Jeremiah 51

Thus saith the Lord;

Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,

And against them that dwell in the midst of ^athem that rise up against me,

^bA destroying wind;

²And will send unto Babylon ^cfanners, that shall fan her,

And shall empty her land:

For ^din the day of trouble they shall be against her ^eround about.

³Against ^fhim that bendeth ^elet the archer bend his bow,

And against ^fhim that lifteth himself up in his ^gbrigandine:

And spare ye not her young men;

^hDestroy ye utterly all her host.

⁴Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,

And they that are ⁱthrust through ^kin her streets.

⁵For ^lIsrael 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.

^6mnFlee out of the midst of Babylon,

ⁿAnd deliver every man his soul:

Be not ^ocut off in her iniquity;

For ^pthis is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;

^qHe will render unto her a recompence.

⁷Babylon hath been ^ra golden cup in the Lord’s hand,

That made all the earth drunken:

^sThe nations have drunken of her wine;

Therefore the nations ^tare mad.

^8uBabylon is ^vsuddenly fallen and destroyed:

^wHowl for her;

^xTake balm for her pain,

If so be she may be healed.

⁹We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed:

^mForsake her, and ^ylet us go every into his own country:

For her judgment ^zreacheth ^aunto heaven,

And is lifted up even to ^athe skies.

¹⁰The Lord ^bhath brought forth ^cour righteousness:

Come, and ^dlet us declare in Zion

The work of the Lord our God.

^11eMake bright the arrows: gather ^fthe shields:

^gThe Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of ^hthe Medes:

For ⁱhis device is against Babylon, to destroy it;

^kBecause it is the vengeance of the Lord,

^kThe vengeance of his temple.

^12lSet up the standard upon the walls of Babylon,

^mMake the watch strong, ⁿset up the watchmen,

Prepare the ambushes:

For the Lord ⁱhath both devised and done

That which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.

^13oO thou that dwellest upon many waters, ^pabundant in treasures,

Thine end is come, and the measure of ^qthy covetousness.

¹⁴The Lord of hosts ^rhath sworn by himself, ^ssaying,

Surely I will fill thee with men, as with ^tcaterpillars;

And they shall lift up ^ua shout against thee.

^15vHe hath made the earth by his power,

He hath established the world by his wisdom,

And hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.

¹⁶When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens;

And he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth:

He maketh lightnings with rain,

And bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

¹⁷Every 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.

¹⁸They are vanity, the work of errors:

In the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like them;

For he is the former of all things:

And ^wIsrael is the rod of his inheritance:

The Lord of hosts is his name.

^20xThou art ^ymy battle axe and weapons of war:

For with thee will I break in pieces the nations,

And with thee will I destroy kingdoms:

²¹And 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;

²²With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman;

And with thee will I break in pieces ^zold and young;

And with thee will I break in pieces ^zthe young man and the maid;

²³I 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 ^acaptains and rulers.

^24bAnd I will render unto Babylon

And to all the inhabitants of Chaldea

^cAll their evil that they have done in Zion

In your sight, saith the Lord.

²⁵Behold, I am against thee, ^dO 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 ^ea burnt mountain.

²⁶And they shall not take of thee ^fa stone for a corner,

Nor a stone for foundations;

But thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord.

^27gSet ye up a standard in the land,

^hBlow the trumpet among the nations,

ⁱPrepare ^kthe nations against her,

Call together against her ^lthe kingdoms of ^mArarat, ⁿMinni, and ^oAshchenaz;

Appoint a ^pcaptain against her;

Cause the horses to come up as the rough ^qcaterpillars.

²⁸ⁱPrepare against her ^kthe nations with ^rthe kings of the Medes,

^aThe captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof,

And all ^sthe land of his dominion.

²⁹And ^tthe land shall tremble and sorrow:

For ^uevery purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,

To make the land of Babylon ^va desolation

^wWithout an inhabitant.

³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight,

They have remained in their holds:

Their might hath failed; ^xthey became as women:

^yThey have burnt her dwelling places;

^zaHer bars ^aare broken.

³¹One ^bpost shall run to meet another,

And one messenger to meet another,

To shew the king of Babylon

That his city is taken ^cat one end,

³²And that ^dthe passages ^eare stopped,

And ^fthe reeds they have burnt with fire,

And the men of war are affrighted.

³³For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;

The daughter of Babylon is ^glike a threshingfloor,

^ghIt is time to thresh her:

Yet a little while, and ⁱthe time of her harvest shall come.

³⁴Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon ^jhath devoured me, he hath crushed me,

He hath made me an empty vessel,

^kHe hath swallowed me up like ^la dragon,

He hath filled his belly with my delicates,

^mHe hath cast me out.

³⁵The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,

Shall the inhabitant of Zion say;

And my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,

Shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord;

Behold, ⁿI will plead thy cause,

And take vengeance for thee;

And ^doI will dry up ^pher sea,

And ^qmake her springs dry.

³⁷And Babylon shall become ^rheaps,

^sA dwelling place for ^ssdragons,

^tAn astonishment, and ^ta hissing,

^uWithout an inhabitant.

^38vThey shall roar together like lions:

They shall yell as ^wlions’ whelps,

³⁹In their heat ^xI will make their feasts,

And ^yzI will make them drunken, that they may rejoice,

^yAnd ^asleep a perpetual sleep,

^yAnd not wake, saith the Lord.

⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

Like rams with ^bhe goats.

⁴¹How is ^cSheshach taken!

And how is ^dthe praise of the whole earth ^esurprised!

How is Babylon become ^fan astonishment among the nations!

^42gThe sea is come up upon Babylon:

She is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

⁴³Her cities are ^fa desolation,

^hA dry land, and ^ha wilderness,

ⁱA land wherein no man dwelleth,

Neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴And I will punish ^kBel in Babylon,

And I will bring forth out of his mouth ^lthat which he hath swallowed up:

And the nations shall not ^mflow together any more unto him:

Yea, ⁿthe wall of Babylon shall fall.

^45oMy people, go ye out of the midst of her,

And ^odeliver ye every man his soul

^pFrom the fierce anger of the Lord.

⁴⁶And lest ^qyour heart faint,

And ye fear for ^rthe rumour that shall be heard in the land;

A rumour shall both come one year,

And after that in another year shall come a rumour,

And violence in the land, ^sruler against ruler.

⁴⁷Therefore behold, the days come,

That ^tI will do judgment upon ^tuthe graven images of Babylon:

And ^ther whole land shall be confounded,

And ^tall her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸Then ^vthe heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon:

For the spoilers ^wshall come unto her from the north, saith the Lord.

⁴⁹As Babylon hath caused ^xthe slain of Israel to fall,

^ySo at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

^50zYe that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still:

^aRemember the Lord afar off,

And let Jerusalem ^acome into your mind.

^51bWe are confounded, because we have heard reproach:

^bcShame hath covered our faces:

^ccFor strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

^52dWherefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord,

That ^dI will do judgment upon her graven images:

And ^dthrough all her land ^ethe wounded shall groan.

⁵³Though Babylon should ^fmount up to heaven,

And though she should ^ffortify the height of her strength,

Yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.

^54gA sound of a cry cometh from Babylon,

And great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

⁵⁵Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon,

And destroyed out of her the great voice;

When ^hher waves do roar like great waters,

A noise of their voice is uttered:

⁵⁶Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon,

And her mighty men are taken,

Every one of their bows is broken:

For ⁱthe Lord God of recompences shall surely requite.

⁵⁷And ^kI will make drunk ^lher princes, and ^lher wise men,

^mHer captains, and ^mher rulers, and her mighty men:

And ^kthey shall sleep a perpetual sleep, ^kand not wake,

ⁿSaith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus saith the Lord of hosts;

^oThe broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken,

And ^pher high gates shall be burnt with fire;

And ^qthe people shall labour in vain,

And ^qthe folk ^rin the fire, ^sand ^tthey shall be weary.

⁵⁹The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah ^tthe son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon ^uin the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was ^va quiet ^xprince. ⁶⁰So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even ^yall these words that are written against Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; ⁶²then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, ^zthat none shall remain in it, ^zneither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. ⁶³And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that ^athou shalt bind a stone to…