Jeremiah 51
The LORD's Judgment on Babylon |
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 Chalde'ans, 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 recompense.
|
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; Rev. 17.2-4 ; 18.3 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, Rev. 18.5 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, Rev.
17.1 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 caterpillars; 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 vapors 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 Chalde'a 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 Ar'arat, Minni, and Ash'chenaz;
appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the
rough caterpillars.
|
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 forborne
to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath
failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places;
her bars are broken.
|
31 |
One post shall run to meet another, and
one messenger to meet another, to show 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 |
Nebuchadrez'zar 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 Chalde'a, 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
dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and a 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 rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall both
come one year, and after that in another year shall
come a rumor, 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: Rev. 18.20 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. Rev. 18.24
|
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
Chalde'ans:
|
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
recompenses 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 labor
in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be
weary.
|
59 |
The word which Jeremiah the prophet
commanded Serai'ah the son of Neri'ah, the son of Ma-asei'ah, when
he went with Zedeki'ah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth
year of his reign. And this Serai'ah 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 Serai'ah, 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 Euphra'tes:
|
64 |
and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon
sink, and shall not rise Rev. 18.21 from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be
weary.
Thus far are the words of
Jeremiah.
|