Berean Standard Bible

Jeremiah 51:30-58

30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.31One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.32The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”

33For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:

“The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floorat the time it is trampled.In just a little whileher harvest time will come.”

34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me;he has crushed me.He has set me aside like an empty vessel;he has swallowed me like a monster;he filled his belly with my delicaciesand vomited me out.135May the violence done to meand to my fleshbe upon Babylon,”says the dweller of Zion.

“May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,”says Jerusalem.

36Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“Behold, I will plead your caseand take vengeance on your behalf;I will dry up her seaand make her springs run dry.37Babylon will become a heap of rubble,a haunt for jackals,2an object of horror and scorn,without inhabitant.38They will roar together like young lions;they will growl like lion cubs.39While they are flushed with heat,I will serve them a feast,and I will make them drunkso that they may revel;then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up,declares the LORD.40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,like rams with male goats.

41How Sheshach3 has been captured!The praise of all the earth has been seized.What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!42The sea has come up over Babylon;she is covered in turbulent waves.43Her cities have become a desolation,a dry and arid land,a land where no one lives,where no son of man passes through.44I will punish Bel in Babylon.I will make him spew out what he swallowed.The nations will no longer stream to him;even the wall of Babylon will fall.

45Come out of her, My people!4Save your lives, each of you,from the fierce anger of the LORD.46Do not let your heart grow faint,and do not be afraidwhen the rumor is heard in the land;for a rumor will come one year—and then another the next year—of violence in the landand of ruler against ruler.

47Therefore, behold, the days are comingwhen I will punish the idols of Babylon.Her entire land will suffer shame,and all her slain will lie fallen within her.48Then heaven and earth and all that is in themwill shout for joy over Babylonbecause the destroyers from the northwill come against her,”declares the LORD.49“Babylon must fallon account of the slain of Israel,just as the slain of all the earthhave fallen because of Babylon.50You who have escaped the sword,depart and do not linger!Remember the LORD from far away,and let Jerusalem come to mind.”

51“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach;disgrace has covered our faces,because foreigners have enteredthe holy places of the LORD’s house.”

52“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,”declares the LORD,“when I will punish her idols,and throughout her land the wounded will groan.53Even if Babylon ascends to the heavensand fortifies her lofty stronghold,the destroyers I send will come against her,”declares the LORD.

54“The sound of a crycomes from Babylon,the sound of great destructionfrom the land of the Chaldeans!55For the LORD will destroy Babylon;He will silence her mighty voice.The waves will roar like great waters;the tumult of their voices will resound.

56For a destroyer is coming against her—against Babylon.Her warriors will be captured,and their bows will be broken,for the LORD is a God of retribution;He will repay in full.57I will make her princes and wise men drunk,along with her governors, officials, and warriors.Then they will fall asleep foreverand not wake up,”declares the King,whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

58This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled,and her high gates consumed by fire.So the labor of the people will be for nothing;the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

Read all of Jeremiah 51

Notes

1. Jeremiah 51:34 Or expelled me ↩
2. Jeremiah 51:37 Or serpents or dragons ↩
3. Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshach is a code name for Babylon. ↩
4. Jeremiah 51:45 See Revelation 18:4. ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Jeremiah 51