The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 51 -

This is what Yahweh says: “I will inspire an army to destroy Babylon like a powerful wind, and also to destroy the people of Babylonia in Leb Kamai.

I will send a foreign army to come to get rid of Babylonia like a strong wind that blows away chaff. They will attack from every direction on that day of disaster.

I will tell them, ’Do not allow the archers of Babylon to have time to put on their armor or draw their bows. Do not spare the young men of Babylon. Completely destroy their army.’

Their soldiers will fall dead in Babylonia; they will die after being impaled by spears in the streets.

I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, whom Israel worships, have not abandoned Israel and Judah. Even though their land was filled with people who sinned against me, the Holy God of Israel, I am still their God.

You people of Israel and Judah, flee from Babylon! Run to escape! Do not stay there and be killed when the people of Babylon are punished! It will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge; He will do to them what they deserve.

Babylon has been like a gold cup in Yahweh’s hand, a cup that is full of wine that caused people all over the earth who drank some of it to become drunk. It is as though the rulers of the nations drank the wine from Babylon, and it caused them to become crazy.

But suddenly Babylon will be conquered. Weep for its people! Give them medicine for their wounds; perhaps they can be healed.”

We foreigners would have tried to heal them, but now they cannot be healed. So we will not try to help them; we will abandon them, and return to our own lands, because it is as though the punishment they are receiving reaches up to the clouds in the sky; it is very great, with the result that no one can measure it.

Yahweh has vindicated us; so let us proclaim in Jerusalem everything that Yahweh our God has done for us.

You enemy soldiers, sharpen your arrows! Fill up your quivers for battle, because Yahweh has incited your kings of Media and Persia to march with their armies to Babylon and to destroy it. That is how Yahweh will get revenge on those foreigners who entered his temple in Jerusalem and defiled it.

Lift up a battle flag close to the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guards, and tell the watchmen to stand in their positions! Prepare an ambush, because Yahweh is about to accomplish all that he has planned to do to the people of Babylon.

Babylon is a city near the great Euphrates River, a city in which there are many rich people, but it is time for Babylon to be finished; the time for the city to exist is ended.

Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies has solemnly promised, using his own name, “Your cities will be filled with your enemies; I will cause them to be like a swarm of locusts; and they will shout triumphantly when they conquer your city.”

Praise to the God of Jacob

(Isaiah 25:1–12)

Yahweh created the earth by his power; he established it by his wisdom, and he stretched out the sky by his understanding.

When he speaks loudly, there is thunder in the sky; he causes clouds to form in every part of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and releases the winds from his storehouses.

People are as senseless as a beast, and they know very little; those who make idols are always disappointed, because their idols do nothing for them. The images that they make are not real gods; they are lifeless.

Idols are worthless; they deserve to be ridiculed; there will be a time when they will all be destroyed.

But the God of Israel is not like those idols; he is the one who created everything that exists; we, the tribe of Israel, belong to him; his name is Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies.

Babylon’s Punishment

Yahweh says about the army of Babylonia, “You are like my weapons of war and my war club; with your power I shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms.

With your power I shatter armies of other nations: I destroy their horses and their riders, their chariots and their chariot drivers.

With your power I shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and young women.

With your power I shatter shepherds and their flocks of sheep, farmers and their oxen, governors and their officials.”

But, Yahweh also says, “Soon I will repay you people in Babylon and in the rest of Babylonia for all the evil things that you have done in Jerusalem.

Babylonia is like a great mountain from which bandits descend to plunder people all over the earth. But I, Yahweh, am the enemy of you people of Babylonia. I will raise my fist to strike you. I will knock you down from the cliffs and cause you to be only a huge pile of burned rubble.

Your city will be abandoned forever; even the stones in your city will never again be used for buildings. Your city will be completely destroyed.”

Tell the nations to lift up a battle flag! Tell them to blow their trumpets of war! Gather all their armies to fight against Babylon! Prepare the nations to attack Babylon. Summon the armies of the kingdoms north of Babylonia, from Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander for them, and bring a great number of horses; there must be a huge number of horses; that huge number will resemble a swarm of locusts.

Prepare the armies of other nations, armies that will be led by the kings of Media and Persia, their governors and their officials.

When they attack Babylon, it will be as though the earth will shake and writhe in pain, because those armies will accomplish everything that Yahweh has planned to do to Babylon. Then the nations will destroy it completely, with the result that no one will live there again.

When their enemies attack, the strongest warriors in Babylon will not fight. They will remain in their barracks, without any strength. They will be as timid as women. The enemy soldiers will burn the buildings in the city and break the bars of the city gates into pieces.

Messengers will go quickly, one after another, to tell the king that his city has been captured.

The places at which people can cross the river to escape from the city will be blocked. The dry reeds in the marshes will be set on fire, and the soldiers of Babylon will be terrified.

This is what Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, whom Israel worships, says; “Babylon is like wheat on the ground where it is about to be threshed by animals tramping on it. Very soon their enemies will trample on the city of Babylon.”

The army of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has attacked and crushed us Israelites, and we have no strength left. It is as though they have swallowed us like a great monster that filled its belly with all our tasty parts, and then has spit out what it did not like.

So the people of Jerusalem say to Yahweh, “Cause the people of Babylon to suffer like they caused us to suffer! Cause the people of Babylonia to be punished for killing our people!”

And this is what Yahweh replies to the people of Jerusalem: “I will be like your lawyer to defend you, and I will avenge you. I will dry up the river in Babylon and all the springs of water.

Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a place where jackals live. It will become a place that people are horrified about and will ridicule; it will be a place where no one lives.

The people of Babylon will all roar like young lions; they will growl like baby lions.

But while they are extremely hungry, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them. I will cause them to drink wine until they are very drunk, with the result that they will fall asleep. But they will never wake up from that sleep!

I will bring them down to a place where they will be slaughtered, like someone who takes lambs or rams or goats to where they will be slaughtered for sacrifices.

People all over the earth now honor Babylon; they say that it is a great city. But it will become a place about which people of all nations are horrified.

The enemies of Babylon will cover the city like huge waves of the sea.

The towns in Babylonia will be a horror, a dry and desert plain, and it will be a land in which no one lives and which no one walks through.

And I will punish Bel, the god that the people of Babylon worship, and I will cause the people to give back what they have stolen. People of other nations will no longer come to worship Bel. And the walls of Babylon will collapse.”

Yahweh also says, “My people, come out of Babylon! Flee to escape! Run, because I, Yahweh, am extremely angry with the people of Babylon, and I will get rid of them!

Do not be discouraged or afraid when you hear reports about what is happening in Babylon. People will report rumors like that every year, rumors about violent things being done in the land, and rumors about leaders fighting against each other.

But it will soon be the time for me to get rid of the carved idols in Babylon. People all over the land will be ashamed because of being defeated, and the corpses of their soldiers will lie in the streets.

Then all the angels in heaven and all the people on the earth will rejoice, because from the north will come armies that will destroy Babylon.

Like the soldiers of Babylon killed the people of Israel and also killed others all over the world, the people of Babylon must also be killed.

You Israelite people who have not been killed, get out of Babylon! Do not wait! Even though you are in a land far away from Israel, think about Yahweh, and think about Jerusalem!”

The Israelite people say, “We are ashamed. We are completely disgraced, because foreigners have entered Yahweh’s temple and defiled it.”

Yahweh replies, “That is true, but there will soon be a time when I will destroy the carved idols in Babylon, and throughout Babylonia there will be wounded people who will groan.

Even if the walls around Babylon could extend up to the sky, and if its walls were extremely strong, I will send armies that will destroy the city. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

Listen to the people of Babylon shouting for help! And listen to the sounds of things being destroyed all over Babylonia!

Yahweh will be destroying Babylon. He will cause the loud noises in the city to cease.

Enemy troops will surge against the city like a great wave. They will capture the city’s mighty soldiers and break their weapons. That will happen because Yahweh is a God who punishes his enemies justly; he will punish them as they deserve.

Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, says, “I will cause the city officials and wise men, the army captains and soldiers, to become drunk. They will fall asleep, but they will never wake up again!”

Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, also says, “The thick walls around Babylon will be flattened to the ground. The city gates will be burned. People from other countries will work hard to save the city, but it will be in vain, because everything that they have built will be destroyed by fire.”

Jeremiah’s Message to Seraiah

Seraiah, son of Neraiah and grandson of Mahseiah, was an important servant of King Zedekiah. After Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost four years, the prophet Jeremiah gave him a message. This was when Seraiah was about to go to Babylon with the king.

Now Jeremiah had written on a scroll a list of all the disasters that he had written about, disasters that would soon happen to Babylon.

Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, read aloud everything that I have written on this scroll.

Then pray, ‘Yahweh, you said that you will thoroughly destroy Babylon, with the result that people and animals will no longer live there. You said that it will be desolate forever.’

Then, when you have finished reading what is written on the scroll, tie it to a heavy stone and throw it into the Euphrates River.

Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon and its people will disappear and never exist again, because of the disasters that Yahweh will bring to it.’” This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages.

The LORD says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.

Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow, also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. Don’t spare her young men! Utterly destroy all her army!

They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, by the LORD of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Everyone save his own life! Don’t be cut off in her iniquity, for it is the time of the LORD’s vengeance. He will render to her a recompense.

Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, who made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.

Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed.

“We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let’s each go into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

‘The LORD has produced our righteousness. Come, and let’s declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.’

“Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.

The LORD of Armies has sworn by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts, and they will lift up a shout against you.’

Praise to the God of Jacob

(Isaiah 25:1–12)

“He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom. By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

“Every man has become stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image, for his molten images are falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation, they will perish.

The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he formed all things, including the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name.

Babylon’s Punishment

“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms.

With you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider.

With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin.

With you I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke. With you I will break in pieces governors and deputies.

“I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says the LORD.

“Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says the LORD, “which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain.

They won’t take a cornerstone from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate forever,” says the LORD.

“Set up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the swarming locusts!

Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!

The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire. Her bars are broken.

One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.

So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.”

For the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.”

“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out.

May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!” the inhabitant of Zion will say; and, “May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!” will Jerusalem say.

Therefore the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.

They will roar together like young lions. They will growl as lions’ cubs.

When they are inflamed, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the LORD.

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

“How Sheshach is taken! How the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

The sea has come up on Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells. No son of man passes by it.

I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.

“My people, go away from the middle of her, and each of you save yourselves from the LORD’s fierce anger.

Don’t let your heart faint. Don’t fear for the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come one year, and after that in another year news will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land will be confounded. All her slain will fall in the middle of her.

Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, will sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers will come to her from the north,” says the LORD.

“As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so the slain of all the land will fall at Babylon.

You who have escaped the sword, go! Don’t stand still! Remember the LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”

“We are confounded because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house.”

“Therefore behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded will groan.

Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says the LORD.

“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

For the LORD lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice! Their waves roar like many waters. The noise of their voice is uttered.

For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for the LORD is a God of retribution. He will surely repay.

I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Armies.

The LORD of Armies says: “The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown. Her high gates will be burned with fire. The peoples will labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they will be weary.”

Jeremiah’s Message to Seraiah

The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.

Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,

and say, ‘LORD, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’

It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates.

Then you shall say, ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.