en-v0.1→en-v0.2-dev·#7fe3c93acd22Contribute to en-v0.2

Jeremiah 51:1-64 — The Fall of Babylon

Jer.51.1-64

¹This is what Yahweh says: See, I am stirring up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Leb-kamai , a destroying wind. ²I will send strangers to Babylon, and they will winnow her and empty her land; for on the day of disaster they will come against her from every side. ³Let the archer not bend his bow, and let him not rise up in his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction. ⁴The slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the pierced-through in her streets. ⁵For Israel and Judah are not widowed of their God, of Yahweh of Armies, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. ⁶Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each of you save his life. Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of Yahweh's vengeance; he is repaying her what she deserves. ⁷Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, making all the earth drunk. The nations drank from her wine; therefore the nations went mad. ⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered. Wail over her; take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. ⁹We tried to heal Babylon, but she would not be healed. Leave her, and let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment has reached to the heavens and risen up to the skies. ¹⁰Yahweh has brought forth our vindication. Come, let us declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God. ¹¹Sharpen the arrows; fill the shields. Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy her. For this is the vengeance of Yahweh, vengeance for his temple. ¹²Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon. Strengthen the guard; post the watchmen; prepare the ambushes. For Yahweh has both purposed and done what he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. ¹³You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your unjust gain. ¹⁴Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts, and they will raise a shout over you. ¹⁵He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. ¹⁶When he gives his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens. He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth, makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from his storehouses. ¹⁷Every person has become stupid, without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol. For his cast image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁸They are vanity, a work of delusion; in the time of their punishment they will perish. ¹⁹The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of Armies is his name. ²⁰You are my hammer, my weapon of war. With you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms. ²¹With you I shatter horse and rider; with you I shatter chariot and driver. ²²With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the virgin. ²³With you I shatter shepherd and flock; with you I shatter farmer and his team; with you I shatter governors and officials. ²⁴Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of the Chaldeans for all the evil they did in Zion, declares Yahweh. ²⁵See, I am against you, destroying mountain, declares Yahweh, you that destroy all the earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burned mountain. ²⁶No one will take from you a stone for a corner or a stone for foundations, for you will be desolate forever, declares Yahweh. ²⁷Raise a banner in the land; blow the trumpet among the nations. Set apart the nations against her; summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts. ²⁸Set apart the nations against her: the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the land of their dominion. ²⁹The earth trembles and writhes, for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. ³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in the strongholds. Their strength has dried up; they have become like women. Her dwellings are set on fire; her bars are broken. ³¹Runner meets runner, and messenger meets messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end. ³²The crossings have been seized, the marshes burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified. ³³For this is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her. ³⁴Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me down like an empty vessel. He has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has cast me out. ³⁵“May the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the inhabitant of Zion. “And may my blood be upon the inhabitants of the Chaldeans,” says Jerusalem. ³⁶Therefore this is what Yahweh says: See, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her spring run dry. ³⁷Babylon will become heaps, a haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant. ³⁸Together they roar like young lions; they growl like lion cubs. ³⁹When they are heated, I will set out their feast and make them drunk, so that they may exult and sleep an everlasting sleep and not wake, declares Yahweh. ⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. ⁴¹How Sheshach has been captured, how the praise of all the earth has been seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! ⁴²The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves. ⁴³Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land and a desert, a land where no one lives and where no human being passes through. ⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon and bring out of his mouth what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen. ⁴⁵Go out from her midst, my people, and let each of you save his life from the burning anger of Yahweh. ⁴⁶Do not let your heart grow faint, and do not fear at the report heard in the land. A report will come in one year, and after it in another year another report, with violence in the land and ruler against ruler. ⁴⁷Therefore see, days are coming when I will punish the carved images of Babylon. All her land will be put to shame, and all her slain will fall in her midst. ⁴⁸Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for destroyers will come against her from the north, declares Yahweh. ⁴⁹Babylon too must fall for the slain of Israel; and for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen. ⁵⁰You who have escaped the sword, go; do not stand still. Remember Yahweh from far away, and let Jerusalem come to your heart. ⁵¹We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces, because strangers have come against the holy places of Yahweh's house. ⁵²Therefore see, days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will punish her carved images, and throughout all her land the wounded will groan. ⁵³Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, and though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, destroyers from me will come against her, declares Yahweh. ⁵⁴The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans. ⁵⁵For Yahweh is devastating Babylon and destroying from her the great sound. Their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice resounds. ⁵⁶For a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon, and her mighty men are captured; their bows are shattered. For Yahweh is a God of recompenses; he will surely repay. ⁵⁷I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, her governors and her officials and her mighty men; and they will sleep an everlasting sleep and not wake, declares the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies. ⁵⁸This is what Yahweh of Armies says: Babylon's broad walls will be utterly leveled, and her high gates will be burned with fire. Peoples will labor for nothing, and nations for the fire, and they will grow weary. ⁵⁹This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was chief quartermaster. ⁶⁰Jeremiah wrote in one scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon, all these words written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶²and say, 'Yahweh, you yourself have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off so that there will be no inhabitant in it, neither human nor beast, but it will be desolate forever.' ⁶³And when you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴and say, 'Thus Babylon will sink and will not rise again because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they will grow weary.' Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

💡 Read the current translation below. If you have suggestions, comment by verse.

📚 Reference Translations

🔬 Exegesis Resources