The Word Am I

The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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- Chapter 51 -

1
This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai (a) the spirit of a destroyer.
2
I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
3
Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction!(b)
4
And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,(c) and pierced through in her streets.
5
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.”
6
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.
7
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.
8
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
9
“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.”
10
“The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.”
11
Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers!(d) 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.
12
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.
13
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 up with men as with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”

Praise to the God of Jacob

(Isaiah 25:1–12)
15
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
16
When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
17
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
18
They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
19
The Portion of Jacob 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.

Babylon’s Punishment

20
“You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
21
With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver.
22
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.
23
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.
24
Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea (e) for all the evil they have done in Zion,”
25
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.
26
No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,”
27
declares the LORD. “Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn 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.
28
Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule.
29
The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30
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.
31
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.
32
The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”
33
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
34
“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.(f)
35
May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
36
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.
37
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals,(g) an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
38
They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.
39
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.
40
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41
How Sheshach (h) has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
42
The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves.
43
Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through.
44
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.
45
Come out of her, My people!(i) Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD.
46
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 of ruler against ruler.
47
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.
48
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,”
49
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.
50
You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
51
“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.”
52
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
53
Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD.
54
“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55
For the LORD will destroy Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. The waves will roar like great waters; the tumult of their voices will resound.
56
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.
57
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.
58
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.”

Jeremiah’s Message to Seraiah

59
This is the message 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.
60
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.
61
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,
62
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.’
63
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates.
64
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.

Footnotes

(a)51:1 Leb-kamai is a code name for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
(b)51:3 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
(c)51:4 That is, the Babylonians; also in verse 54
(d)51:11 LXX and some translations of the Hebrew; literally Fill the hand with the shields! or Take up the shields!
(e)51:24 That is, Babylonia; also in verse 35
(f)51:34 Or expelled me
(g)51:37 Or serpents or dragons
(h)51:41 Sheshach is a code name for Babylon.
(i)51:45 See Revelation 18:4.
1
The LORD says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
2
I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.
3
Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow, also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. Don’t spare her young men! Utterly destroy all her army!
4
They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5
For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, by the LORD of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6
“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Everyone save his own life! Don’t be cut off in her iniquity, for it is the time of the LORD’s vengeance. He will render to her a recompense.
7
Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, who made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
8
Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed.
9
“We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let’s each go into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
10
‘The LORD has produced our righteousness. Come, and let’s declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.’
11
“Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
12
Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13
You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14
The LORD of Armies has sworn by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts, and they will lift up a shout against you.’

Praise to the God of Jacob

(Isaiah 25:1–12)
15
“He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom. By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.
16
When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
17
“Every man has become stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image, for his molten images are falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18
They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
19
The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he formed all things, including the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name.

Babylon’s Punishment

20
“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21
With you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider.
22
With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin.
23
With you I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke. With you I will break in pieces governors and deputies.
24
“I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says the LORD.
25
“Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says the LORD, “which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain.
26
They won’t take a cornerstone from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate forever,” says the LORD.
27
“Set 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 Ashkenaz! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the swarming locusts!
28
Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!
29
The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30
The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire. Her bars are broken.
31
One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.
32
So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.”
33
For the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.”
34
“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out.
35
May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!” the inhabitant of Zion will say; and, “May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!” will Jerusalem say.
36
Therefore the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37
Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38
They will roar together like young lions. They will growl as lions’ cubs.
39
When they are inflamed, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the LORD.
40
“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41
“How Sheshach is taken! How the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
42
The sea has come up on Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43
Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells. No son of man passes by it.
44
I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.
45
“My people, go away from the middle of her, and each of you save yourselves from the LORD’s fierce anger.
46
Don’t let your heart faint. Don’t fear for the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come one year, and after that in another year news will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47
Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land will be confounded. All her slain will fall in the middle of her.
48
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, will sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers will come to her from the north,” says the LORD.
49
“As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so the slain of all the land will fall at Babylon.
50
You who have escaped the sword, go! Don’t stand still! Remember the LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”
51
“We are confounded because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house.”
52
“Therefore behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded will groan.
53
Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says the LORD.
54
“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55
For the LORD lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice! Their waves roar like many waters. The noise of their voice is uttered.
56
For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for the LORD is a God of retribution. He will surely repay.
57
I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Armies.
58
The LORD of Armies says: “The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown. Her high gates will be burned with fire. The peoples will labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they will be weary.”

Jeremiah’s Message to Seraiah

59
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.
60
Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,
62
and say, ‘LORD, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’
63
It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates.
64
Then you shall say, ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
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