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57 I’ll make her leaders and sages drunk,
    her governors, officials, and warriors as well.
They will sleep forever, never to get up,
    declares the king,
        whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces.
58 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
    Babylon’s massive walls will come down,
        down to the ground;
        and its high gates will be burned to the ground.

People labor in vain;
    nations toil for nothing but ashes!

59 This is what the prophet Jeremiah instructed the staff officer[a] Seraiah, Neriah’s son and Mahseiah’s grandson, when Seraiah went to Babylon with Judah’s King Zedekiah in the fourth year of his rule.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:59 Or officer of rest, often translated as quartermaster

57 I will make her officials(A) and wise(B) men drunk,(C)
    her governors, officers and warriors as well;
they will sleep(D) forever and not awake,”
    declares the King,(E) whose name is the Lord Almighty.

58 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Babylon’s thick wall(F) will be leveled
    and her high gates(G) set on fire;
the peoples(H) exhaust(I) themselves for nothing,
    the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”(J)

59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah,(K) the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah(L) king of Judah in the fourth(M) year of his reign.

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