Jeremiah Chapter 51
1 Yahveh says,
“I’m going to stir up the spirit of the destroyer
against Babylon and the people in Leb-kamai.
2 I’ll send foreign winnowers to Babylon
to devastate its land.
On every side they’ll oppose it
at the time of its catastrophe.
3 Let the defending archer not bend his bow
or stand in his coat of mail.
Don’t spare the young men;
devote the whole army to destruction.
4 They’ll fall down dead in the land of the Babylonians,
pierced through in their streets.”
Jer 51:1-4
5 God, Yahveh of Hosts,
has not abandoned Israel and Judah
even though their land is full of guilt
in front of the Holy One of Israel.
6 Escape from Babylon;
save yourselves!
Don’t get destroyed in its punishment;
this is Yahveh’s revenge;
he’s going to render retribution to it.
7 Babylon has been a gold cup in Yahveh’s hand,
intoxicating the whole region.
The nations have drunk its wine;
so they’re acting crazy.
Jer 51:5-7
8 All of a sudden Babylon has fallen!
Wail for it!
Bring salve to heal its pain.
9 We tried to heal Babylon, but it didn’t heal;
so abandon it and get to your own country.
Its judgment has reached heaven;
it towers as high as the sky.
10 Yahveh has brought about our vindication;
let’s recount in Zion the work of Yahveh our God!
Jer 51:8-10
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quills!
Yahveh has stirred up the kings of the Medes
to destroy Babylon.
It’s Yahveh’s revenge for his Temple.
12 Raise up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
post a strong guard, station sentries, set men in ambush!
It’s Yahveh’s revenge for his Temple.
13 You that live by lots of water, abundant in treasures,
your end has come; your life cord’s been cut.
14 Yahveh of Hosts has sworn by himself:
“I’ll fill you with soldiers like locusts;
they’ll raise shouts of victory over you.”
Jer 51:11-14
A Hymn of Praise to Yahveh
15 He’s the One that made the earth by his power,
that established the world by his wisdom,
that stretched out the sky with his intelligence.
16 When he speaks, there’s thunder in the rain above;
he makes clouds rise up from the horizon,
makes lightning for the rain,
and brings wind out of his storehouses.
17 Every mortal is stupid and ignorant;
goldsmiths are disgraced by their idols
because their molten images misrepresent;
they can’t even breathe.
18 They’re worthless objects to ridicule;
when they’re punished, they perish.
19 Jacob’s portion is not like theirs.
His God has made everything;
Israel is his inheritance;
his name is Yahveh of Hosts.
Jer 51:15-19
Babylon’s Destruction
20 “You’re my battle-ax and weapon;
I’ll shatter nations with you;
I’ll destroy kingdoms.
21 I’ll break horse and rider in pieces,
22 chariot and occupant,
man and woman, young and old.
23 With you I’ll destroy shepherd and flock,
farmer and ox team,
governors and prefects.
Jer 51:20-23
24 “I’ll repay Babylon and the Babylonians
for the devastation they’ve brought on Zion
right in my presence,” Yahveh says.
25 “I’m against you, destroying mountain
that destroys the world.
I’ll reach out against you
and roll you down from the crags
and make you a burned-out ruble.
26 They won’t reuse from you
a cornerstone or foundation stone.
You’ll be as permanent wasteland.”
Jer 51:24-26
27 Set up a standard in the land;
blow the bugle among the nations.
Consecrate the nations against it;
summon Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against it;
bring on horses like bristling locusts.
28 Prepare the nations against it,
the kings of the Medes,
their governors and officials,
and every land they control.
29 So the ground shakes
because Yahveh’s intention against Babylon stands:
to make it an uninhabited wasteland.
Jer 51:27-29
30 The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting;
they’re staying in the barracks.
They’ve used up their strength
and become like women.
Their houses are on fire;
the bars of its gates are broken.
31 One courier runs to another,
one ambassador runs to another
to tell the king of Babylon
his city’s been captured from end to end.
32 They’ve seized the fords;
they’ve burned the fortifications;
the army is in panic.
Jer 51:30-32
33 Yahveh of Hosts, the God of Israel, says,
“Babylon is like a threshing floor tamped firm;
in a little while threshing will begin on it.
Jer 51:33
34 “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
has devoured me and crushed me.
He has set me down like an empty cup,
swallowed me like a monster,
filled his stomach with my delicacies,
and rinsed me out.”
35 Zion will say,
“May the violence done to us
be done to Babylon.”
Jerusalem will say,
“May my blood be on the people in Babylon.”
36 So Yahveh says,
“I’ll argue your case
and take full revenge for you;
I’ll dry up its River
and dry up its oasis.
Jer 51:34-36
37 Babylon will be a pile of rubble, a den for jackals,
something to abhor and gasp at;
nobody will live there.
38 They’ll roar together like young lions;
they’ll growl like lion cubs.
39 When they get hungry,
I’ll serve them their banquet.
I’ll make them drunk till they pass out
and put them to sleep forever.
40 I’ll bring them down like lambs to slaughter,
like rams and male goats for sacrifice.
Jer 51:37-40
41 “How Sheshak has been captured!
What the whole world praised has been seized!
How Babylon has become something to abhor among the nations!
42 The River has flooded Babylon,
swamped it in crashing waves.
43 Its towns have become something to abhor,
a parched land, a desert,
a land where nobody lives
and nobody visits.
44 I’ll punish Bel in Babylon
and make him vomit what he’s swallowed.
The nations won’t stream to him anymore;
even Babylon’s walls have fallen down!
Jer 51:41-44
45 “Get out of there, my people!
save yourselves from myY fury!
46 Don’t let your heart faint;
don’t be afraid at the report in the land
when a report comes one year,
another one comes a year later,
and violence is in the land
with ruler against ruler.
47 So the time’s coming
when I’ll punish the idols in Babylon.
Its whole land will be disgraced;
its slain will fall inside it.
48 Earth and sky and everything in them
will shout for joy over Babylon,
because its destroyers will come from the north,”
Yahveh says.
Jer 51:45-48
49 Babylon will fall in payment for the slain in Israel
and the whole region.
50 You that have escaped the sword,
leave! Don’t stay!
Remember Yahveh from afar
and keep Jerusalem in your mind.
51 We’re ashamed because we’ve heard reproof;
disgrace shows on our faces
because foreigners have entered
the holy places in Yahveh’s Temple.
Jer 51:49-51
52 “So the time’s coming
when I’ll punish its idols,
and the mortally wounded will groan throughout its land.
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the sky
and fortifies its lofty fortress,
destroyers will come to it from me,”
Yahveh says.
Jer 51:52-53
54 There’s an outcry from Babylon,
great destruction in the land of the Babylonians!
55 Yahveh is going to destroy it
and quiet its loud noise.
The waves of enemies will roar,
and the noise from their uproar will increase.
56 The destroyer is coming against Babylon;
he’ll capture its strong men.
Yahveh is a God that exacts recompense;
he’ll fully repay.
57 “I’ll make its officials and wise men drunk,
its governors, officers, and strong men too;
they’ll sleep forever,”
the King says, whose name is Yahveh of Hosts.
58 “Babylon’s thick walls will be completely torn down,
its massive gates set on fire;
so the nations will have worked for nothing;
the builders will have worn themselves out
only to get their work burned.”
Jer 51:54-58
59 The Message Jeremiah Gave to Seraiah Ben-Neriah,
Grandson of Mahseiah, When He Went with Zedekiah, King of Judah,
to Babylon in the Fourth Year of His Reign
(Seraiah Was Quartermaster.)
60 Jeremiah wrote in one scroll the catastrophe to come on Babylon. 61 He told Seraiah,
“As soon as you get to Babylon, read this message out loud: 62 ‘Yahveh, you’ve promised to cut this place off so nothing will live in it, people or animals, so it’ll be a permanent desolation.’ 63 As soon as you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and not float back up because of the catastrophe I’m going to bring on it. The workers will have worn themselves out for nothing.’”
Jeremiah’s message ends here.
Jer 51:59-64