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JeremiahChapter 51

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This is what the LORD says: I am stirring up a destroying wind against Babylon and against those who live in Leb-kamai.
I will send winnowers against Babylon, and they will winnow her and strip her land bare, for they will come at her from every side in the day of disaster.
Let the archer not draw his bow, let him not put on his armor. Spare none of her young men; wipe out her whole army.
They will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, run through in her streets.
For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
Flee from Babylon! Each of you, save your life! Do not be destroyed for her guilt, for this is the LORD's time of vengeance; he is paying her back what she deserves.
Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, and so they went mad.
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Leave her! Let us each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the heavens; it towers to the clouds.
The LORD has brought forth our vindication. Come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.
Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of Media, for his purpose against Babylon is to destroy her. This is the LORD's vengeance, vengeance for his temple.
Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon! Strengthen the watch, post the sentries, set the ambush! For the LORD has both planned and carried out what he spoke against the people of Babylon.
You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your plunder is full.
The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with men like a swarm of locusts, and they will raise the shout of triumph 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 thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he brings up clouds from the ends of the earth. He makes the lightning for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every metalworker is put to shame by his idol, for his cast image is a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work of mockery; when their reckoning comes, they will perish.
Jacob's Portion is not like these, for he is the maker of all things, and of the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of hosts is his name.
You are my hammer, my weapon of war. With you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms.
With you I shatter horse and rider; with you I shatter chariot and driver.
With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter old and young; with you I shatter young man and young woman.
With you I shatter shepherd and flock; with you I shatter plowman and team of oxen; with you I shatter governors and officials.
I will repay Babylon and all who live in Chaldea for all the evil they did in Zion, before your very eyes, declares the LORD.
I am against you, destroying mountain, declares the LORD, you who destroy the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.
No stone will be taken from you for a cornerstone, none for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever, declares the LORD.
Raise a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
Prepare the nations for war against her: the kings of Media, their governors and all their officials, and every land they rule.
The earth trembles and writhes, for the LORD's purpose stands against Babylon: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, with no one living there.
Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is gone; they have become like women. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.
One runner races to meet another, one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end,
that the river crossings have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the fighting men are gripped with terror.
For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time of threshing; soon her harvest time will come.
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me, he crushed me. He left me an empty jar; he swallowed me like a serpent, filled his belly with my delicacies, and then spat me out.
May the violence done to me and my people fall on Babylon," says the inhabitant of Zion. "May my blood be on those who live in Chaldea," says Jerusalem.
Therefore this is what the LORD says: See, I will take up your cause and avenge you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.
Together they roar like young lions; they growl like lion cubs.
But while they are inflamed I will set out a banquet for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter—then they will sleep forever and never wake, declares the LORD.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
How Sheshach has been captured, the praise of all the earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! [Footnote: "Sheshach" is a cipher for Babylon, formed by substituting letters of the Hebrew alphabet in reverse order.]
The sea has risen over Babylon; its roaring waves have covered her.
Her towns have become a desolation, a parched and barren land, a land where no one lives, where no human being passes through.
I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him, and the wall of Babylon will fall.
Come out of her, my people! Each of you, save your life from the LORD's burning anger!
Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors spread through the land. One rumor comes this year, another the next—rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.
Therefore the days are surely coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.
Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north the destroyers will come against her, declares the LORD.
Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
You who have escaped the sword, go! Do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem rise in your hearts.
"We are ashamed, for we have heard the insults; disgrace has covered our faces, because foreigners entered the holy places of the LORD's house."
But the days are surely coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
Even if Babylon climbs to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her, declares the LORD.
The sound of a cry from Babylon, of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
For the LORD is destroying Babylon; he will silence her mighty voice. The waves of the enemy roar like mighty waters; the din of their shouting rings out.
For a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon; her warriors are captured and their bows are shattered. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.
I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers, and warriors; they will sleep forever and never wake, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
This is what the LORD of hosts says: Babylon's broad walls will be razed to the ground, and her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples labor for nothing; the nations wear themselves out only for the flames.
This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.
Jeremiah had written on a single scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words written against Babylon.
He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, be sure to read all these words aloud.
Then say, 'LORD, you have said you would destroy this place, so that no one will live in it, neither human nor animal; it will be desolate forever.'
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
Then say, 'So will Babylon sink, never to rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall exhausted.'" Here end the words of Jeremiah.
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