The Utter Destruction of Babylon
Today I finished the Book of Jeremiah!
Thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon,
against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,
and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
and they shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
when they come against her from every side
on the day of trouble.
-Jeremiah 51:1-2
For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the Lord of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.
-Jeremiah 51:5
Flee from the midst of Babylon;
let every one save his life!
Be not cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance,
the repayment he is rendering her.
-Jeremiah 51:6
We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go
each to his own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
The Lord has brought about our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.
-Jeremiah 51:9-10
The Lord had stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon was to destroy it. For that is the vengeance of the Lord, and the vengeance for his temple.
Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
prepare the ambushes;
for the Lord has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
O you who dwell by many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.
-Jeremiah 51:12-13
It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
When he utters his voice
there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
-Jeremiah 51:15-16
The Lord continued with saying how every man was stupid and had no knowledge. The goldsmiths were put to shame for making idols, for they were false images with no breath in them. They were a worthless, work of delusion and at the time of their punishment would perish.
Not like those were the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel was the tribe of his inheritance and the Lord of hosts is his name. You are my hammer and weapon of war.
With you:
- I break nations in pieces
- I destroy kingdoms
- I break in pieces the horse and his rider
- I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer
- I break in pieces man and woman
- I break in pieces the old man and the youth
- I break in pieces the young man and the young woman
- I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock
- I break in pieces the farmer and his team
- I break in pieces governors and commanders
The Lord would repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before everyone’s eyes, for the evil that they had done in Zion.
The land trembles and writhes in pain,
for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
-Jeremiah 51:29
The violence done to me and to my kinsman
be upon Babylon,
let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
let Jerusalem say.
Therefore thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will plead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,
and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
the haunt of jackals,
a horror and a hissing,
without inhabitant.
-Jeremiah 51:35-37
How Babylon is taken,
the praise of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
The sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
Her cities have become a horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
-Jeremiah 51:41-43
Go out of the midst of her, my people!
Let every one save his life
from the fierce anger of the Lord!
Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
at the report heard in the land,
when a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
and ruler is against ruler.
-Jeremiah 51:45-46
Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
-Jeremiah 51:47
Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the Lord.
Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
-Jeremiah 51:48-49
You who have escaped from the sword,
go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
-Jeremiah 51:50
A voice! A cry from Babylon!
The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like many waters;
the noise of their voice is raised,
for a destroyer has come upon her,
upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken in pieces,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
he will surely repay.
-Jeremiah 51:54-56
Jeremiah the prophet wrote in a book all the disaster that would come upon Babylon. Jeremiah told Seraiah that when he got to Babylon he was to read all the words of the book concerning the destruction of Babylon.
When he was finished reading it, he was to tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and say, “Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.”
This is the end of the words of Jeremiah.
The rest of today’s reading and the end of the book of Jeremiah went on to recount the fall of Jerusalem, the temple burned, the people exiled to Babylon, and Jehoiachin released from prison.