Jeremiah 51
Judgment on Babylon II
I. A God Who Speaks
vs. 1-12
“Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I
am going to arouse against Babylon And against the inhabitants of
Leb-kamai [Chaldeans] The spirit of a destroyer. [2] “I will
dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may
devastate her land; For on every side they will be opposed to her In
the day of her calamity. [3] “Let not him who bends his bow
bend it, Nor let him rise up in his scale-armor; So do not spare her
young men; Devote all her army to destruction. [4] “They will
fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, And pierced through in
their streets.” [5] For neither Israel nor Judah has been
forsaken By his God, the LORD of hosts, Although their land is full
of guilt Before the Holy One of Israel. [6] Flee from the midst
of Babylon, And each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her
punishment, For this is the LORD's time of vengeance; He is going to
render recompense to her.
[7] Babylon has been a golden cup in
the hand of the LORD, Intoxicating all the earth. The nations have
drunk of her wine; Therefore the nations are going mad. [8] Suddenly
Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her
pain; Perhaps she may be healed. [9] We applied healing to
Babylon, but she was not healed; Forsake her and let us each go to
his own country, For her judgment has reached to heaven And towers up
to the very skies. [10] The LORD has brought about our
vindication; Come and let us recount in Zion The work of the LORD our
God!
“[11] Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has
aroused 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,
vengeance for His temple. [12] Lift up a signal against the
walls of Babylon; Post a strong guard, Station sentries, Place men in
ambush! For the LORD has both purposed and performed What He spoke
concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.”
II. A God Who Acts vs. 13-24
“[13] O you who dwell by
many waters, Abundant in treasures, Your end has come, The measure of
your end. [14] The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely
I will fill you with a population like locusts, And they will cry out
with shouts 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 He stretched out the heavens. [16] When He
utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He
causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes
lightning for the rain And brings forth the wind from His
storehouses. [17] All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images
are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. [18] They are
worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they
will perish. [19] The portion of Jacob is not like these; For
the Maker of all is He, And of the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD
of hosts is His name.
[20] He says, “You are My war-club, My
weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, And with you I destroy
kingdoms. [21] “With you I shatter the horse and his rider,
And with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, [22] And with
you I shatter man and woman, And with you I shatter old man and
youth, And with you I shatter young man and virgin, [23] And
with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, And with you I shatter
the farmer and his team, And with you I shatter governors and
prefects. [24] “But I will repay Babylon and all the
inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion
before your eyes,” declares the LORD.”
III. A God Who Remembers vs.
25-40
“[25] “Behold, I am
against you, O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth,”
declares the LORD, “And I will stretch out My hand against you, And
roll you down from the crags, And I will make you a burnt out
mountain. [26] “They will not take from you even a stone for a
corner Nor a stone for foundations, But you will be desolate
forever,” declares the LORD. [27] Lift up a signal in the
land, Blow a trumpet among the nations! Consecrate the nations
against her, Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and
Ashkenaz; Appoint a marshal against her, Bring up the horses like
bristly locusts. [28] Consecrate the nations against her, The
kings of the Medes, Their governors and all their prefects, And every
land of their dominion. [29] So the land quakes and writhes, For
the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, To make the land of
Babylon A desolation without inhabitants. [30] The mighty men of
Babylon have ceased fighting, They stay in the strongholds; Their
strength is exhausted, They are becoming like women; Their dwelling
places are set on fire, The bars of her gates are broken. [31] One
courier runs to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To
tell the king of Babylon That his city has been captured from end to
end; [32] The fords also have been seized, And they have burned
the marshes with fire, And the men of war are terrified. [33]
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter
of Babylon is like a threshing floor At the time it is stamped firm;
Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her.””
“[34] “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and
crushed me, He has set me down like an empty vessel; He has swallowed
me like a monster, He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He
has washed me away. [35] “May the violence done to me and to
my flesh be upon Babylon,” The inhabitant of Zion will say; And,
“May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will
say. [36] Therefore thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am going to
plead your case And exact full vengeance for you; And I will dry up
her sea And make her fountain dry. [37] “Babylon will become a
heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing,
without inhabitants. [38] “They will roar together like young
lions, They will growl like lions’ cubs. [39] “When they
become heated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them
drunk, that they may become jubilant And may sleep a perpetual sleep
And not wake up,” declares the LORD. [40] “I will bring them
down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams together with male
goats.”
IV. A God Who Saves vs.
41-53
“[41] “How *Sheshak
[Babylon] has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been
seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!
[42] “The sea has come up over Babylon; She has been engulfed
with its tumultuous waves. [43] “Her cities have become an
object of horror, A parched land and a desert, A land in which no man
lives And through which no son of man passes. [44] “I will
punish Bel in Babylon, And I will make what he has swallowed come out
of his mouth; And the nations will no longer stream to him. Even the
wall of Babylon has fallen down! [45] “Come forth from her
midst, My people, And each of you save yourselves From the fierce
anger of the LORD. [46] “Now so that your heart does not grow
faint, And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the
land— For the report will come one year, And after that another
report in another year, And violence will be in the land With ruler
against ruler— [47] Therefore behold, days are coming When I
will punish the idols of Babylon; And her whole land will be put to
shame And all her slain will fall in her midst. [48] “Then
heaven and earth and all that is in them Will shout for joy over
Babylon, For the destroyers will come to her from the north,”
Declares the LORD. [49] Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain
of Israel, As also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have
fallen.”
“[50] You who have escaped
the sword, Depart! Do not stay! Remember the LORD from afar, And let
Jerusalem come to your mind. [51] We are ashamed because we have
heard reproach; Disgrace has covered our faces, For aliens 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 the mortally wounded will groan throughout her
land. [53] “Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, And
though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, From Me destroyers
will come to her,” declares the LORD.”
V. A God Who Judges vs.
54-64
“[54] The sound of an outcry
from Babylon, And of great destruction from the land of the
Chaldeans! [55] For the LORD is going to destroy Babylon, And He
will make her loud noise vanish from her. And their waves will roar
like many waters; The tumult of their voices sounds forth. [56] For
the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, And her mighty
men will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the LORD is a God
of recompense, He will fully repay. [57] “I will make her
princes and her wise men drunk, Her governors, her prefects and her
mighty men, That they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,”
Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. [58] Thus
says the LORD of hosts, “The broad wall of Babylon will be
completely razed And her high gates will be set on fire; So the
peoples will toil for nothing, And the nations become exhausted only
for fire.””
“[59] The message which
Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the
grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to
Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (Now Seraiah was
quartermaster.) [60] So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all
the calamity which would come upon Babylon, that is, all these words
which have been written concerning Babylon. [61] Then Jeremiah
said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, then see that you
read all these words aloud, [62] and say, ‘You, O LORD, have
promised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there will be
nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a
perpetual desolation.’ [63] “And as soon as you finish
reading this scroll, you will tie a stone to it and throw it into the
middle of the Euphrates, [64] and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon
sink down and not rise again because of the calamity that I am going
to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted.’” Thus far are
the words of Jeremiah.”
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