God’s Judgment on Babylon

51 This is what the Lord says:

I am about to rouse the spirit of a destroyer[a] against Babylon(A)
and against the population of Leb-qamai.[b][c]
I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,(B)
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
Don’t let the archer string his bow;
don’t let him put on[d] his armor.(C)
Don’t spare her young men;
completely destroy her entire army!
Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets.(D)
For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the Lord of Armies,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 51:1 Or to stir up a destructive wind
  2. 51:1 Lit heart of my adversaries
  3. 51:1 = Chaldeans
  4. 51:3 Hb obscure

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