Jeremiah 51

1Thus says Yahweh: "Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against those dwelling in the heart of my foes a destroying wind."

2I will send foreigners to Babylon, and they will winnow her and empty her land, for on the day of calamity they stand against her from every side.

3Let the archer bend his bow against him who bends, and against him who lifts himself up in his scale armor; do not spare her young men—devote all her army to destruction.

4The slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the pierced in her streets.

5For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, Yahweh of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

6Flee from within Babylon and rescue your lives, every one of you; do not perish in her iniquity, for it is the time of Yahweh's vengeance—the recompense he repays her.

7Babylon is a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, intoxicating all the earth; nations drank her wine, so nations go mad.

8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and shattered; howl over her, take balm for her pain—perhaps she may be healed.

9We healed Babylon, but she was not healed; abandon her and let us go, each to his own land, for her judgment has reached the heavens and risen to the skies.

10Yahweh has made our righteousness appear: come, let us proclaim in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.

11Polish the arrows; fill the shields—Yahweh has roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for his purpose against Babylon is to destroy her, since it is Yahweh's vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

12Raise a banner over Babylon's walls, strengthen the watch, station watchmen, prepare ambushes—for Yahweh has both devised and carried out what he spoke against those dwelling in Babylon.

13You who dwell on many waters, great with treasures, your end has come, the measure of your greed.

14Yahweh of Hosts has sworn by his life: "Surely I will fill you with men like caterpillars, and they will raise a shout against you."

15He makes the earth by his power, establishes the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretches out the heavens.

16At the sound of his voice he appoints a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth wind from his treasuries.

17All people are brutish without knowledge; every founder is shamed by his carved image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

18They are vanities, works of error; in the time of their visitation they will perish.

19Jacob's portion is not like these; for he is the fashioner of all things, the rod of his inheritance—Yahweh of hosts is his name.

20You are my battle ax and implements of war, by which I will shatter nations and destroy kingdoms.

21With you I will shatter the horse and its rider, and with you I will shatter the chariot and its rider.

22And with you I will shatter man and woman, and with you the elder and the youth, and with you the young man and the virgin.

23With you I will shatter the shepherd and his flock, with you the plowman and his yoke, with you the governors and officials.

24I will repay Babylon and all who dwell in Chaldea for every evil they did in Zion before your eyes, says Yahweh.

25Look, I am against you, mountain of destruction, declares Yahweh, who destroys all the earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.

26They will not take from you a stone for a corner nor a stone for foundations, because you will be desolations forever, declares Yahweh.

27Raise a banner in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, consecrate nations against her, summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, appoint a captain against her, bring up horses like the rough locust.

28Appoint the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, her governors and all her princes, and all the land of his rule.

29The land quakes and writhes, because the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand—to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.

30Babylon's warriors have ceased to fight and remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed—they have become women; they have set her dwelling places ablaze; her bars are broken.

31One runner runs to meet another, one messenger to meet another, to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured at every quarter.

32The fords have been seized, they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war are terrified.

33For thus says Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; yet a little while, and the time of harvest will come for her.

34Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, devoured me and crushed me, made me an empty vessel, swallowed me like a dragon, filled his belly with my delicacies, and cast me out.

35"The violence against me and my flesh be upon Babylon," the inhabitant of Zion will say; "my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.

36Therefore thus says Yahweh: "Look, I will take up your contention and exact your vengeance; I will desolate her sea and dry up her fountain."

37Babylon will become heaps, a haunt for jackals, desolation and hissing, without inhabitants.

38Like young lions, they will roar together; like lions' whelps, they will growl.

39In their heat I will prepare their banquets and make them drunk, so they rejoice and sleep an eternal sleep without waking, says Yahweh.

40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with goats.

41How has Sheshach been captured, and the praise of the whole earth seized! How has Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

42The sea has arisen over Babylon; she is clothed with the multitude of its billows.

43Her cities have become a desolation, dry land and desert, a land where no man dwells and no son of man passes through them.

44I will avenge Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed; nations will not flow to him anymore—even the wall of Babylon has fallen.

45My people, go out from her midst and save your lives, every one of you, from Yahweh's burning anger.

46Lest your heart grow faint and you fear at the report heard in the land—a report will come one year, and after it in another year a report, with violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

47Therefore look, days are coming when I will punish Babylon's idols, and her whole land will be ashamed, and all her slain will fall in her midst.

48Heavens and earth, and everything in them, rejoice over Babylon, for destroyers will come upon her from the north, declares Yahweh.

49Just as Babylon caused Israel's slain to fall, so the slain of all the earth shall fall in Babylon.

50Fugitives from the sword, go on, do not halt; remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem rise in your hearts.

51We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; shame has covered our faces, because strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh's house.

52Therefore, behold, days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the slain will groan.

53Though Babylon ascends to the heavens and she fortifies the height of her strength, destroyers will come to her from me, declares Yahweh.

54A sound of outcry from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55For Yahweh devastates Babylon and destroys from her the great clamor; their waves roar like mighty waters, the tumult of their voice resounding.

56For a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon, and her mighty men are captured; their bows are shattered, for Yahweh God of recompenses will surely repay.

57I will make her princes drunk, her wise men, her governors, her rulers, and her mighty men; they will sleep an everlasting sleep and not awake, declares the King whose name is Yahweh of Hosts.

58Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon will collapse entirely, her high gates consumed by fire; peoples will toil to no purpose, nations for fire, and they will grow weary.

59The word Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign; Seraiah was chief of rest.

60Jeremiah wrote all the disaster that would come upon Babylon onto one scroll, all these words written concerning Babylon.

61Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, see and read all these words."

62And say, Yahweh, you have spoken about this place to annihilate it, so no inhabitant remains in it—neither human nor beast—for it shall become wastes forever.

63When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and hurl it into the middle of the Euphrates.

64And say: Thus will Babylon sink and not rise because of the calamity I am bringing upon her, and they will be weary. Up to this point are the words of Jeremiah.