Jeremiah 51:1–58

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, ↦I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that ↦rise up against me, a destroying wind;⇉⇇

And will send unto Babylon ↦fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for ↦in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.⇇

Against him that bendeth ↦let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his ↦brigandine: and ↦spare ye not her young men; ↦destroy ye utterly all her host.⇇

Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are ↦thrust through in her streets.⇇

For ↦Israel hath not been forsaken, ↦nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; ↦though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.⇇

↦Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: ↦be not cut off in her iniquity; ↦for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; ↦he will render unto her a recompence.⇇

Babylon hath been ↦a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: ↦the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations ↦are mad.⇇

Babylon is ↦suddenly fallen and destroyed: ↦howl for her; ↦take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.⇇

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: ↦forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for ↦her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.⇇

The LORD hath ↦brought forth our righteousness: come, and ↦let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.⇇

↦Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: ↦the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for ↦his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is ↦the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.⇇

Set up ↦the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for ↦the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.⇉⇇

O thou that ↦dwellest upon many waters, ↦abundant in treasures, ↦thine end is come, ↦and the measure of thy covetousness.⇇

The LORD of hosts hath ↦sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, ↦as with caterpillers; and they shall ↦lift up a shout against thee.⇇

He ↦hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world ↦by his wisdom, ↦and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.⇇

When ↦he uttereth his voice, ↦there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; ↦and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and ↦bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.⇇

↦Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: ↦for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.⇇

They are ↦vanity, the work of errors: ↦in the time of their visitation they shall perish.⇇

The ↦portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is ↦the rod of his inheritance: ↦the LORD of hosts is his name.⇇

Thou ↦art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I ↦break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;⇇

And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;⇉⇇

With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;⇉⇇

I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.⇇

And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.⇉⇇

Behold, ↦I am against thee, ↦O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, ↦which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, ↦and will make thee a burnt mountain.⇇

And they ↦shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be ↦desolate for ever, saith the LORD.⇇

Set ↦ye 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 ↦Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; ↦cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.⇉⇇

Prepare against her the nations with ↦the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.⇉⇇

And ↦the land shall tremble and sorrow: for ↦every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.⇇

↦The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; ↦her bars are broken.⇇

One ↦post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, ↦to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,⇇

And that ↦the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and ↦the men of war are affrighted.⇇

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon ↦is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and ↦the time of her harvest shall come.⇇

Nebuchadrezzar ↦the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, ↦he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath ↦swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.⇇

↦The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.⇇

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, ↦I will plead thy cause, and ↦take vengeance for thee; ↦and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.⇇

And Babylon shall ↦become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and ↦an hissing, without an inhabitant.⇇

They shall ↦roar together like lions: they shall ↦yell as lions' whelps.⇇

In ↦their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, ↦and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.⇇

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.⇉⇇

How is ↦Sheshach taken! and how is ↦the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become ↦an astonishment among the nations!⇇

The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.⇉⇇

Her ↦cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, ↦a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.⇇

And ↦I will punish Bel in Babylon, and ↦I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and ↦the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, ↦the wall of Babylon shall fall.⇇

My people, ↦go ye out of the midst of her, and ↦deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.⇇

And ↦lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; ↦a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ↦ruler against ruler.⇇

Therefore, behold, the days come, that ↦I will ↦do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and ↦her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.⇇

Then ↦the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for ↦the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.⇇

As Babylon ↦hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.⇇

Ye that have ↦escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: ↦remember the LORD afar off, and let ↦Jerusalem come into your mind.⇇

We ↦are confounded, because we have heard reproach: ↦shame hath covered our faces: ↦for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.⇇

Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, ↦that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land ↦the wounded shall groan.⇇

Though Babylon should ↦mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet ↦from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.⇇

A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:⇉⇇

Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and ↦destroyed out of her the great voice; when ↦her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:⇇

Because ↦the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and ↦her mighty men are taken, ↦every one of their bows is broken: for ↦the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.⇇

And ↦I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall ↦sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith ↦the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.⇇

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; ↦The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her ↦high gates shall be burned with fire; and ↦the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.⇇