Jeremiah 51

¹Thus says Yahweh:

“Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon

²And I will send winnowers to Babylon,

and they will lay waste her land,

³Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow,

And you must not spare her young men;

⁴And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

⁵For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God,

though their land is full of guilt

⁶Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life.

For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh,

⁷Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh,

The nations drank of her wine.

⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered.

Take balm for her wounds,

⁹We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed.

for her judgment has reached to the heavens,

¹⁰Yahweh has brought forth our vindication.

¹¹Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!

Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it,

¹²Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner;

for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed

¹³O you who live by mighty waters, rich in treasures,

¹⁴Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself,

¹⁵He is the one who made the earth by his power,

¹⁶At the giving of his voice

and he causes the patches of mist

He makes lightning for the rain,

¹⁷All humankind turns out to be stupid,

Every goldsmith is put to shame

For his cast image is a lie,

¹⁸They are worthless,

At the time of their punishment,

¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like these,

Yahweh of hosts is his name.

²⁰He says, “You are a war club for me,

and I smash nations with you,

²¹And I smash the horse with you,

and I smash the chariot with you,

²²And I smash man and woman with you,

²³And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you,

²⁴And I will repay Babylon,

all their wickedness that they have done in Zion

²⁵“Look, I am against you,

And I will stretch out my hand against you,

²⁶They will not take from you

and a stone for a foundation,

²⁷Raise a banner in the land;

prepare for holy war against her;

the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;

²⁸Prepare the nations for holy war against her,

with their governors and all their officials,

²⁹And the land quakes and writhes,

to make the land of Babylon as a horror,

³⁰The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight,

their power has dried up,

Her dwelling places are set on fire,

³¹one runner runs to meet another runner,

to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured,

³²And the fords have been seized,

³³For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,

“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

just a little while

³⁴Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon

he has made me an empty vessel;

he has filled his belly with my delicacies;

³⁵“May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,”

and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”

³⁶Therefore thus says Yahweh,[#Literally “To thus”]

“Look, I am going to contend your case,

and I will cause her sea to dry up,

³⁷And Babylon will become as a heap of stones,

an object of horror, and an object of hissing,

³⁸They will roar together like the young lions,

³⁹At their becoming hot I will set their banquets,

so that they will fall into a swoon,

⁴⁰“I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter,

⁴¹How Sheshach is captured,

How Babylon has become as an object of horror

⁴²The sea has risen over Babylon,

⁴³Her cities have become as an object of horror,

a land in which no person lives,

⁴⁴And I will punish Bel in Babylon,

And the nations will not stream towards him any longer

⁴⁵Come out from her midst, my people,

⁴⁶Now so that you are not fainthearted,[#Literally “so that your heart is not timid”]

and in the year the rumor comes,

and violence is in the land,

⁴⁷therefore look, days are coming,[#Literally “to thus”]

and all her land will be put to shame,

⁴⁸Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them

for from the north

⁴⁹Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel,

⁵⁰Survivors of the sword, go!

Remember Yahweh from far away,

⁵¹We are ashamed,

disgrace covers our faces,

⁵²“Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh,[#Literally “To thus”; #Literally “a declaration of”]

⁵³Though Babylon goes up to the heavens,

⁵⁴The sound of a cry for help from Babylon,

⁵⁵For Yahweh is devastating Babylon,

Their waves roar like mighty waters,

⁵⁶For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,

Their bows are broken;

⁵⁷“And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men,

and they will sleep an everlasting sleep,

declares the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.

⁵⁸Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished,

and the peoples will labor for nothing,

and they will grow weary.”

The Scroll Concerning Babylon is Thrown into the Euphrates

⁵⁹The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was the quartermaster.[#Literally “official of the resting place”]

⁶⁰And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.[#Hebrew “disaster”]

⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “At your coming to Babylon, then you must see that you read aloud all these words.

⁶²And you must say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that there will not be in it anything living, from humankind to animals, for it will be an everlasting desolation.’[#Hebrew “animal”; #Literally “a desolation of eternity”]

⁶³And then when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.[#Literally “And it will happen”]

⁶⁴And you must say, ‘Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, because of the face of the disasters that I am bringing on her, and they will grow weary.’ ” Thus far the words of Jeremiah.[#Literally “from”; #Hebrew “disaster”; #Literally “Up to here”]