CHAPTER 51
This is what
the LORD
says:
“Behold,
I will stir up
against
Babylon
and against
the people
of Leb-kamai
the spirit
of a destroyer.
I will send
strangers
to Babylon
to winnow her
and empty
her
land;
for
they will come
against her
from every side
in the day
of her disaster.
Do not let the archer
bend
his bow
or
put on his armor.
Do not
spare
her young men;
completely destroy
her
army!
For
Israel
and Judah
have not
been abandoned
by their God,
the LORD
of Hosts,
though
their land
is full of
guilt
before the Holy
One of Israel.”
Flee
from
Babylon;
escape
with your
lives!
Do not
be destroyed
in her punishment.
For
this
is the time
of the LORD’s
vengeance;
He
will pay
her
what she deserves.
Babylon
was a gold
cup
in the hand
of the LORD,
making the whole
earth
drunk.
The nations
drank
her wine;
therefore
the nations
have gone mad.
Suddenly
Babylon
has fallen
and been shattered.
Wail
for her;
get her
balm
for her pain;
perhaps
she can be healed.
“We tried to heal
Babylon,
but she could not
be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each
of us go
to his own land,
for
her judgment
extends
to
the sky
and reaches
to
the clouds.”
The LORD
has brought forth
our vindication;
come,
let us tell
in Zion
what the LORD
our God
has accomplished.
Sharpen
the arrows!
Take up
the shields!
The LORD
has aroused
the spirit
of the kings
of the Medes,
because
His plan
is aimed at
Babylon
to destroy her,
for
it
is the vengeance
of the LORD—
vengeance
for His temple.
Raise
a banner
against
the walls
of Babylon;
post
the guard;
station
the watchmen;
prepare
the ambush.
For
the LORD
has both
devised
and
accomplished
what
He spoke
against
the people
of Babylon.
You who dwell
by
many
waters,
rich
in treasures,
your end
has come,
the thread of your life
is cut.
The LORD
of Hosts
has sworn
by Himself:
“Surely
I will fill you up
with men
like locusts,
and they will shout in triumph
over you.”
He made
the earth
by His power;
He established
the world
by His wisdom
and stretched out
the heavens
by His understanding.
When He thunders,
the waters
in the heavens
roar,
and He causes the clouds
to rise
from the ends
of the earth.
He makes
lightning
for the rain
and brings forth
the wind
from His storehouses.
Every
man
is senseless
and devoid of knowledge.
Every
goldsmith
is put to shame
by his idols,
for
his molten images
are a lie,
and there is no
breath
in them.
Jacob’s
Portion
is not
like these,
for
He
is the Maker
of all things,
and of the tribe
of His inheritance—
the LORD
of Hosts
is His name.
“You
are My war club,
My weapon
for battle.
With you I shatter
nations;
with you I bring kingdoms
to ruin.
With you I shatter
man
and woman;
with you I shatter
the old man
and the youth;
with you I shatter
the young man
and the maiden.
With you I shatter
the shepherd
and his flock;
with you I shatter
the farmer
and his oxen;
with you I shatter
the governors
and officials.
Before your very eyes
I will repay
Babylon
and all
the residents
of Chaldea
for all
the evil
they have done
in Zion,”
declares
the LORD.
“Behold,
I am against you,
O destroying
mountain,
you who devastate
the whole
earth,
declares
the LORD.
I will stretch out
My hand
against you;
I will roll you
over
the cliffs,
and turn you
into a charred
mountain.
No one
shall retrieve
from you
a cornerstone
or a foundation
stone,
because
you will become
desolate
forever,”
declares
the LORD.
“Raise
a banner
in the land!
Blow
the trumpet
among the nations!
Prepare
the nations
against her.
Summon
the kingdoms
against her—
Ararat,
Minni,
and Ashkenaz.
Appoint
a captain
against her;
bring up
horses
like swarming
locusts.
Prepare
the nations
for battle against her—
the kings
of the Medes,
their governors
and all
their officials,
and all
the lands
they rule.
The earth
quakes
and writhes
because
the LORD’s
intentions
against
Babylon
stand:
to make
the land
of Babylon
a desolation,
without an inhabitant.
The warriors
of Babylon
have stopped
fighting;
they sit
in their strongholds.
Their strength
is exhausted;
they have become
like women.
Babylon’s homes
have been set ablaze,
the bars of her gates
are broken.
One courier
races
to meet
another,
and messenger
follows
messenger,
to announce
to the king
of Babylon
that
his city
has been captured
from end to end.
For
this is what
the LORD
of Hosts,
the God
of Israel,
says:
“The Daughter
Babylon
is like a threshing floor
at the time
it is trampled.
In just a little while
her harvest
time
will come.”
“Nebuchadnezzar
king
of Babylon
has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside
like an empty
vessel;
he has swallowed me
like a monster;
he filled
his belly
with my delicacies
and vomited me out.
May the violence done to me
and to my flesh
be upon
Babylon,”
says
the inhabitant
of Zion.
“May my blood
be on
the inhabitants
of Chaldea,”
says
Jerusalem.
Therefore,
this is what
the LORD
says:
“Behold,
I will plead
your case
and take vengeance
on your behalf;
I will dry up
her sea
and make her springs
run dry.
Babylon
will become
a heap of rubble,
a haunt
of jackals,
an object of horror
and scorn,
without
inhabitant.
While they are flushed with heat,
I will serve
them a feast,
and I will make them drunk
so that
they may revel;
then they will fall asleep
forever
and never
wake up,
declares
the LORD.
How
Sheshach
has been captured!
The praise
of the whole
earth
has been seized.
What
a horror
Babylon
has become
among the nations!
Her cities
have become
a desolation,
a dry
and arid
land,
a land
where no
one
lives,
where no
son
of man
passes through.
I will punish
Bel
in Babylon.
I will make him spew out
what he swallowed.
The nations
will no
longer
stream
to him;
even
the wall
of Babylon
will fall.
Come out
from among her,
My people!
Save
your lives,
each of you,
from the fierce
anger
of the LORD.
Do not
let your heart
grow faint,
and do not be afraid
when the rumor
is heard
in the land;
for a rumor
will come
one year,
and then
another
the next year
of violence
in the land
and ruler
against
ruler.
Therefore,
behold,
the days
are coming
when I will punish
the idols
of Babylon.
Her entire
land
will suffer shame,
and all
her slain
will lie fallen
within her.
Then 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,”
declares
the LORD.
Babylon
must fall
on account of the slain
of Israel,
just as
the slain
of all
the earth
have fallen
because of Babylon.
You who have escaped
the sword,
depart
and do not
linger!
Remember
the LORD
from far away,
and let Jerusalem
come
to
mind.
“We are ashamed
because
we have heard
reproach;
disgrace
has covered
our faces,
because
foreigners
have entered
the holy places
of the LORD’s
house.”
“Therefore,
behold,
the days
are coming,”
declares
the LORD,
“when I will punish
her idols,
and throughout
her land
the wounded
will groan.
Even if
Babylon
should ascend
to the heavens
and fortify
her lofty
stronghold,
the destroyers
I send
will come
against her,
declares
the LORD.
The sound
of a cry
comes from Babylon,
the sound of great
destruction
from the land
of the Chaldeans!
For
the LORD
will destroy
Babylon;
He will silence
her mighty
voice.
The waves
will roar
like great
waters;
the tumult
of their voice
will resound.
For
a destroyer
is coming
against her—
against
Babylon.
Her warriors
will be captured,
and their bows
will be broken,
for
the LORD
is a God
of retribution;
He will repay in full.
I will make her princes
and wise men
drunk,
along with her governors,
officials,
and warriors.
Then they will fall asleep
forever
and not
wake up,”
declares
the King,
whose name
is the LORD
of Hosts.
This is what
the LORD
of Hosts
says:
“Babylon’s
thick
walls
will be leveled,
and her high
gates
consumed
by fire.
So the labor
of the people
will be for nothing;
the nations
will exhaust themselves
to fuel the flames.”
This is the command
that
Jeremiah
the prophet
gave
to the quartermaster
Seraiah
son
of Neriah,
the son
of Mahseiah,
when he went
to Babylon
with
King
Zedekiah
of Judah
in the fourth
year
of Zedekiah’s reign.
Jeremiah
had written
on
a single
scroll
about all
the disaster
that
would come
upon
Babylon—
all
these
words
that had been written
concerning
Babylon.
and say,
‘O LORD,
You
have promised
to cut off
this
place
so that no one
will remain—
neither man
nor
beast.
Indeed,
it will be
desolate
forever.’
Then you are to say,
‘In the same way,
Babylon
will sink
and never
rise again,
because of
the disaster
I
will bring
upon her.
And her people will grow weary.’”
Here
end
the words
of Jeremiah.