Jeremiah 51
1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and
against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a
destroying wind;
2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall
empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against
him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men;
destroy ye utterly all her host.
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they
that are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the
LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of
Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul:
be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he
will render unto her a recompence.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all
the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations
are mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm
for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her,
and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto
heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us
declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised
up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to
destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his
temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch
strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both
devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,
thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will
fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against
thee.
15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the
world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in
the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he
maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is
confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is
no breath in them.
18 They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of
all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his
name.
20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I
break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with
thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces
the young man and the maid;
23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his
flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen;
and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of
Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the
LORD.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the
LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon
thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a
stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the
nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms
of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses
to come up as the rough caterpillers.
28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the
captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.
29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the
LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a
desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have
remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they
have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet
another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have
burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The
daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a
little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath
crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a
dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall
the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall
Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause,
and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs
dry.
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an
astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions'
whelps.
39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith
the LORD.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams
with he goats.
41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth
surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the
multitude of the waves thereof.
43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a
land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of
his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow
together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every
man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
46 And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall
be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in
another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon
the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all
her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall
sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the
LORD.
49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at
Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still:
remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath
covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's
house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do
judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall
groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should
fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her,
saith the LORD.
54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from
the land of the Chaldeans:
55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her
the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their
voice is uttered:
56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her
mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of
recompences shall surely requite.
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her
captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual
sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall
be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people
shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of
Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into
Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon
Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and
shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
62 Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this
place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but
that it shall be desolate for ever.
63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this
book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of
Euphrates:
64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise
from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are
the words of Jeremiah.
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