CHAPTER 51
1 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall raise on Babylon, and on the dwellers thereof, that raised their heart against me, as a wind of pestilence.
2 And I shall send into Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow it, and shall destroy the land of it; for they came on it on each side, in the day of the torment thereof.
3 He that bendeth his bow, bend not, and a man clothed in habergeon, ascend not [or go not up]; do not ye spare the young men thereof, slay ye all the chivalry thereof.
4 And slain men shall fall in the land of Chaldees, and wounded men in the countries thereof.
5 For why Israel and Judah was not made widow from their God, the Lord of hosts; but the land of them was filled with trespass of the Holy of Israel.
6 Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, that each man save his soul; do not ye be still on the wickedness thereof, for why time of vengeance thereof is to the Lord; he shall yield while to it.
7 Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, and filleth all [the] earth; heathen men drank of the wine thereof, and therefore they be moved.
8 Babylon fell down suddenly, and is all-broken; yell ye on it, take ye resin to the sorrow thereof, if peradventure it be healed.
9 We healed Babylon, and it is not made whole; forsake we it and go we each into his land; for the doom thereof came till to heavens, and is raised [up] till to [the] clouds.
10 The Lord hath brought forth our rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses]; come ye, and tell we in Zion the work of our Lord God.
11 Sharpen ye arrows, fill ye arrow cases; the Lord hath raised the spirit of the kings of Medes, and his mind is against Babylon, that he lose it, for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. The king of Medes is raised of the Lord against Babylon.
12 Raise ye a sign on the walls of Babylon, increase ye [the] keeping, raise ye keepers, make ye ready ambushments; for the Lord thought, and did, whatever thing he spake against the dwellers of Babylon.
13 A! thou Babylon, that dwellest on many waters, rich in thy treasures, thine end cometh, the foot-measure of thy cutting down.
14 The Lord of hosts swore by his soul, that I shall fill thee with men, as with bruchuses, and a merry song shall be sung on thee.
15 The Lord swore, which made [the] earth by his strength, made ready the world by his wisdom, and stretched forth heavens by his prudence.
16 When he giveth voice, waters be multiplied in heaven; which Lord raiseth clouds from [the] last of the earth, he made lightnings into rain, and brought forth wind of his treasures or treasuries.
17 Each man is made a fool of knowing, each weller together is shamed in a graven image; for his welling together is false, and a spirit is not in those [or them].
18 The works be vain, and worthy of scorn; they shall perish in the time of their visiting.
19 The part of Jacob is not as these things; for he that made all things is the part of Jacob, and Israel is the sceptre of his heritage; the Lord of hosts is his name.
20 Thou hurtlest down to me the instruments of battle, and I shall hurtle down folks in thee, and I shall lose realms in thee;
21 and I shall hurtle down in thee an horse, and the rider thereof; and I shall hurtle down in thee a chariot, and the rider thereof;
22 and I shall hurtle down in thee man and woman; and I shall hurtle down in thee eld [or old] man and child; and I shall hurtle down in thee a young man and a virgin;
23 and I shall hurtle down in thee a shepherd and his flock; and I shall hurtle down in thee an earth-tiller and his yoke beasts; and I shall hurtle down in thee dukes and magistrates.
24 And I shall yield, saith the Lord, to Babylon, and to all the dwellers of Chaldea, all their evil, which they did in Zion, before your eyes.
25 Lo! I, saith the Lord, to thee, thou hill bearing pestilence, which corruptest all [the] earth. I shall stretch forth mine hand on thee, and I shall unwrap thee from stones, and I shall give thee into an hill of burning.
26 And I shall not take of thee a stone into a corner, and a stone into foundaments; but thou shalt be lost without end, saith the Lord.
27 Raise ye a sign in the land, sound ye with a clarion in hills; hallow ye folks on it, tell ye to the kings of Ararat, of Minni, and of Ashchenaz against it; number ye Tifsar, that is, the leader of the host, against it, and bring ye an horse, as a bruchus having a prick.
28 Hallow ye folks against it, the kings of Media, the dukes thereof, and all the magistrates thereof, and all the land of his power.
29 And the earth shall be moved, and shall be troubled; for the thought of the Lord shall fully awaken against Babylon, that he set the land of Babylon desert, and unhabitable.
30 The strong men of Babylon ceased of battle, they dwelled in strongholds; the strength of them is devoured, and they be made as women; the tabernacles thereof be burnt, the bars thereof be all-broken.
31 A runner shall come to meet a runner, and a messenger to meet a messenger, to tell to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken from the one end till to the tother end;
32 and the forths be before-occupied, and the marishes be burnt with fire, and the men warriors be troubled.
33 For the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, The daughter of Babylon is as a cornfloor, the time of threshing thereof; yet a little, and the time of reaping thereof shall come.
34 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ate me, and devoured me; he made me as a void vessel, he as a dragon swallowed me; he filled his womb with my tenderness, and he casted me out.
35 Wickedness against me, and my flesh on Babylon, saith the dwelling [or the dwellers] of Zion; and my blood on the dwellers of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem.
36 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall deem thy cause, and I shall avenge thy vengeance; and I shall make the sea thereof forsaken, and I shall make dry the vein thereof.
37 And Babylon shall be into burials, it shall be the dwelling of dragons, wondering, and hissing, for that no dweller is.
38 They shall roar together as lions, and they shall shake [their] locks, as the whelps of lions.
39 In the heat of them I shall set [or put] the drinks of them; and I shall make them drunken, that they be brought asleep, and that they sleep everlasting sleep, and rise not, saith the Lord.
40 I shall lead forth them, as lambs to slain sacrifice, and as wethers with kids.
41 How is Sheshach taken, and the noble city of all earth is taken? How is Babylon made into wonder among heathen men?
42 And the sea ascended [or went up] on Babylon, it was covered with the multitude of his waves.
43 The cities thereof be made into wondering, the land is made unhabitable and forsaken; the land wherein no man dwelleth, and the son of man shall not pass by it.
44 And I shall visit on Bel into Babylon, and I shall cast out of his mouth that, that he had swallowed, and folks shall no more flow to it; for also the wall of Babylon shall fall down.
45 My people, go ye out from the midst thereof, that each man save his soul from the wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord;
46 and lest peradventure your heart wax nesh, and lest ye dread the hearing, that shall be heard in the land; and hearing shall come in a year, and after this year shall come hearing, and wickedness in the land, and a lord on a lord.
47 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall visit on the graven images of Babylon; and all the land thereof shall be shamed, and all slain men thereof shall fall down in the midst thereof.
48 And heaven’s, and earth’s, and all things that be in those [or them], shall praise on Babylon; for raveners shall come from the north to it, saith the Lord.
49 And as Babylon did, that slain men fell down in Israel, so of Babylon slain men shall fall down and in all the land.
50 Come ye, that fled the sword, do not ye stand; have ye mind afar on the Lord, and Jerusalem ascend [or go up] on your heart.
51 We be shamed, for we heard shame; shame covered our faces, for aliens came on the hallowing of the house of the Lord.
52 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall visit on the graven images of Babylon, and in all the land thereof a wounded man shall bellow.
53 If Babylon ascendeth [or go up] into heaven, and maketh steadfast his strength on high, destroyers thereof shall come of me, saith the Lord.
54 The voice of a crier of Babylon, and great sorrow of the land of Chaldees,
55 for the Lord destroyed Babylon, and lost [or destroyed] of it a great voice; and the waves of them shall sound as many waters. The voice of them gave sound,
56 for a ravener came [up] on it, that is, [up] on Babylon; and the strong men thereof be taken, and the bow of them withered, for the strong avenger, the Lord, yielding [again] shall yield.
57 And I shall make drunken the princes thereof, and the wise men thereof, the dukes thereof, and the magistrates thereof, and the strong men thereof; and they shall sleep everlasting sleep, and they shall not be awakened, saith the king, the Lord of hosts is name of him.
58 The Lord God of hosts saith these things, That broadest wall of Babylon shall be [under] mined with [under]-mining, and the high gates thereof shall be burnt with fire; and the travails of peoples shall be to nought, and the travails of heathen men shall be into fire, and shall perish.
59 The word which Jeremy, the prophet, commanded to Seraiah, son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah, the king, into Babylon, in the fourth year of his realm; forsooth Seraiah was prince of prophecy.
60 And Jeremy wrote all the evil, that was to coming [or to come] [up] on Babylon, in a book, all these words that were written against Babylon.
61 And Jeremy said to Seraiah, When thou comest into Babylon, and seest, and readest all these words,
62 thou shalt say, Lord, thou spakest against this place, that thou shouldest lose it, that none be that dwell therein, from man unto beast, and that it be an everlasting wilderness.
63 And when thou hast [ful] filled to read this book, thou shalt bind to it a stone, and thou shalt cast it forth into the midst of Euphrates;
64 and thou shalt say, So Babylon shall be drowned, and it shall not rise from the face of torment, which I bring [up] on it, and it shall be destroyed. Hitherto be the words of Jeremy.