| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai, | 1This is what the LORD says: “I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Babylonia. |
| 2and 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. | 2Foreigners will come and winnow her, blowing her away as chaff. They will come from every side to rise against her in her day of trouble. |
| 3Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not stand up in his armor. Spare not her young men; devote to destruction all her army. | 3Don’t let the archers put on their armor or draw their bows. Don’t spare even her best soldiers! Let her army be completely destroyed. |
| 4They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets. | 4They will fall dead in the land of the Babylonians, slashed to death in her streets. |
| 5For 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. | 5For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has not abandoned Israel and Judah. He is still their God, even though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.” |
| 6“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. | 6Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves! Don’t get trapped in her punishment! It is the LORD’s time for vengeance; he will repay her in full. |
| 7Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. | 7Babylon has been a gold cup in the LORD’s hands, a cup that made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank Babylon’s wine, and it drove them all mad. |
| 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. | 8But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her. Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed. |
| 9We 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. | 9We would have helped her if we could, but nothing can save her now. Let her go; abandon her. Return now to your own land. For her punishment reaches to the heavens; it is so great it cannot be measured. |
| 10The LORD has brought about our vindication; come, let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. | 10The LORD has vindicated us. Come, let us announce in Jerusalem everything the LORD our God has done. |
| 11“Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple. | 11Sharpen the arrows! Lift up the shields! For the LORD has inspired the kings of the Medes to march against Babylon and destroy her. This is his vengeance against those who desecrated his Temple. |
| 12“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. | 12Raise the battle flag against Babylon! Reinforce the guard and station the watchmen. Prepare an ambush, for the LORD will fulfill all his plans against Babylon. |
| 13O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut. | 13You are a city by a great river, a great center of commerce, but your end has come. The thread of your life is cut. |
| 14The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout of victory over you. | 14The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has taken this vow and has sworn to it by his own name: “Your cities will be filled with enemies, like fields swarming with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.” A Hymn of Praise to the LORD |
| 15“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. | 15The LORD made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens. |
| 16When 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. | 16When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses. |
| 17Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. | 17The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power. |
| 18They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. | 18Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed. |
| 19Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name. | 19But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including his people, his own special possession. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name! Babylon’s Great Punishment |
| 20“You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; | 20“You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the LORD. “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. |
| 21with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; | 21With you I will shatter armies— destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. |
| 22with you I break in pieces man and woman; with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth; with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman; | 22With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and young women. |
| 23with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team; with you I break in pieces governors and commanders. | 23With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and officers. |
| 24“I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD. | 24“I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. |
| 25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the LORD, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain. | 25“Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD. “I will raise my fist against you, to knock you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble. |
| 26No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, declares the LORD. | 26You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says the LORD. |
| 27“Set up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts. | 27Raise a signal flag to the nations. Sound the battle cry! Mobilize them all against Babylon. Prepare them to fight against her! Bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander, and bring a multitude of horses like swarming locusts! |
| 28Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. | 28Bring against her the armies of the nations— led by the kings of the Medes and all their captains and officers. |
| 29The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. | 29The earth trembles and writhes in pain, for everything the LORD has planned against Babylon stands unchanged. Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant. |
| 30The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken. | 30Her mightiest warriors no longer fight. They stay in their barracks, their courage gone. They have become like women. The invaders have burned the houses and broken down the city gates. |
| 31One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side; | 31The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured. |
| 32the fords have been seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic. | 32All the escape routes are blocked. The marshes have been set aflame, and the army is in a panic. |
| 33For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.” | 33This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor, about to be trampled. In just a little while her harvest will begin.” |
| 34“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his stomach with my delicacies; he has rinsed me out. | 34“King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has eaten and crushed us and drained us of strength. He has swallowed us like a great monster and filled his belly with our riches. He has thrown us out of our own country. |
| 35The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,” let the inhabitant of Zion say. “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” let Jerusalem say. | 35Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,” say the people of Zion. “Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,” says Jerusalem. The LORD’s Vengeance on Babylon |
| 36Therefore 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, | 36This is what the LORD says to Jerusalem: “I will be your lawyer to plead your case, and I will avenge you. I will dry up her river, as well as her springs, |
| 37and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant. | 37and Babylon will become a heap of ruins, haunted by jackals. She will be an object of horror and contempt, a place where no one lives. |
| 38“They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions’ cubs. | 38Her people will roar together like strong lions. They will growl like lion cubs. |
| 39While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, that they may become merry, then sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the LORD. | 39And while they lie inflamed with all their wine, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them. I will make them drink until they fall asleep, and they will never wake up again,” says the LORD. |
| 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats. | 40“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats to be sacrificed. |
| 41“How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! | 41“How Babylon is fallen— great Babylon, praised throughout the earth! Now she has become an object of horror among the nations. |
| 42The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves. | 42The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered by its crashing waves. |
| 43Her 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. | 43Her cities now lie in ruins; she is a dry wasteland where no one lives or even passes by. |
| 44And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him; the wall of Babylon has fallen. | 44And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon, and make him vomit up all he has eaten. The nations will no longer come and worship him. The wall of Babylon has fallen! A Message for the Exiles |
| 45“Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every one save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD! | 45“Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the LORD’s fierce anger. |
| 46Let 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. | 46But do not panic; don’t be afraid when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For rumors will keep coming year by year. Violence will erupt in the land as the leaders fight against each other. |
| 47“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. | 47For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols. Her whole land will be disgraced, and her dead will lie in the streets. |
| 48Then 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. | 48Then the heavens and earth will rejoice, for out of the north will come destroying armies against Babylon,” says the LORD. |
| 49Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. | 49“Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel and others throughout the world, so must her people be killed. |
| 50“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: | 50Get out, all you who have escaped the sword! Do not stand and watch—flee while you can! Remember the LORD, though you are in a far-off land, and think about your home in Jerusalem.” |
| 51‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; dishonor has covered our face, for foreigners have come into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’ | 51“We are ashamed,” the people say. “We are insulted and disgraced because the LORD’s Temple has been defiled by foreigners.” |
| 52“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will execute judgment upon her images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. | 52“Yes,” says the LORD, “but the time is coming when I will destroy Babylon’s idols. The groans of her wounded people will be heard throughout the land. |
| 53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me against her, declares the LORD. | 53Though Babylon reaches as high as the heavens and makes her fortifications incredibly strong, I will still send enemies to plunder her. I, the LORD, have spoken! Babylon’s Complete Destruction |
| 54“A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! | 54“Listen! Hear the cry of Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. |
| 55For the LORD is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is raised, | 55For the LORD is destroying Babylon. He will silence her loud voice. Waves of enemies pound against her; the noise of battle rings through the city. |
| 56for 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. | 56Destroying armies come against Babylon. Her mighty men are captured, and their weapons break in their hands. For the LORD is a God who gives just punishment; he always repays in full. |
| 57I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. | 57I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her captains, officers, and warriors. They will fall asleep and never wake up again!” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. |
| 58“Thus says the LORD of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.” | 58This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground, and her massive gates will be burned. The builders from many lands have worked in vain, for their work will be destroyed by fire!” Jeremiah’s Message Sent to Babylon |
| 59The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the 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 the quartermaster. | 59The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, a staff officer, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. |
| 60Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. | 60Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words written here. |
| 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, | 61He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll. |
| 62and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ | 62Then say, ‘LORD, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.’ |
| 63When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, | 63When you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. |
| 64and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. | 64Then say, ‘In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.’” This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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