Jeremia 51 | New International Reader’s Version

1 The LORD says, ‘I will stir up the spirits of destroyers. They will march out against Babylon and its people. 2 I will send other nations against it to separate the straw from the corn. I will send them to destroy Babylon completely. They will oppose it on every side. At that time it will be destroyed. 3 Do not let its soldiers get their bows ready to use. Do not let them put on their armour. Do not spare their young men. Destroy their armies completely. 4 They will fall down dead in Babylon. They will receive deadly wounds in its streets. 5 The land of Israel and Judah is full of guilt. Its people have sinned against me. But I have not deserted them. I am their God. I am the LORD who rules over all. I am the Holy One of Israel. 6 ‘People of Judah, run away from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of the sins of its people. It is time for me to pay them back. I will punish them for what they have done. 7 Babylon was like a gold cup in my hand. That city made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank its wine. So now they have gone crazy. 8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Weep for it! Get healing lotion for its pain. Perhaps it can be healed. 9 ‘The nations say, “We would have healed Babylon. But it can’t be healed. So let’s leave it. Let’s each go to our own land. Babylon’s sins reach all the way to the skies. They rise up as high as the heavens.” 10 ‘The people of Judah say, “The LORD has made things right for us again. So come. Let’s tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.” 11 ‘I have stirred up you kings of the Medes. So sharpen your arrows! Get your shields! I plan to destroy Babylon. I will pay the Babylonians back. They have destroyed my temple. 12 Lift up a banner! Attack Babylon’s walls! Put more guards on duty! Station more of them to watch over you! Hide and wait to attack them! I will do what I have planned. I will do what I have decided to do against the people of Babylon. 13 You who live by the rivers of Babylon, your end has come. You who are rich in treasures, it is time for you to be destroyed. 14 I am the LORD who rules over all. I have made a promise in my own name. I have said, “I will certainly fill your land with soldiers. They will be as many as a huge number of locusts. They will win the battle over you. They will shout for joy.” 15 ‘I used my power to make the earth. I used my wisdom to set the world in place. I used my understanding to spread out the heavens. 16 When I thunder, the waters in the heavens roar. I make clouds rise from one end of the earth to the other. I send lightning with the rain. I bring out the wind from my storerooms. 17 ‘No one has any sense. No one knows anything. Everyone who works with gold is put to shame by his wooden gods. His metal gods are fakes. They can’t even breathe. 18 They are worthless, and people make fun of them. When I judge them, they will be destroyed. 19 But I, the God of Jacob, am not like them. I give my people everything they need. I can do this because I made everything, including Israel. They are the people who belong to me. My name is the LORD Who Rules Over All. 20 ‘Babylon, you are my war club. You are my weapon for battle. I use you to destroy nations. I use you to wipe out kingdoms. 21 I use you to destroy horses and their riders. I use you to destroy chariots and their drivers. 22 I use you to destroy men and women. I use you to destroy old people and young people. I use you to destroy young men and young women. 23 I use you to destroy shepherds and their flocks. I use you to destroy farmers and their oxen. I use you to destroy governors and officials. 24 ‘Judah, I will pay Babylon back. You will see it with your own eyes. I will pay back all those who live in Babylon. I will pay them back for all the wrong things they have done in Zion,’ announces the LORD. 25 ‘Babylon, I am against you. Your kingdom is like a destroying mountain. You have destroyed the whole earth,’ announces the LORD. ‘I will reach out my hand against you. I will roll you off the cliffs. I will make you like a mountain that has been burned up. 26 No rock will be taken from you to be used as the most important stone for a building. No stones will be taken from you to be used for a foundation. Your land will be empty for ever,’ announces the LORD. 27 ‘Nations, lift up a banner in the land of Babylon! Blow a trumpet among yourselves! Prepare yourselves for battle against Babylon. Send the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz against it. Appoint a commander against it. Send many horses against it. Let them be as many as a huge number of locusts. 28 Prepare yourselves for battle against Babylon. Prepare the kings of the Medes. Prepare their governors and all their officials. Prepare all the countries they rule over. 29 The Babylonians tremble and shake with fear. My plans against them stand firm. I plan to destroy their land completely. Then no one will live there. 30 Babylon’s soldiers have stopped fighting. They remain in their forts. Their strength is all gone. They have become weak. Their buildings are set on fire. The metal bars that lock their gates are broken. 31 One messenger after another comes to the king of Babylon. All of them announce that his entire city is captured. 32 The places where people go across the River Euphrates have been captured. The swamps have been set on fire. And the soldiers are terrified.’ 33 The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘The city of Babylon is like a threshing-floor when cattle are walking on it. The time to destroy it will soon come.’ 34 The people of Jerusalem say, ‘Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has destroyed us. He has thrown us into a panic. He has emptied us out like a jar. Like a snake he has swallowed us up. He has filled his stomach with our rich food. Then he has spewed us out of his mouth.’ 35 The people continue, ‘May the people of Babylon pay for the harmful things they have done to us. May those who live in Babylon pay for spilling the blood of our people.’ That’s what the people who live in Zion say. 36 So the LORD says, ‘I will stand up for you. I will pay the Babylonians back for what they did to you. I will dry up their water supply. I will make their springs run dry. 37 Babylon will have all its buildings knocked down. It will be a home for wild dogs. No one will live there. People will be shocked at it. They will make fun of it. 38 All its people roar like young lions. They growl like lion cubs. 39 They are stirred up. So I will set a feast in front of them. I will make them drunk. And they will shout and laugh. But then they will lie down and die. They will never wake up,’ announces the LORD. 40 ‘I will lead them down like lambs to be put to death. They will be like rams and goats that have been killed. 41 ‘Babylon will be captured! The whole earth was very proud of it. But it will be taken over by others! It will be a deserted place among the nations. 42 Babylon’s enemies will sweep over it like an ocean. Like roaring waves they will cover it. 43 The towns of Babylon will be empty. It will become a dry and desert land. No one will live there. No one will even travel through it. 44 I will punish the god named Bel in Babylon. I will make Bel spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come and worship him anymore. And Babylon’s walls will fall down. 45 ‘Come out of there, my people! Run for your lives! Run away from my great anger. 46 You will hear about terrible things that are happening in Babylon. But do not lose hope. Do not be afraid. You will hear one thing this year. And you will hear something else next year. You will hear about awful things in the land. You will hear about one ruler fighting against another. 47 I will punish the gods of Babylon. That time will certainly come. Then the whole land will be full of shame. Its people will lie down and die there. 48 So heaven and earth and everything in them will shout for joy. They will be glad because of what will happen to Babylon. Armies will attack it from the north. And they will destroy it,’ announces the LORD. 49 ‘Babylon’s people have killed my people Israel. They have also killed people all over the earth. So now Babylon itself must fall. 50 You who have not been killed in the war against Babylon, leave! Do not wait! In a land far away remember me. And think about Jerusalem.’ 51 The people of Judah reply, ‘No one honours us anymore. People make fun of us. Our faces are covered with shame. People from other lands have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.’ 52 ‘But the days are coming,’ announces the LORD. ‘At that time I will punish the gods of Babylon. And all through its land wounded people will groan. 53 What if Babylon reached all the way to the heavens? What if it made its high walls even stronger? I would still send destroyers against it,’ announces the LORD. 54 ‘The noise of people screaming comes from Babylon. A terrible sound comes from its land. It is the sound of a mighty city being destroyed. 55 I will destroy Babylon. I will put an end to all its noise. Waves of enemies will sweep through it like great waters. The roar of their voices will fill the air. 56 A destroying army will come against Babylon. The soldiers in the city will be captured. Their bows will be broken. I am the LORD God who pays people back. I will pay them back in full. 57 I will make Babylon’s officials and wise men drunk. I will do the same thing to its governors, officers and soldiers. They will lie down and die. They will never wake up,’ announces the King. His name is the LORD Who Rules Over All. 58 The LORD who rules over all says, ‘Babylon’s thick walls will fall down flat. Its high gates will be set on fire. The nations wear themselves out for no reason at all. Their hard work will only be burned up in the flames.’ 59 Jeremiah the prophet gave a message to the staff officer Seraiah, the son of Neriah. Neriah was the son of Mahseiah. Jeremiah told Seraiah to take the message with him to Babylon. Seraiah went there with Zedekiah, the king of Judah. He left in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s rule. 60 Jeremiah had written about all the trouble that would come on Babylon. He had written it down on a scroll. It included everything that had been recorded about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, ‘When you get to Babylon, here’s what I want you to do. Make sure that you read all these words out loud. 62 Then say, “LORD, you have said you will destroy this place. You have said that no people or animals will live here. It will be empty for ever.” 63 Finish reading the scroll. Tie a stone to it. Throw it into the River Euphrates. 64 Then say, “In the same way, Babylon will sink down. It will never rise again. That is because I will bring such horrible trouble on it. And its people will fall along with it.” ’ The words of Jeremiah end here.

English Standard Version

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

1 Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,* 2 and I will send to Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land, when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble. 3 Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not stand up in his armor. Spare not her young men; devote to destruction* all her army. 4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets. 5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord of hosts, but the land of the Chaldeans* is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 “Flee from the midst of Babylon; let every one save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her. 7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. 8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies. 10 The Lord has brought about our vindication; come, let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. 11 “Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple. 12 “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up watchmen; prepare the ambushes; for the Lord has both planned and done what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut. 14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout 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 stretched out the heavens. 16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. 17 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. 19 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name. 20 “You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; 21 with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; 22 with you I break in pieces man and woman; with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth; with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman; 23 with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team; with you I break in pieces governors and commanders. 24 “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord. 25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the Lord, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain. 26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, declares the Lord. 27 “Set up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts. 28 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. 29 The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken. 31 One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side; 32 the fords have been seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic. 33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.” 34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his stomach with my delicacies; he has rinsed me out.* 35 The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,” let the inhabitant of Zion say. “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” let Jerusalem say. 36 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry, 37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant. 38 “They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions’ cubs. 39 While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, that they may become merry, then sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the Lord. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats. 41 “How Babylon* is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! 42 The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves. 43 Her cities have become a horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one dwells, and through which no son of man passes. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him; the wall of Babylon has fallen. 45 “Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every one save his life from the fierce anger of the Lord! 46 Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler. 47 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the Lord. 49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. 50 “You who have escaped from the sword, go, do not stand still! Remember the Lord from far away, and let Jerusalem come into your mind: 51 ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; dishonor has covered our face, for foreigners have come into the holy places of the Lord’s house.’ 52 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will execute judgment upon her images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me against her, declares the Lord. 54 “A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! 55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is raised, 56 for a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon; her warriors are taken; their bows are broken in pieces, for the Lord is a God of recompense; he will surely repay. 57 I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. 58 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.” 59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremia 51 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

The Utter Destruction of Babylon