Jeremiah 51:1-46

Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am going to stir up and put into action [a fury] against Babylon And against the [rebellious] people of Leb-kamai (Chaldea) A destroying wind and hostile spirit; And I will send foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate and empty her land; For in the day of destruction They will be against her on every side. “Do not let him (the Chaldean defender) who bends his bow bend it, Nor let him rise up in his coat of armor. So do not spare her young men; Devote her entire army to destruction. “They shall fall down dead in the land of the Chaldeans, And wounded in her streets.” ¶For neither Israel nor Judah has been abandoned By his God, the LORD of hosts, Though their land is full of sin and guilt Before the Holy One of Israel. Flee out of Babylon, Let every one of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, For this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; He is going to pay her what she has earned. [Jer 50:28; 2 Cor 6:17; Rev 18:4] Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, Intoxicating all the earth. The nations drank her wine; Therefore the nations have gone mad. [Rev 14:8; 17:4] Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered! Wail for her [if you care to]! Get balm for her [incurable] pain; Perhaps she may be healed. [Jer 25:15; Rev 14:8-10; 16:19; 18:2, 3] We would have healed Babylon, but she was not to be healed. Abandon her and let each [captive] return to his own country, For her guilt and judgment have reached to heaven And are lifted up to the very skies. [Gen 18:20, 21] The LORD has brought about our vindication and has revealed the righteousness of our cause; Come and let us proclaim in Zion The work of the LORD our God! ¶Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields [and cover yourselves]! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it; For that is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance [on Babylon] for [plundering and destroying] His temple. Set up a signal on the walls of Babylon [to spread the news]; Post a strong blockade, Station the guards, Prepare the men for ambush! For the LORD has both purposed and done That which He spoke against the people of Babylon. [O Babylon] you who live by many waters, Rich in treasures, Your end has come, And the line measuring your life is cut. [Rev 17:1-6] The LORD of hosts has sworn [an oath] by Himself, saying, “Surely I will fill you with men, as with [a swarm of] locusts [who strip the land clean], And they will lift up a song and shout of victory over you.” ¶He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom And stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every man has become stupid and brutelike, without knowledge [of God]; Every goldsmith is shamed by the cast images he has made; For his molten idols are a lie, And there is no breath [of life] or spirit in them. They are worthless (empty, false, futile), a work of delusion and worthy of derision; In the time of their inspection and punishment they will perish. The Portion of Jacob [the true God of Israel] is not like these [handmade gods]; For He is the Maker of all and the One who formed and fashioned all things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance— The LORD of hosts is His name. [Jer 10:12-16] “You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-axe and weapon of war— For with you I shatter nations, With you I destroy kingdoms. “With you I shatter the horse and his rider, With you I shatter the chariot and its driver, With you I shatter man and woman, With you I shatter old man and youth, With you I shatter young man and virgin, With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, With you I shatter the farmer and his yoke of oxen, And with you I shatter governors and commanders. “And I will [completely] repay Babylon and all the people of Chaldea for all the evil that they have done in Zion—before your very eyes [I will do it],” says the LORD. “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain [conqueror of nations], Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD, “I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the [rugged] cliffs, And will make you a burnt mountain (extinct volcano). “They will not take from you [even] a stone for a cornerstone Nor any rock for a foundation, But you will be desolate forever,” says the LORD. ¶Lift up a signal in the land [to spread the news]! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Dedicate the nations [for war] against her; Call against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; Cause the horses to come up like bristly locusts [with their wings not yet released from their cases]. Prepare and dedicate the nations for war against her— The kings of Media, With their governors and commanders, And every land of their dominion. The land trembles and writhes [in pain and sorrow], For the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, To make the land of Babylon A desolation without inhabitants. The mighty warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight; They remain in their strongholds. Their strength and power have failed; They are becoming [weak and helpless] like women. Their dwelling places are set on fire; The bars on her gates are broken. 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; And that the fords [across the Euphrates] have been blocked and [the ferries] seized, And they have set the [great] marshes on fire, And the men of war are terrified. 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 being trampled and prepared; Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her.” ¶“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, He has set me down like an empty vessel. Like a monster he has swallowed me up, He has filled his belly with my delicacies; He has spit me out and washed me away. “May the violence done to me and to my flesh and blood be upon Babylon,” The inhabitant of Zion will say; And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say. Therefore thus says the LORD, “Behold, I will plead your case And take full vengeance for you; I will dry up her sea and great reservoir And make her fountain dry. “Babylon will become a heap [of ruins], a haunt and dwelling place of jackals, An object of horror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing [of scorn and amazement], without inhabitants. “They (the Chaldean lords) will be roaring together [before their sudden capture] like young lions [roaring over their prey], They (the princes) will be growling like lions’ cubs. “When they are inflamed [with wine and lust during their drinking bouts], I will prepare them a feast [of My wrath] And make them drunk, that they may rejoice And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up,” declares the LORD. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams together with male goats. ¶“How Sheshak (Babylon) has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror among the nations! “The sea has come up over Babylon; She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves. “Her cities have become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror, A parched land and a desert, A land in which no one lives, And through which no son of man passes. “I will punish and judge Bel [the handmade god] in Babylon And take out of his mouth what he has swallowed up [the stolen sacred articles and the captives of Judah and elsewhere]. The nations will no longer flow to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon has fallen down! ¶“Come out of her midst, My people, And each of you [escape and] save yourself From the fierce anger of the LORD. [Jer 50:8; 2 Cor 6:17; Rev 18:4] “Now beware so that you do not lose heart, And so that you are not afraid at the rumor that will be heard in the land— For the rumor shall come one year, And after that another rumor in another year, And violence shall be in the land, Ruler against ruler