Jeremiah 51 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
This is what Yahweh says: "Watch — I'm stirring up a wind against Babylon and against those who live in
"I'll send foreigners against Babylon to her and strip her land bare. They will surround her from every side on the day of disaster."
"Don't let the archer string his bow. Don't let him stand tall in his armor. Don't spare her young men — her entire army."
"The slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, the fatally wounded in her streets."
"Because and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, by Yahweh, the of — even though their land was full of guilt against the all in
"Run from Babylon! Everyone save your own life! Don't be destroyed because of her corruption, because this is Yahweh's time for — he's paying her back what she deserves."
"Babylon was a in Yahweh's hand that made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, and that's why the nations
"Suddenly Babylon has fallen! She's shattered! Wail over her! Get for her wounds — maybe she can be healed."
"We tried to heal Babylon, but she couldn't be healed. Leave her! Let's each go back to our own country, because her reaches to the sky — it towers up to the clouds."
"Yahweh has us! Come, let's tell the story in Zion of what Yahweh our God has done."
"Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because plan is to destroy Babylon. This is Yahweh's payback — payback for
"Raise the against Babylon's walls! Strengthen the guard! Post the watchmen! Set the ambush! Because Yahweh has both planned and carried out what he promised against the people of Babylon."
"You who live by waters, rich with treasures — your end has come, the of is
Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, has by own life: "I will fill you with enemy soldiers like a swarm of locusts, and they will raise a battle cry against you."
"He made the earth by his power. He established the world by his wisdom. He stretched out the sky by his understanding."
"When he thunders, the waters in the sky roar. He brings clouds up from the ends of the earth, makes lightning flash in the rain, and releases the wind from his
"Every person is too to understand. Every metalworker is humiliated by his idols, because his cast images are frauds — there is no in them."
"They are worthless — a joke. When their day of reckoning comes, they'll be wiped out."
"The of is not like these, because he shaped everything that exists, including the tribe that is his own inheritance. Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, is his name."
"You are my my weapon of war. With you I shatter nations. With you I destroy kingdoms."
"With you I shatter horse and rider. With you I shatter chariot and driver."
"With you I shatter man and woman. With you I shatter old and young. With you I shatter young man and young woman."
"With you I shepherd and flock. With you I farmer and oxen. With you I governors and officials."
"And I will pay back Babylon and all who live in Chaldea for all the evil they did in Zion — right in front of your eyes," declares Yahweh.
"I'm against you, you of destruction," declares Yahweh — "you who destroy the whole earth. I'll stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and turn you into a
"No one will take a from you, no one a foundation stone, because you will be a wasteland forever," declares Yahweh.
"Raise a battle flag in the land! Blow the among the nations! Set the nations apart for war against her! Summon kingdoms against her — and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her. Send horses up like a swarm of bristling locusts."
"Set the nations apart for war against her — the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and every land under their control."
"The land shakes and in pain, because Yahweh's plans against Babylon stand firm — to turn the land of Babylon into a wasteland with no one living there."
"Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting. They sit in their fortresses. Their strength has dried up — they've women. Her homes are on fire. Her gate bars are broken."
"Runner chases runner, messenger chases messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from every side."
"The have been seized. The marshes are burning. The soldiers are panicking."
Because this is what Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, the God of Israel, says: "Daughter is like a floor at the time it gets trampled flat. Just a little longer and the time of her harvest will come."
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me. He crushed me. He set me aside like an empty dish. He swallowed me like a monster, filled his belly with my delicacies, then spit me out."
"The done to me and to my flesh — let it fall on Babylon!" says the one who lives in Zion. "My blood — let it fall on those who live in Chaldea!" says Jerusalem.
So this is what Yahweh says: "Watch — I'm going to case and take revenge for you. I'm going to dry up her river and make her springs run dry."
"Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a den for jackals, an object of horror and ridicule, with no one living there."
"Together they roar like lions. They growl like lion cubs."
"While they're hot with excitement, I'll prepare their feast. I'll make them drunk so they pass out laughing — then they'll a sleep and never wake up," declares Yahweh.
"I'll bring them down like to the slaughter, like rams alongside male goats."
"How has been captured! The pride of the whole earth has been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!"
"The has risen over Babylon. She's covered by its crashing waves."
"Her towns have become a wasteland — dry, parched land, a desert. A land where no one lives, where no human being even passes through."
"I will punish in Babylon and make him spit out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. Even Babylon's wall will fall."
"Get out of her, my people! Everyone save your own life from the of Yahweh!"
"Don't lose heart. Don't be afraid when rumors fly through the land. One rumor comes this year, another the next year — rumors of violence in the land, of ruler against ruler."
"So listen — the days are coming when I will punish Babylon's idols. Her whole land will be shamed, and all her dead will lie fallen inside her."
"Then the sky and the earth and everything in them will shout for joy over Babylon, because the destroyers are coming against her from the north," declares Yahweh.
"Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as the slain of the whole earth fell because of Babylon."
"You who escaped the sword — go! Don't just stand there! Remember Yahweh from far away, and let Jerusalem come into your mind."