Jeremiah 51:26-58

“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— Therefore behold (listen carefully), the days are coming When I will judge and punish the idols of Babylon; Her whole land will be perplexed and shamed, And all her slain will fall in her midst. “Then heaven and earth and all that is in them Will shout and sing for joy over Babylon, For the destroyers will come against her from the north,” Says the LORD. [Is 44:23; Jer 51:11; Rev 12:12; 18:20] ¶Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, As also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen. You who have escaped the sword, Go away! Do not stay! Remember the LORD from far away, And let [desolate] Jerusalem come into your mind. We are perplexed and ashamed, for we have heard reproach; Disgrace has covered our faces, For foreigners [from Babylon] have come Into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the LORD [even those places forbidden to all but the appointed priest]. ¶“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “When I will judge and punish the idols [of Babylon], And throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.” “Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, Yet destroyers will come on her from Me,” says the LORD. ¶The sound of an outcry [comes] from Babylon, And [the sound] of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! For the LORD is going to destroy Babylon and make her a ruin, And He will still her great voice [that hums with city life]. And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters, The noise of their voices is raised up [like the marching of an army]. For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon; And her mighty warriors will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the LORD is a God of [just] restitution; He will fully repay. “I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, Her governors and her commanders and her mighty warriors; They will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,” Says the King—the LORD of hosts is His name. Thus says the LORD of hosts, “The broad wall of Babylon will be completely overthrown and the foundations razed And her high gates will be set on fire; The peoples will labor in vain, And the nations become exhausted [only] for fire [that will destroy their work].” [Hab 2:13]