apart the nations against her.(B)
Summon kingdoms against her—
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like a swarm[a] of locusts.
28 Set apart the nations for battle against her—
the kings of Media,
her governors and all her officials,
and all the lands they rule.
29 The earth quakes(C) and trembles
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.
30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;(D)
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.
Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,
her gate bars are shattered.(E)
31 Messenger races to meet messenger,(F)
and herald to meet herald,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured
from end to end.
32 The fords have been seized,(G)
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers are terrified.

33 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:

Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled.(H)
In just a little while her harvest time will come.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:27 Hb obscure

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[a] like bristling creeping locusts.[b]
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[c] 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.[d]
32 And the fords have been seized,
    and the reed marshes have been burned with fire,
    and the soldiers[e] 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[f]
    and the time of the harvest will come for her.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew “horse”
  2. Jeremiah 51:27 Hebrew “locust”
  3. Jeremiah 51:29 Literally “from there is not”
  4. Jeremiah 51:31 Literally “from end”
  5. Jeremiah 51:32 Literally “the men of the war”
  6. Jeremiah 51:33 Literally “still a little”