51
1 The
LORD says:
“Behold, I will
raise up
against Babylon,
and against those
who dwell
in Lebkamai, a
destroying wind.
2 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.
3 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!
4 They
will fall down
slain in the land
of the Chaldeans,
and thrust
through in her
streets.
5 For
Israel is
not forsaken, nor
Judah, by his
God,
by the LORD
of Armies;
though their land
is full of guilt
against the Holy
One of Israel.
6 “Flee
out of the
middle of Babylon!
Everyone save his
own life!
Don’t be cut off
in her iniquity,
for it is
the time of
the LORD’s
vengeance.
He will render
to her a
recompense.
7 Babylon has
been a golden
cup in the
LORD’s hand,
who made all
the earth drunk.
The nations have
drunk of her
wine;
therefore the
nations have gone
mad.
8 Babylon has
suddenly fallen
and been destroyed!
Wail for her!
Take balm for
her pain.
Perhaps she may
be healed.
9 “We would
have healed Babylon,
but she is
not healed.
Forsake her,
and let’s each go
into his own country;
for her judgment
reaches to heaven,
and is lifted
up even to
the skies.
10 ‘The
LORD has produced
our righteousness.
Come, and let’s
declare in Zion
the work of
the LORD our
God.’
11 “Make
the arrows sharp!
Hold the shields firmly!
The LORD has
stirred up the
spirit of the
kings of the
Medes,
because his
purpose is
against Babylon, to
destroy it;
for it is
the vengeance of
the LORD,
the vengeance of
his temple.
12 Set
up a standard
against the walls
of Babylon!
Make the watch
strong!
Set the watchmen,
and prepare
the ambushes;
for the LORD
has both purposed
and done
that which he
spoke concerning
the inhabitants
of Babylon.
13 You
who dwell on
many waters,
abundant in treasures,
your end has come,
the measure of
your covetousness.
14 The
LORD of Armies
has sworn by
himself, saying,
‘Surely I will
fill you with
men,
as with locusts,
and they will
lift up a
shout against you.’
15 “He
has made the
earth by his
power.
He has
established the
world by his
wisdom.
By his
understanding he
has stretched out
the heavens.
16 When
he utters his
voice,
there is a
roar of waters
in the heavens,
and he causes
the vapors to
ascend from the
ends of the
earth.
He makes
lightning for the
rain,
and brings the
wind out of
his treasuries.
17 “Every
man has become
stupid and without
knowledge.
Every goldsmith
is disappointed by
his image,
for his molten
images are
falsehood,
and there is
no breath in
them.
18 They
are vanity,
a work of
delusion.
In the time
of their
visitation, they
will perish.
19 The
portion of Jacob
is not like
these,
for he formed
all things,
including the
tribe of his
inheritance.
The LORD of
Armies is his
name.
20 “You
are my battle ax
and weapons of
war.
With you I
will break the
nations into
pieces.
With you I
will destroy
kingdoms.
21 With you
I will break
in pieces
the horse and
his rider.
22 With
you I will
break in pieces
the chariot and him
who rides therein.
With you I
will break in
pieces
man and woman.
With you I
will break in
pieces
the old man
and the youth.
With you I
will break in
pieces
the young man
and the virgin.
23 With you
I will break
in pieces
the shepherd and
his flock.
With you I will
break in pieces
the farmer and
his yoke.
With you I will
break in pieces
governors and
deputies.
24 “I
will render
to Babylon and to
all the
inhabitants of
Chaldea all their
evil that they
have done in
Zion in your
sight,” says the
LORD.
25 “Behold,
I am against
you, destroying
mountain,” says
the LORD,
“which destroys
all the earth.
I will stretch
out my hand
on you,
roll you down
from the rocks,
and will make
you a burned
mountain.
26 They won’t
take a cornerstone
from you,
nor a stone for
foundations;
but you will
be desolate
forever,” says the
LORD.
27 “Set
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 Ashkenaz!
Appoint a marshal
against her!
Cause the horses
to come up
as the swarming
locusts!
28 Prepare
against her the
nations,
the kings of
the Medes, its
governors, and all
its deputies, and
all the land of
their dominion!
29 The land
trembles and is in
pain;
for the purposes
of the LORD
against Babylon stand,
to make the land
of Babylon a
desolation, without
inhabitant.
30 The
mighty men
of Babylon have
stopped fighting,
they remain in
their strongholds.
Their might has
failed.
They have become
as women.
Her dwelling
places are set
on fire.
Her bars are
broken.
31 One
runner will run
to meet another,
and one messenger
to meet another,
to show the
king of Babylon
that his city
is taken on
every quarter.
32 So the
passages are
seized.
They have burned the reeds
with fire.
The men of war
are frightened.”
33 For
the LORD of
Armies, the God
of Israel says:
“The daughter
of Babylon is like
a threshing floor
at the time
when it is
trodden.
Yet a little
while, and the
time of
harvest comes for
her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar
the king of Babylon
has devoured me.
He has crushed
me.
He has made
me an empty
vessel.
He has, like
a monster,
swallowed me up.
He has filled
his mouth with my
delicacies.
He has cast me
out.
35 May the
violence done to
me and to
my flesh be
on Babylon!”
the inhabitant of
Zion will say; and,
“May my blood be
on the inhabitants
of Chaldea!”
will Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore
the LORD says:
“Behold, I will
plead your cause,
and take
vengeance for you.
I will dry
up her sea,
and make her
fountain dry.
37 Babylon
will become heaps,
a dwelling place
for jackals,
an astonishment,
and a hissing,
without inhabitant.
38 They
will roar together
like young lions.
They will growl
as lions’ cubs.
39 When
they are inflamed,
I will make
their feast,
and I will
make them drunk,
that they may
rejoice,
and sleep a
perpetual sleep,
and not wake
up,” says the
LORD.
40 “I will
bring them down
like lambs to
the slaughter,
like rams with
male goats.
41 “How
Sheshach is taken!
How the praise of
the whole earth is
seized!
How Babylon has
become a
desolation among the
nations!
42 The
sea has come
up on Babylon.
She is covered
with the multitude
of its waves.
43 Her
cities have become
a desolation,
a dry land,
and a desert,
a land in
which no man
dwells.
No son of
man passes by
it.
44 I
will execute judgment
on Bel in Babylon,
and I will
bring out of
his mouth that
which he has
swallowed up.
The nations will
not flow any
more to him.
Yes, the wall
of Babylon will
fall.
45 “My
people, go away
from the middle
of her,
and each of
you save
yourselves from
the LORD’s fierce
anger.
46 Don’t let
your heart faint.
Don’t fear for
the news that
will be heard
in the land.
For news will come
one year,
and after that
in another year
news will come,
and violence in
the land,
ruler against
ruler.
47 Therefore
behold, the days
come that I
will execute judgment
on the engraved
images of Babylon;
and her whole land
will be confounded.
All her slain
will fall in
the middle of
her.
48 Then
the heavens and
the earth,
and all that
is therein,
will sing for
joy over Babylon;
for the
destroyers will come
to her from
the north,” says
the LORD.
49 “As Babylon
has caused the
slain of Israel
to fall,
so the slain
of all the land
will fall
at Babylon.
50 You
who have escaped
the sword, go!
Don’t stand still!
Remember the LORD
from afar,
and let Jerusalem
come into your
mind.”
51 “We
are confounded
because we have
heard reproach.
Confusion has
covered our faces,
for strangers
have come into the
sanctuaries of the
LORD’s house.”
52 “Therefore
behold, the
days come,” says
the LORD,
“that I
will execute judgment
on her engraved
images;
and through all
her land the
wounded will groan.
53 Though Babylon should
mount up to
the sky,
and though she
should fortify the
height of her
strength,
yet destroyers
will come to
her from me,”
says the LORD.
54 “The
sound of a
cry comes from Babylon,
and of great
destruction from
the land of the
Chaldeans!
55 For
the LORD
lays Babylon waste,
and destroys out
of her the
great voice!
Their waves roar
like many waters.
The noise of
their voice is
uttered.
56 For
the destroyer has
come on her,
even on Babylon.
Her mighty men
are taken.
Their bows are
broken in pieces,
for the LORD
is a God
of retribution.
He will surely
repay.
57 I
will make her
princes, her wise
men,
her governors,
her deputies, and
her mighty men
drunk.
They will sleep
a perpetual sleep,
and not wake
up,”
says the King,
whose name is
the LORD of
Armies.
58 The
LORD of Armies
says:
“The wide walls
of Babylon will be
utterly overthrown.
Her high gates
will be burned
with fire.
The peoples will
labor for vanity,
and the nations
for the fire;
and they will
be weary.”
59 The
word which
Jeremiah the
prophet commanded
Seraiah the son
of Neriah, the
son of Mahseiah,
when he went
with Zedekiah the
king of Judah
to Babylon in the
fourth year of
his reign. Now
Seraiah was chief
quartermaster.
60 Jeremiah
wrote in a
book all the
evil that should come
on Babylon, even all
these words that
are written
concerning Babylon.
61 Jeremiah
said to Seraiah,
“When you come
to Babylon, then
see that you
read all these
words,
62 and
say, ‘LORD, you
have spoken
concerning this
place, to cut
it off, that
no one will
dwell in it,
neither man nor
animal, but that
it will be
desolate forever.’
63 It
will be, when
you have finished
reading this book,
that you shall
bind a stone to
it, and cast
it into the
middle of the
Euphrates.
64 Then
you shall say, ‘Thus
will Babylon sink,
and will not
rise again because
of the evil
that I will
bring on her;
and they will
be weary.’ ”
Thus far are
the words of
Jeremiah.