Jeremiah 51:1-58

The LORD's Judgment on Babylon

51¹ Thus says the Lord : "Behold , I am going to arouse against Babylon And against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai The spirit of a destroyer . ² "I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate her land ; For on every side they will be opposed to her In the day of her calamity . ³ "Let not him who bends his bow bend it, Nor let him rise up in his scale-armor ; So do not spare her young men ; Devote all her army to destruction . ⁴ "They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans , And pierced through in their streets ." ⁵ For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken By his God , the Lord of hosts , Although their land is full of guilt Before the Holy One of Israel . ⁶ Flee from the midst of Babylon , And each of you save his life ! Do not be destroyed in her punishment , For this is the Lord'S time of vengeance ; He is going to render recompense to her. ⁷ Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord , Intoxicating all the earth . The nations have drunk of her wine ; Therefore e the nations are going mad . ⁸ Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken ; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain ; Perhaps she may be healed . ⁹ We applied healing to Babylon , but she was not healed ; Forsake her and let us each go to his own country , For her judgment has reached to heaven And towers up to the very skies . ¹⁰ The Lord has brought about our vindication ; Come and let us recount in Zion The work of the Lord our God ! ¹¹ Sharpen the arrows , fill the quivers ! The Lord has aroused 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 , vengeance for His temple . ¹² Lift up a signal against the walls of Babylon ; Post a strong guard , Station sentries , Place men in ambush ! For the Lord has both purposed and performed What He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon . ¹³ O you who dwell by many waters , Abundant in treasures , Your end has come , The measure of your end . ¹⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself : "Surely e I will fill you with a population like locusts , And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you." ¹⁵ It is He who made the earth by His power , Who established the world by His wisdom , And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens . ¹⁶ When He utters His voice , there is a tumult of waters in the heavens , And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth ; He makes lightning for the rain And brings forth the wind from His storehouses . ¹⁷ All mankind is stupid , devoid of knowledge ; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols , For his molten images are deceitful , And there is no breath in them. ¹⁸ They are worthless , a work of mockery ; In the time of their punishment they will perish . ¹⁹ The portion of Jacob is not like these ; For the Maker of all is He, And of the tribe of His inheritance ; The Lord of hosts is His name . ²⁰ He says, "You are My war-club , My weapon of war ; And with you I shatter nations , And with you I destroy kingdoms . ²¹ "With you I shatter the horse and his rider , And with you I shatter the chariot and its rider , ²² And with you I shatter man and woman , And with you I shatter old man and youth , And with you I shatter young man and virgin , ²³ And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock , And with you I shatter the farmer and his team , And with you I shatter governors and prefects . ²⁴ "But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes ," declares the Lord . ²⁵ "Behold , I am against you, O destroying mountain , Who destroys the whole earth ," declares the Lord , "And I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags , And I will make you a burnt out mountain . ²⁶ "They will not take from you even a stone for a corner Nor a stone for foundations , But you will be desolate forever ," declares the Lord . ²⁷ Lift up a signal in the land , Blow a trumpet among the nations ! Consecrate the nations against her, Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat , Minni and Ashkenaz ; Appoint a marshal against her, Bring up the horses like bristly locusts . ²⁸ Consecrate the nations against her, The kings of the Medes , Their governors and all their prefects , And every land of their dominion . ²⁹ So the land quakes and writhes , For the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand , To make the land of Babylon A desolation without inhabitants . ³⁰ The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting , They stay in the strongholds ; Their strength is exhausted , They are becoming like women ; Their dwelling places are set on fire , The bars of her gates are broken . ³¹ One courier runs to meet another , And one messenger to meet another , To tell the king of Babylon That his city has been captured from end to end; ³² The fords also have been seized , And they have burned the marshes with fire , And the men of war are terrified . ³³ For thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor At the time it is stamped firm ; Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her." ³⁴ "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me, He has set me down like an empty vessel ; He has swallowed me like a monster , He has filled his stomach with my delicacies ; He has washed me away . ³⁵ "May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon ," The inhabitant of Zion will say ; And, "May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea ," Jerusalem will say . ³⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord , "Behold , I am going to plead your case And exact full vengeance for you; And I will dry up her sea And make her fountain dry . ³⁷ " Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals , An object of horror and hissing , without inhabitants . ³⁸ "They will roar together like young lions , They will growl like lions' cubs . ³⁹ "When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them drunk , that they may become jubilant And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares the Lord . ⁴⁰ "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter , Like rams together with male goats . ⁴¹ "How Sheshak has been captured , And the praise of the whole earth been seized ! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations ! ⁴² "The sea has come up over Babylon ; She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves . ⁴³ "Her cities have become an object of horror , A parched land and a desert , A land in which no e man lives And through which no son of man passes . ⁴⁴ " I will punish Bel in Babylon , And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth ; And the nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down ! ⁴⁵ " Come forth from her midst , My people , And each of you save yourselves From the fierce anger of the Lord . ⁴⁶ "Now so that your heart does not grow faint , And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land - For the report will come one year , And after that another report in another year , And violence will be in the land With ruler against ruler - ⁴⁷ Therefore behold , days are coming When I will punish the idols of Babylon ; And her whole land will be put to shame And all her slain will fall in her midst . ⁴⁸ "Then heaven and earth and all that is in them Will shout for joy over Babylon , For the destroyers will come to her from the north ," Declares the Lord . ⁴⁹ Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel , As also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen . ⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword , Depart ! Do not stay ! Remember the Lord from afar , And let Jerusalem come to your mind . ⁵¹ We are ashamed because we have heard reproach ; Disgrace has covered our faces , For aliens have entered The holy places of the Lord'S house . ⁵² "Therefore behold , the days are coming ," declares the Lord , "When I will punish her idols , And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land . ⁵³ "Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens , And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold , From Me destroyers will come to her," declares the Lord . ⁵⁴ The sound of an outcry from Babylon , And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans ! ⁵⁵ For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon , And He will make her loud noise vanish from her. And their waves will roar like many waters ; The tumult of their voices sounds forth . ⁵⁶ For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon , And her mighty men will be captured , Their bows are shattered ; For the Lord is a God of recompense , He will fully repay . ⁵⁷ "I will make her princes and her wise men drunk , Her governors , her prefects and her mighty men , That they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up," Declares the King , whose name is the Lord of hosts . ⁵⁸ Thus says the Lord of hosts , "The broad wall of Babylon will be completely razed And her high gates will be set on fire ; So the peoples will toil for nothing , And the nations become exhausted only for fire ."