Old Testament · Prophets

Jeremiah chapter 51

This is what Yahweh says: “Watch — I’m stirring up a 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 , the fatally wounded in her streets.”“Because Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, by Yahweh, the , even though their land was full of guilt against .”“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 of what Yahweh our God has done.”“Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the , because his 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 , rich with treasures — your end has come, .”Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, has : “I will fill you with enemy soldiers like a swarm of , and they will raise a battle cry against you.”“He made the earth by his . He established the world by his . 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 . Every metalworker is humiliated by his idols, because his cast images are frauds — there is no in them.”“They are worthless — . When their day of reckoning comes, they’ll be wiped out.”“ is not like these, because he shaped everything that exists, including the tribe that is his own . 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 shatter farmer and oxen. With you I shatter 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 ,” 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 — . 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 , 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 — . 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: “ is like a 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 , filled his belly with my , 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 and take your 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 , an object of horror and ridicule, with no one living there.”“Together they roar like . 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 sleep a and never wake up,” declares Yahweh.“I’ll bring them down like , 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 . 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 ,” 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.”“We are humiliated because we’ve heard insults. Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have entered in Yahweh’s house.”“So listen — the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her whole land the wounded will groan.”“Even if Babylon and fortifies her towering stronghold, destrayers will come against her from me,” declares Yahweh.“The sound of a scream from Babylon! The sound of massive destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!”“Because Yahweh is destroying Babylon and silencing her . Their waves roar like great waters. The thunder of their voice resounds.”“Because a destroyer is coming against her — against Babylon. Her warriors are captured. Their bows are broken. Because Yahweh is a . He always repays in full.”“I will make her officials and her wise men drunk, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors. They will sleep a permanent sleep and never wake up,” declares — Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, is his name.This is what Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, says: “Babylon’s will be leveled to the ground. Her towering gates will be set on fire. The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing. The nations’ hard work only feeds the flames.”This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah gave to son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. Seraiah was the .Jeremiah had written on a single all the disaster that would come on Babylon — all these words that are written about Babylon.Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, make sure you read all these words out loud.”“Then say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself have promised to destroy this place so that no one will live in it — no human, no animal — and it will be a .’”“When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the .”“Then say, ‘This is how Babylon will and never rise again, because of the disaster I’m bringing against her. And they will collapse.’” .