Jeremiah 51

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1. 1This is what the LORD says: 'I am going to stir up a destroying wind against Babylon and against those who live among those who rise up against me.'
2. 2I will send winnowers to Babylon, who will winnow her and empty her land, for in the day of trouble they will surround her on every side.
3. 3"Let the archers draw their bows against Babylon's archers! Attack the soldiers in their armor! Don't spare her young men — wipe out her entire army!"
4. 4Her people will fall dead in the land of the Chaldeans, cut down in her streets.
5. 5Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Armies — even though their land was full of sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6. 6Run from Babylon! Deliver every man his soul! Don't be destroyed because of her sin, because this is the time of the LORD's vengeance. He is paying her back for what she has done.
7. 7Babylon was like a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, and it drove them mad.
8. 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered! Weep for her! Bring medicine for her wounds — maybe she can still be healed.
9. 9"We tried to heal Babylon, but she couldn't be healed. Leave her behind, and let each of us return to our own country. Her judgment reaches up to the heavens — it towers to the skies."
10. 10"The LORD has vindicated us! Come, let's tell everyone in Zion what the LORD our God has done."
11. 11"Sharpen the arrows! Grab the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his plan is to destroy Babylon. This is the LORD's vengeance — vengeance for his temple."
12. 12"Raise the battle flag against Babylon's walls! Strengthen the guard! Post the watchmen! Set your ambushes! The LORD has both planned and carried out everything he declared against the people of Babylon."
13. 13You who live by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, and the measure of your greed.
14. 14The LORD of Armies has sworn by himself: "I will fill you with enemy soldiers as thick as swarming locusts, and they will raise a victory shout against you."
15. 15He made the earth by his power. He established the world by his wisdom. He stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
16. 16When he speaks, the waters in the heavens roar. He draws up clouds from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.
17. 17Every man is senseless by his knowledge; every metalworker is put to shame by the carved image, for his cast image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18. 18They are worthless, the product of deception. When the time of judgment comes, they will be destroyed.
19. 19The portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of hosts is his name.
20. 20"You are my war club, my weapon of battle. With you I will shatter nations. With you I will bring down kingdoms."
21. 21"With you I will shatter the horse and its rider. With you I will shatter the chariot and its driver."
22. 22"With you I will shatter men and women. With you I will shatter the old and the young. With you I will shatter young men and young women."
23. 23"With you I will shatter the shepherd and his flock. With you I will shatter the farmer and his oxen. With you I will shatter governors and officials."
24. 24"But I will repay Babylon and all who live in Chaldea for every evil thing they did to Zion — right before your eyes," declares the LORD.
25. 25"I am against you, you mountain of destruction," declares the LORD, "you who destroy the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and turn you into a scorched mountain."
26. 26"No one will take a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you, because you will lie in ruins forever," declares the LORD.
27. 27"Raise a battle flag throughout the land! Sound the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for war against her! Summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz against her! Appoint a commander against her! Send horses charging in like swarms of locusts!"
28. 28"Prepare the nations for battle against her — the kings of the Medes, their governors, all their officials, and every territory they control!"
29. 29The land trembles and writhes in agony, because every one of the LORD's plans against Babylon will be carried out — to turn the land of Babylon into an empty wasteland with no one living in it.
30. 30Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting. They stay in their fortresses. Their strength has failed; they have become like women. Her buildings are set on fire. The bars on her gates are smashed.
31. 31One runner will meet another, and one messenger will meet another, to inform the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end.
32. 32The river crossings have been seized, the marshes set ablaze, and the soldiers are paralyzed with fear.
33. 33The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Babylon is like a threshing floor at harvest time — the moment to thresh her has come. Very soon, her time of reaping will arrive."
34. 34Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has devoured and crushed me. He has made me like an empty container and swallowed me like a dragon. He has filled his belly with my finest things and thrown me out.
35. 35The people of Zion will say, "May the violence done to us and our people fall on Babylon!" And Jerusalem will say, "May our blood be on the heads of those who live in Chaldea!"
36. 36So the LORD says: "I will take up your case and get justice for you. I will dry up Babylon's river and drain her springs."
37. 37"Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a den for jackals — an object of horror and mockery, with no one living there."
38. 38"Her people roar together like young lions; they growl like lion cubs."
39. 39"While they are flushed with excitement, I will prepare a feast for them. I will make them so drunk that they celebrate wildly — then fall into an eternal sleep and never wake up," declares the LORD.
40. 40"I will lead them down to slaughter like lambs, like rams and goats."
41. 41"How Sheshach has been captured! The city praised by the whole earth has been seized! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!"
42. 42"The sea has risen over Babylon; she is buried under its crashing waves."
43. 43"Her cities have become wastelands — dry, barren desert where no one lives and no one even passes through."
44. 44"I will punish Bel in Babylon and force him to spit out what he swallowed. Nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon will fall."
45. 45My people, leave the midst of her, and deliver each person his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
46. 46"Don't lose heart, and don't be afraid when rumors sweep through the land. One rumor will come one year, and another the next — rumors of violence in the land, of ruler fighting against ruler."
47. 47"The days are surely coming when I will punish Babylon's carved idols. Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her dead will lie scattered within her."
48. 48"Then the heavens and the earth and everything in them will shout for joy over Babylon, because the destroyers will come against her from the north," declares the LORD.
49. 49"Just as Babylon caused the people of Israel to fall, so the people of the whole earth will fall at Babylon."
50. 50"You who survived the sword, go! Don't just stand there! Remember the LORD even though you are far away, and keep Jerusalem in your thoughts."
51. 51"We are ashamed because we have heard insults. Disgrace covers our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD's house."
52. 52"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish her carved idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan in agony."
53. 53"Even if Babylon could climb up to the heavens and fortify her strongholds at impossible heights, I would still send destroyers against her," declares the LORD.
54. 54"Listen! A cry of anguish rises from Babylon — the sound of massive destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!"
55. 55Because the LORD has devastated Babylon and silenced her great voice; when her waves roar like mighty waters, the sound of their voice is heard.
56. 56A destroyer has come against Babylon. Her warriors are captured. Their bows are snapped in pieces, because the LORD is a God of justice — he always pays back in full.
57. 57"I will make her officials, wise men, governors, commanders, and warriors drunk. They will fall into an eternal sleep and never wake up," says the King, whose name is the LORD of Armies.
58. 58The LORD of Armies says: "Babylon's thick walls will be completely demolished, and her towering gates will be burned to the ground. The nations have exhausted themselves for nothing — all their labor will go up in flames."
59. 59The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
60. 60Jeremiah had written on a scroll all the disasters that would come upon Babylon — everything recorded in these prophecies against her.
61. 61Jeremiah told Seraiah, "When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read all these words aloud."
62. 62Then you shall say, 'O LORD, you have spoken against this place to destroy it, so that no one will remain in it, neither man nor beast, and it will be desolate forever.'
63. 63"When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River."
64. 64"Then say, 'This is how Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I am bringing on her. Her people will collapse from exhaustion.'" This concludes the words of Jeremiah.