JeremiahChapter 51

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¹This is what the LORD says:
"Look! I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer.
It will come against Babylon
and against the people of Leb-kamai.a ²I will send strangers to Babylon.
They will scatter her like straw in the wind.
They will empty her land.
They will come against her from every side
on her day of disaster.b ³Do not let the archer bend his bow.
Do not let him put on his armor.
Do not spare her young men.
Destroy her whole army completely! ⁴They will fall dead in the land of the Chaldeans.
They will be stabbed through in her streets. ⁵For Israel and Judah have not been left alone by their God,
the LORD of Hosts.
This is true even though their land is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Israel." ⁶Run away from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Don't be destroyed when she is punished.
For this is the time for the LORD to pay her back.
He will give her what she deserves. ⁷Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand.
She made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine.
So the nations have gone crazy. ⁸All of a sudden Babylon has fallen and been smashed.
Cry loudly for her!
Get healing ointment for her pain.
Maybe she can be healed. ⁹"We tried to heal Babylon.
But she could not be healed.
Leave her!
Let each of us go to his own land.
For her judgment reaches up to the sky.
It rises as high as the clouds." ¹⁰"The LORD has shown that we were in the right.
Come, let's tell in Zion
what the LORD our God has done." ¹¹Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the bags of arrows!
The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,
because his plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her.
For this is the LORD paying her back.
He is paying her back for what she did to his temple. ¹²Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.
Make the guard stronger.
Put the watchmen in place.
Get the surprise attack ready.
For the LORD has planned what he said against the people of Babylon.
And he has done it. ¹³You live by many waters.
You are rich in treasures.
But your end has come.
The thread of your life is cut. ¹⁴The LORD of Hosts has made a promise by himself:
"I will surely fill you with soldiers,
as many as a swarm of locusts.
They will shout in victory over you." ¹⁵The LORD made the earth by his power.
He set the world in place by his wisdom.
He stretched out the heavens by his understanding. ¹⁶When he thunders, the waters in the sky roar.
He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storerooms. ¹⁷Every person is foolish and knows nothing.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.
His metal idols are fake.
There is no breath in them. ¹⁸They are worthless.
They are things to laugh at.
When it is time to punish them, they will perish. ¹⁹The God who is Jacob's Portion is not like these.
For he is the Maker of all things,
and of the tribe that belongs to him.
The LORD of Hosts is his name. ²⁰"You are my war club.
You are my weapon for battle.
With you I smash nations.
With you I destroy kingdoms. ²¹With you I smash the horse and its rider.
With you I smash the chariot and its driver. ²²With you I smash man and woman.
With you I smash the old man and the boy.
With you I smash the young man and the young woman. ²³With you I smash the shepherd and his flock.
With you I smash the farmer and his oxen.
With you I smash the governors and officials. ²⁴You will watch as I pay back Babylon
and all who live in Chaldea.
I will pay them back for all the evil they did in Zion,"
says the LORD. ²⁵"Look! I am against you, you destroying mountain.
You destroy the whole earth," says the LORD.
"I will reach out my hand against you.
I will roll you off the cliffs.
I will make you a burned-up mountain. ²⁶No one will take a cornerstone from you.
No one will take a stone for a foundation,
because you will be an empty ruin forever,"
says the LORD. ²⁷"Raise a banner in the land!
Blow the ram's horn among the nations!
Get the nations ready to fight her.
Call the kingdoms to come against her.
Call Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Put a commander in charge against her.
Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts. ²⁸Get the nations ready for battle against her.
Get the kings of the Medes ready,
with their governors and all their officials.
Get all the lands they rule ready. ²⁹The earth shakes and twists in pain,
because the LORD's plans against Babylon will stand.
He plans to make the land of Babylon an empty ruin.
No one will live there. ³⁰The soldiers of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They sit inside their forts.
Their strength is gone.
They have become weak like women.
Babylon's homes have been set on fire.
The bars of her gates are broken. ³¹One runner races to meet another.
One messenger follows another.
They go to tell the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured. ³²The river crossings have been taken.
The marshes have been set on fire.
The soldiers are terrified." ³³This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
"The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is stomped down.
In just a little while her harvest time will come." ³⁴"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has eaten me up.
He has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty jar.
He has swallowed me like a monster.
He filled his belly with my best foods.
Then he threw me up. ³⁵May the violence done to me and to my body
fall on Babylon,"
says the one who lives in Zion.
"May my blood be on those who live in Chaldea,"
says Jerusalem. ³⁶So this is what the LORD says:
"Look! I will argue your case.
I will pay them back for you.
I will dry up her sea.
I will make her springs run dry. ³⁷Babylon will become a pile of broken stones.
Jackals will live there.
People will be shocked and will make fun of her.
No one will live there. ³⁸Her people will roar together like young lions.
They will growl like lion cubs. ³⁹While they are burning hot, I will serve them a feast.
I will make them drunk so they will party.
Then they will fall asleep forever.
They will never wake up," says the LORD. ⁴⁰"I will bring them down to be killed like lambs,
like rams and male goats. ⁴¹Sheshach has been captured!
The city praised by the whole earth has been taken!
Babylon has become a horror among the nations!c ⁴²The sea has risen over Babylon.
She is covered by its wild waves. ⁴³Her towns have become empty ruins.
They are a dry desert land.
It is a land where no one lives.
No human being travels through it. ⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon.
I will make him spit out what he swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
Even the wall of Babylon will fall. ⁴⁵Come out of her, my people!
Each of you, run for your lives!
Get away from the LORD's fierce anger. ⁴⁶Don't lose heart.
Don't be afraid when you hear rumors in the land.
One rumor will come one year.
Then another will come the next year.
There will be rumors of violence in the land.
There will be rumors of ruler fighting ruler. ⁴⁷So look! The days are coming
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Her whole land will be put to shame.
All her dead will lie fallen inside her. ⁴⁸Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
because the destroyers from the north will come against her,"
says the LORD. ⁴⁹"Babylon must fall because of Israel's dead,
just as people all over the earth have fallen dead because of Babylon. ⁵⁰You who have escaped the sword,
leave and don't wait around!
Remember the LORD in that faraway land.
Think about Jerusalem." ⁵¹"We are ashamed,
because we have heard people insult us.
Shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have gone into the holy places of the LORD's house." ⁵²"So look! The days are coming," says the LORD,
"when I will punish her idols.
All through her land the wounded will groan. ⁵³Babylon may climb up to the heavens.
She may make her high fort strong.
But I will still send destroyers against her,"
says the LORD. ⁵⁴"Listen! A cry comes from Babylon.
The sound of great ruin comes from the land of the Chaldeans! ⁵⁵For the LORD will destroy Babylon.
He will silence her loud noise.
The waves will roar like great waters.
The roar of their voices will ring out. ⁵⁶For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.
Her soldiers will be captured.
Their bows will be broken.
For the LORD is a God who pays people back.
He will pay back in full. ⁵⁷I will make her princes and wise men drunk.
I will make her governors, officials, and soldiers drunk too.
Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,"
says the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts. ⁵⁸This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Babylon's thick walls will be knocked flat.
Her high gates will be burned up.
So the people will work for nothing.
The nations will wear themselves out
just to feed the flames." ⁵⁹Jeremiah the prophet gave this message to Seraiah. Seraiah was the officer in charge of supplies. He was the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was in the fourth year that Zedekiah was king. ⁶⁰Jeremiah had written on one scroll about all the disaster that would come on Babylon. He wrote all these words that are written about Babylon. ⁶¹Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, be sure to read all these words out loud. ⁶²Then say, 'LORD, you have promised to destroy this place. You said no one will be left here, not people or animals. It will be an empty ruin forever.' ⁶³When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it. Then throw it into the Euphrates River. ⁶⁴Then say, 'In the same way Babylon will sink. She will never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will grow tired.'" This is the end of Jeremiah's words.