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Jeremiah 51
International Standard Version
Jeremiah 51
International Standard Version
Judgment against Babylon
51 This is what the Lord says:
“Look, I’m going to stir up a destroying wind
against Babylon and the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.[a]
2 I’ll send foreigners to Babylon,
and they’ll winnow her,
and devastate[b] her land.
They’ll come against her from every side
on the day of her[c] disaster.
3 Don’t let the archer[d] bend the bow;
don’t let him rise up in his armor.
Don’t spare her young men.
Completely destroy her entire army.
4 The slain will fall in the land of Chaldea,
pierced through in her streets.
5 Indeed, Israel and Judah haven’t been
abandoned[e] by their[f] God,
by the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
although their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.”
6 Flee from Babylon,[g]
and each of you, escape with your life!
Don’t be destroyed[h] because of her guilt,
for it’s time for the Lord’s vengeance.
He is paying back what is due to her.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine,
therefore the nations have gone mad.
8 Suddenly, Babylon fell down and was shattered.
Wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound,
perhaps she will be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she wouldn’t be healed.
Leave her, and let each of us go to his own country.
For her judgment has reached to the heavens,
and is lifted up to the sky.
10 The Lord will vindicate us.
Come! Let us declare the work of the Lord our God in Zion.
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!
The Lord has stirred up the spirit
of the kings of the Medes—
he has decided to destroy Babylon.
Indeed, it’s the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for his Temple.
12 Lift up the battle standard[i] against Babylon’s walls.
Strengthen the guard;
post watchmen.[j]
Set men in position for an ambush.
For the Lord will both plan and carry out what he has
declared against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who live beside many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.[k]
14 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies
has sworn by himself:
“I’ll surely fill you with soldiers[l] like a swarm of locusts,
and they’ll sing songs of victory over you.”
Praise to the God of Jacob
15 He made the earth by his power.
He established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding he spread out the heavens.
16 When his voice sounds, there is thunder from
the waters of heaven,
and he makes clouds rise up
from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings wind out of his storehouses.
17 Everyone is stupid[m] and without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his own idols,
for his images are false,[n]
and there is no life in them.
18 They’re worthless, a work of mockery,
and when the time of punishment comes,[o]
they’ll perish.
19 The Portion of Jacob[p] is not like these.
He made everything,
including the tribe of his inheritance.
The Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name.
The Lord’s Instrument of Judgment
20 “You are my war-club and
weapons of war.
I’ll smash nations with you
and destroy kingdoms with you.
21 I’ll smash the horse and its rider with you.
I’ll smash the chariot and its rider with you.
22 I’ll smash man and woman with you.
I’ll smash old man and young boy with you.
I’ll smash young man and young woman[q] with you.
23 I’ll smash the shepherd and his flock with you.
I’ll smash the farmer and his team of oxen with you.
I’ll smash governors and officials with you.
24 “Before your eyes I’ll repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil that they did in Zion,” declares the Lord.
25 “Look, I’m against you, destroying mountain,
who destroys the whole earth,”
declares the Lord.
“I’ll stretch out my hand against you
and roll you down from the crags.
And I’ll make you a burned-out mountain.
26 They won’t get a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will be a wasteland forever,”
declares the Lord.
27 Lift up a battle standard in the land.
Blow a trumpet among the nations.
Consecrate the nations against her.
Summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni,
and Ashkenaz against her.
Appoint a commander against her,
bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28 Consecrate the nations against her,
the kings of the Medes, their governors, their prefects,
and every land under their domination.
29 The land quakes and writhes
because the Lord’s purposes
against Babylon stand firm,
to make the land of Babylon a waste without inhabitants.
30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They stay in their strongholds;
their strength is dried up;
they have become like women.
Her buildings are set on fire;
the bars of her gates are broken.
31 One runner runs to meet another runner,[r]
and one messenger to meet another messenger,[s]
to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been seized
from one end to the other.[t]
32 The fords have been captured,
and the marshes burned with fire.
The soldiers are terrified.
33 For this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
the God of Israel, says:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it’s pounded down.[u]
In just a little while, the time of her harvest will come.”
Judah’s Complaint against Babylon
34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me
and crushed me.
He set me down
like an empty vessel.
He swallowed me like a monster,
and filled his belly with my delicacies.
Then he washed me away.
35 May the violence done to me
and my flesh be on Babylon,”
says the inhabitant of Zion.
“May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Look, I’m going to argue your case
and take vengeance for you.
I’ll dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry.[v]
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a refuge for jackals,
a desolate place
and an object of scorn.[w]
38 They’ll roar together like young lions;
they’ll growl like lion cubs.
39 When they’re excited[x] I’ll serve them their banquet,
and make them drunk until they’re merry.
They’ll sleep forever and won’t wake up,”
declares the Lord.
40 “I’ll bring them down like lambs for the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
41 “How Sheshak[y] will be captured,
and the prince of all the earth seized!
How Babylon will become an object of horror
among the nations!
42 The sea will come up against Babylon,
and she will be covered by wave upon wave.[z]
43 Her cities will become an object of horror,
a dry land and a desert,
a land in which no one lives,
and through which no human being passes.
44 I’ll punish Bel[aa] in Babylon,
and I’ll make what he has swallowed
come out of his mouth.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
Even the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 “Come out of her, my people,
flee for your lives from the Lord’s anger!
46 Do this[ab] now, so your heart does not grow faint,
and so you don’t become frightened
because of the rumors[ac] that are heard in the land—
a rumor comes one year[ad] and then after it
another rumor[ae] comes the next year[af]
about violence in the land
and one ruler against another ruler.[ag]
47 Therefore, look, days are coming
when I’ll punish the idols of Babylon.
Her entire land will be put to shame,
and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 Then the heavens and the earth
and all that are in them
will shout for joy about Babylon
because the destroyers will come
out of the north against her,”
declares the Lord.
49 “So Babylon will fall
because of the slain of Israel,
even as the slain of all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.
50 Go, you who escaped the sword!
Don’t stand around!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51 We have been put to shame
because we have heard insults.
Disgrace has covered our faces because foreigners have
come into the Holy Places of the Lord’s house.
52 “Therefore, look, days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when I’ll punish her idols,
and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
53 Though Babylon should reach up to the heavens
and fortify her high fortresses,
from me destroyers will come to her,”
declares the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry is coming from Babylon,
great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.
55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon,
and he will make the loud sounds from her disappear.[ah]
Their waves will roar like many waters,
the noise of their voices will sound forth.
56 Indeed, the destroyer is coming against her,
against Babylon.
Her warriors are captured,
and her bows are broken.
For the Lord is a God of recompense,
and he will repay in full.
57 I’ll make their leaders, their wise men,
their governors, their deputies,
and their warriors drunk so that they sleep forever
and don’t wake up,”
declares the King
whose name is the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says:
“The broad wall of Babylon will be completely leveled,
and its high gate set on fire.
and so the peoples toil for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”
Jeremiah’s Symbolic Message against Babylon
59 This is[ai] the message that Jeremiah the prophet delivered[aj] to Neriah’s son Seraiah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote on a single scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these things that were written about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘Lord, you have declared about this place that you would destroy it so that there wouldn’t be an inhabitant in it, neither human nor animal, because it will be a wasteland forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock around it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64 Then say, ‘Babylon will sink like this and won’t rise from the disaster that I’m bringing on her. Her people[ak] will be exhausted.’”
This concludes the writings of Jeremiah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 I.e. a cryptogram for Chaldea
- Jeremiah 51:2 Lit. empty out
- Jeremiah 51:2 The Heb. lacks her
- Jeremiah 51:3 Lit. one who bends the bow
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit. widowed
- Jeremiah 51:5 Lit. his
- Jeremiah 51:6 Lit. from the midst of Babylon
- Jeremiah 51:6 Or silent
- Jeremiah 51:12 I.e. Give the signal to attack
- Jeremiah 51:12 Or guards
- Jeremiah 51:13 Or the measure of your unjust gain
- Jeremiah 51:14 Lit. men
- Jeremiah 51:17 I.e. like a beast
- Jeremiah 51:17 Lit. deception
- Jeremiah 51:18 Lit. at the time of their punishment
- Jeremiah 51:19 I.e. Portion of Jacob is a name for the Lord
- Jeremiah 51:22 Or virgin
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit. to meet a runner
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit. to meet a messenger
- Jeremiah 51:31 Lit. from the end
- Jeremiah 51:33 I.e. threshing floors were pounded and smoothed in preparation for an upcoming harvest
- Jeremiah 51:36 I.e. dry up the source of Babylon’s waters
- Jeremiah 51:37 Lit. hissing; i.e. as a sign of mocking and contempt
- Jeremiah 51:39 Lit. hot
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:42 Lit. its many waves
- Jeremiah 51:44 Bel was another name for Marduk, the sun god of Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. And
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. rumor
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. in a year
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. a rumor
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. in a year
- Jeremiah 51:46 Lit. a ruler against a ruler
- Jeremiah 51:55 Lit. perish
- Jeremiah 51:59 The Heb. lacks This is
- Jeremiah 51:59 Lit. commanded
- Jeremiah 51:64 Lit. They
Jeremiah 51
New International Version
Jeremiah 51
New International Version
51 This is what the Lord says:
“See, I will stir(A) up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon(B) and the people of Leb Kamai.[a]
2 I will send foreigners(C) to Babylon
to winnow(D) her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
in the day(E) of her disaster.
3 Let not the archer string his bow,(F)
nor let him put on his armor.(G)
Do not spare her young men;
completely destroy[b] her army.
4 They will fall(H) down slain in Babylon,[c]
fatally wounded in her streets.(I)
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken(J)
by their God, the Lord Almighty,
though their land[d] is full of guilt(K)
before the Holy One of Israel.
6 “Flee(L) from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.(M)
It is time(N) for the Lord’s vengeance;(O)
he will repay(P) her what she deserves.
7 Babylon was a gold cup(Q) in the Lord’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall(R) and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm(S) for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.
9 “‘We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave(T) her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment(U) reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.’
11 “Sharpen the arrows,(X)
take up the shields!(Y)
The Lord has stirred up the kings(Z) of the Medes,(AA)
because his purpose(AB) is to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will take vengeance,(AC)
vengeance for his temple.(AD)
12 Lift up a banner(AE) against the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard,
station the watchmen,(AF)
prepare an ambush!(AG)
The Lord will carry out his purpose,(AH)
his decree against the people of Babylon.
13 You who live by many waters(AI)
and are rich in treasures,(AJ)
your end has come,
the time for you to be destroyed.(AK)
14 The Lord Almighty has sworn by himself:(AL)
I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts,(AM)
and they will shout(AN) in triumph over you.
15 “He made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom(AO)
and stretched(AP) out the heavens by his understanding.(AQ)
16 When he thunders,(AR) the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain(AS)
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.(AT)
17 “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;(AU)
they have no breath in them.
18 They are worthless,(AV) the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
19 He who is the Portion(AW) of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including the people of his inheritance(AX)—
the Lord Almighty is his name.
20 “You are my war club,(AY)
my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter(AZ) nations,(BA)
with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider,(BB)
with you I shatter chariot(BC) and driver,
22 with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and young woman,(BD)
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.(BE)
24 “Before your eyes I will repay(BF) Babylon(BG) and all who live in Babylonia[e] for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.
25 “I am against(BH) you, you destroying mountain,
you who destroy the whole earth,”(BI)
declares the Lord.
“I will stretch out my hand(BJ) against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a burned-out mountain.(BK)
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor any stone for a foundation,
for you will be desolate(BL) forever,”
declares the Lord.
27 “Lift up a banner(BM) in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations for battle against her;
summon against her these kingdoms:(BN)
Ararat,(BO) Minni and Ashkenaz.(BP)
Appoint a commander against her;
send up horses like a swarm of locusts.(BQ)
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her—
the kings of the Medes,(BR)
their governors and all their officials,
and all the countries they rule.(BS)
29 The land trembles(BT) and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes(BU) against Babylon stand—
to lay waste(BV) the land of Babylon
so that no one will live there.(BW)
30 Babylon’s warriors(BX) have stopped fighting;
they remain in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become weaklings.(BY)
Her dwellings are set on fire;(BZ)
the bars(CA) of her gates are broken.
31 One courier(CB) follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,(CC)
32 the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,(CD)
and the soldiers terrified.(CE)”
33 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“Daughter Babylon(CF) is like a threshing floor(CG)
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest(CH) her will soon come.(CI)”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar(CJ) king of Babylon has devoured(CK) us,(CL)
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed(CM) us out.
35 May the violence(CN) done to our flesh[f] be on Babylon,”
say the inhabitants of Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”
says Jerusalem.(CO)
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“See, I will defend your cause(CP)
and avenge(CQ) you;
I will dry up(CR) her sea
and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt(CS) of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,(CT)
a place where no one lives.(CU)
38 Her people all roar like young lions,(CV)
they growl like lion cubs.
39 But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,(CW)
so that they shout with laughter—
then sleep forever(CX) and not awake,”
declares the Lord.(CY)
40 “I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.(CZ)
41 “How Sheshak[g](DA) will be captured,(DB)
the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate(DC) Babylon will be
among the nations!
42 The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves(DD) will cover her.
43 Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert(DE) land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no one travels.(DF)
44 I will punish Bel(DG) in Babylon
and make him spew out(DH) what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall(DI) of Babylon will fall.
45 “Come out(DJ) of her, my people!
Run(DK) for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger(DL) of the Lord.
46 Do not lose heart(DM) or be afraid(DN)
when rumors(DO) are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
47 For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols(DP) of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced(DQ)
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.(DR)
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout(DS) for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north(DT)
destroyers(DU) will attack her,”
declares the Lord.
49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.(DV)
50 You who have escaped the sword,
leave(DW) and do not linger!
Remember(DX) the Lord in a distant land,(DY)
and call to mind Jerusalem.”
51 “We are disgraced,(DZ)
for we have been insulted
and shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s house.”(EA)
52 “But days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish her idols,(EB)
and throughout her land
the wounded will groan.(EC)
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens(ED)
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers(EE) against her,”
declares the Lord.
54 “The sound of a cry(EF) comes from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction(EG)
from the land of the Babylonians.[h]
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon;
he will silence(EH) her noisy din.
Waves(EI) of enemies will rage like great waters;
the roar of their voices will resound.
56 A destroyer(EJ) will come against Babylon;
her warriors will be captured,
and their bows will be broken.(EK)
For the Lord is a God of retribution;
he will repay(EL) in full.
57 I will make her officials(EM) and wise(EN) men drunk,(EO)
her governors, officers and warriors as well;
they will sleep(EP) forever and not awake,”
declares the King,(EQ) whose name is the Lord Almighty.
58 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Babylon’s thick wall(ER) will be leveled
and her high gates(ES) set on fire;
the peoples(ET) exhaust(EU) themselves for nothing,
the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”(EV)
59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah,(EW) the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah(EX) king of Judah in the fourth(EY) year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll(EZ) about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate(FA) forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.(FB) 64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more(FC) because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people(FD) will fall.’”(FE)
The words of Jeremiah end(FF) here.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
- Jeremiah 51:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
- Jeremiah 51:4 Or Chaldea
- Jeremiah 51:5 Or Almighty, / and the land of the Babylonians
- Jeremiah 51:24 Or Chaldea; also in verse 35
- Jeremiah 51:35 Or done to us and to our children
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:54 Or Chaldeans
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New International Version (NIV) 
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