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Chapter 51

The Second Oracle Against Babylon

    Thus says the Lord:
See! I rouse against Babylon,
    and the inhabitants of Chaldea,
    a destroyer wind.[a]
To Babylon I will send winnowers
    to winnow and lay waste the land;
They shall besiege it on every side
    on the day of affliction.(A)
How can the archers draw back their bows,
    lift their armor?
Do not spare her young men,
    put the entire army under the ban.(B)
The slain shall fall in the land of Chaldea,
    the wounded, in its streets;(C)
For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
    by their God, the Lord of hosts,
Even though the land is full of guilt
    against the Holy One of Israel.
Flee from Babylon;
    each of you save your own life,
    do not perish because of her guilt;
This is a time of retribution from the Lord,
    who pays out her due.(D)
Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the Lord
    making the whole earth drunk;
The nations drank its wine,
    thus they have gone mad.(E)
Babylon suddenly falls and is broken:
    wail over her!
Bring balm for her wounds,
    in case she can be healed.(F)
“We have tried to heal Babylon,
    but she cannot be healed.
    Leave her, each of us must go to our own land.”
The judgment against her reaches the heavens,
    it touches the clouds.(G)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
    come, let us tell in Zion
    what the Lord, our God, has done.(H)
11 Sharpen the arrows,
    fill the quivers;
The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,[b]
    for his resolve is Babylon’s destruction.
Yes, it is retribution from the Lord,
    retribution for his temple.(I)
12 Over the walls of Babylon raise a signal,
    reinforce the watch;
Post sentries,
    arrange ambushes!
For the Lord has both planned and carried out
    what he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who dwell by mighty waters,
    rich in treasure,
Your end has come,
    the time at which you shall be cut off!(J)
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
    I will fill you with people as numerous as locusts,
    who shall raise over you a joyous shout!
15 He made the earth by his power,
    established the world by wisdom,
    and by his skill stretched out the heavens.(K)
16 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar,
    he summons clouds from the ends of the earth,
Makes lightning flash in the rain,
    and brings out winds from their storehouses.
17 Every man is stupid, ignorant;
    every artisan is put to shame by his idol:
He molds a fraud,
    without life-breath.
18 They are nothing, a ridiculous work,
    that will perish at the time of punishment.
19 Jacob’s portion is nothing like them:
    he is the creator of all things.
Israel is his very own tribe;
    Lord of hosts is his name.
20 You are my hammer,
    a weapon for war;
With you I shatter nations,
    with you I destroy kingdoms.
21 With you I shatter horse and rider,
    with you I shatter chariot and driver.(L)
22 With you I shatter man and woman,
    with you I shatter old and young,
    with you I shatter the young man and young woman.(M)
23 With you I shatter shepherd and flock,
    with you I shatter farmer and team,
    with you I shatter governors and officers.
24 Thus I will repay Babylon,
    all the inhabitants of Chaldea,
For all the evil they committed against Zion,
    before your very eyes—oracle of the Lord.(N)
25 Beware! I am against you,
    destroying mountain—oracle of the Lord
    destroyer of the entire earth,
I will stretch forth my hand against you,
    roll you down over the cliffs,
    and make you a burnt mountain:(O)
26 They will not take from you a cornerstone,
    or a foundation stone;
You shall remain ruins forever—
    oracle of the Lord.(P)
27 Raise a signal in the land,
    sound the trumpet among the nations;
Dedicate nations for war against her,
    summon against her the kingdoms:
    Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;[c]
Appoint a recruiting officer against her,
    dispatch horses like bristling locusts.(Q)
28 Dedicate nations for war against her:
    the king of the Medes,
Its governors and all its officers,
    every land in its domain.
29 The earth quakes and writhes,
    the Lord’s plan against Babylon is carried out,
Turning the land of Babylon
    into a wasteland without inhabitants.
30 Babylon’s warriors have ceased to fight,
    they remain in their strongholds;
Dried up is their strength,
    they have become women.
Burned down are their homes,
    broken their gates.
31 One runner meets another,
    herald meets herald,
Telling the king of Babylon
    that his entire city has been taken.(R)
32 The fords have been seized,
    marshes set on fire,
    warriors panic.

33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
    at the time of treading;
Yet a little while,
    and the harvest time will come for her.(S)
34 “He consumed me, defeated me,
    Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;
    he left me like an empty vessel,
Swallowed me like a sea monster,
    filled his belly with my delicacies and cast me out.
35 Let my torn flesh be visited upon Babylon,”
    says enthroned Zion;
“My blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    says Jerusalem.
36 But now, thus says the Lord:
I will certainly defend your cause,
    I will certainly avenge you;
I will dry up her sea,
    and drain her fountain.
37 Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
    a haunt of jackals;
A place of horror and hissing,
    without inhabitants.(T)
38 They roar like lions,
    growl like lion cubs.(U)
39 When they are parched, I will set drink before them
    to make them drunk, that they may be overcome
    with everlasting sleep, never to awaken—
    oracle of the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to slaughter,
    like rams and goats.
41 How she has been seized, taken captive,
    the glory of the whole world!
What a horror Babylon has become among the nations:(V)
42     against Babylon the sea rises,
    she is overwhelmed by roaring waves!
43 Her cities have become wasteland,
    a parched and arid land
Where no one lives,
    no one passes through.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon,
    and make him vomit up what he swallowed;
    nations shall no longer stream to him.
Even the wall of Babylon falls!
45     Leave her, my people; each of you save your own life
    from the burning wrath of the Lord.

46 Do not be discouraged when rumors spread through the land; this year one rumor comes, next year another: “Violence in the land!” or “Ruler against ruler!”(W) 47 Realize that the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon; the whole land shall be put to shame, all her slain shall fall in her midst. 48 Then heaven and earth and everything in them shall shout over Babylon with joy, when the destroyers come against her from the north—oracle of the Lord.(X) 49 Babylon, too, must fall, you slain of Israel, because by the hand of Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen.

50 You who have escaped the sword,
    go, do not stand idle;
Remember the Lord from far away,
    let Jerusalem come to mind.
51 We are ashamed because we have heard taunts,
    disgrace covers our faces;
    strangers have entered sanctuaries in the Lord’s house.(Y)
52 Therefore see, the days are coming—oracle of the Lord
    when I will punish her idols,
    and throughout the land the wounded will groan.
53 Though Babylon scale the heavens,
    and make her strong heights inaccessible,
    my destroyers shall reach her—oracle of the Lord.(Z)
54 A sound of crying from Babylon,
    great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans;
55 For the Lord lays Babylon waste,
    silences her loud cry,
Waves roaring like mighty waters,
    a clamor resounding.
56 For the destroyer comes upon her, upon Babylon;
    warriors are captured, their bows broken;
The Lord is a God of recompense,
    he will surely repay.(AA)

57 I will make her princes and sages drunk, with her governors, officers, and warriors, so that they sleep an everlasting sleep, never to awaken—oracle of the King, whose name is Lord of hosts.

58     Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The walls of spacious Babylon shall be leveled to the ground,
    its lofty gates destroyed by fire.
The toil of the peoples is for nothing;
    the nations weary themselves for what the flames consume.(AB)

The Prophecy Sent to Babylon. 59 The mission Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah,[d] son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year of his reign; Seraiah was chief quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote down on one scroll the disaster that would befall Babylon;[e] all these words were written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you reach Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,(AC) 62 and then say: Lord, you yourself spoke against this place in order to cut it down so that nothing, human being or beast, could live in it, because it is to remain a wasteland forever. 63 When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates,(AD) 64 and say: Thus Babylon shall sink. It will never rise, because of the disaster I am bringing upon it.” Thus far the words of Jeremiah.

Footnotes

  1. 51:1 The destroyer wind is the fierce dry wind from the east (cf. 4:11).
  2. 51:11 Kings of the Medes: the Medes and the Persians lived in the area known today as Iran.
  3. 51:27 Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: regions in eastern Asia Minor under the control of the Medes.
  4. 51:59 Seraiah: the brother of Baruch; cf. 32:12. He may have gone to Babylon to explain away the presence of foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem that same year; cf. 27:3.
  5. 51:60 Jeremiah prophesied against Babylon, even as he foretold Judah’s release from Babylon’s power (3:14–18; 32:15; 33:6–9, 12–13); but his scroll against Babylon was thrown in the Euphrates (v. 63). Some of the preceding oracles may have been composed by later writers; see note on 50:1–51:58.

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]
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.
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.
They will fall(H) down slain in Babylon,[c]
    fatally wounded in her streets.(I)
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.

“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.
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.
Babylon will suddenly fall(R) and be broken.
    Wail over her!
Get balm(S) for her pain;
    perhaps she can be healed.

“‘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.’

10 “‘The Lord has vindicated(V) us;
    come, let us tell in Zion
    what the Lord our God has done.’(W)

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

  1. Jeremiah 51:1 Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
  2. Jeremiah 51:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  3. Jeremiah 51:4 Or Chaldea
  4. Jeremiah 51:5 Or Almighty, / and the land of the Babylonians
  5. Jeremiah 51:24 Or Chaldea; also in verse 35
  6. Jeremiah 51:35 Or done to us and to our children
  7. Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
  8. Jeremiah 51:54 Or Chaldeans