1
Thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] going to stir up against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.
2
And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will lay waste her land, for they will be against her from all sides on [the] day of disaster.
3
Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow, and let him not rise high in his body armor. And you must not spare her young men; destroy her whole army.
4
And they will fall slain in the land of [the] Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.
5
For neither Israel nor Judah [is] a widower from their God, from Yahweh of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel."
6
Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life. You must not perish because of her guilt. For this [is the] time of vengeance for Yahweh, he [will] repay her what is deserved.
7
Babylon [was] a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh, making drunk all the earth. [The] nations drank of her wine. {Therefore} [the] nations acted like madmen.
8
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her wounds, perhaps she may be healed.
9
We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens, and it has been lifted up to [the] skies.
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Yahweh has brought forth our vindication. Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
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Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. Because his plan concerning Babylon [is] to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance for his temple.
12
Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; {post a strong watch}, post watchmen, prepare the ambushes, for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13
[O you who] live by mighty waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, {the measure of your life}.
14
Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, "Surely I will fill you [with] troops like the creeping locusts, and they will sing over you a war cry."
15
[He is the one who] made [the] earth by his power, [the one who] created [the] world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out [the] heavens.
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At the giving of his voice [there is] a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes [the] patches of mist to go up from [the] end of [the] earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings out [the] wind from his storehouses.
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All humankind turns out to be stupid, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by [the] divine image. For his cast image [is] a lie, and [there is] no breath in them.
18
They [are] worthless, a work of mockery. At the time of their punishment, they will perish.
19
The portion of Jacob [is] not like these, for he [is] the creator of {everything}, and the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.
20
[He says], "You [are] a war club for me, a weapon of battle, and I smash nations with you, and I destroy kingdoms with you.
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And I smash [the] horse with you, and its rider, and I smash [the] chariot with you, and its rider.
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And I smash man and woman with you, and I smash [the] old man and [the] boy with you, and I smash [the] young man and [the] young woman with you.
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And I smash [the] shepherd and his flock with you, and I smash [the] farmer and his team with you, and I smash [the] governors and [the] officials with you.
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And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their wickedness that they have done in Zion before your eyes," {declares} Yahweh.
25
"Look, I [am] against you, O mountain of the destruction," {declares} Yahweh, "the [one] that destroys the whole earth. And I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will roll you down from the cliffs, and I will make you as a mountain burned away.
26
They will not take from you a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, for you will be {an everlasting desolation}," {declares} Yahweh.
27
Raise a banner in the land; blow a horn among the nations; prepare for holy war against her; summon [the] nations against her, the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; summon against her an official; bring up horses like bristling creeping locusts.
28
Prepare [the] nations for holy war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and all their officials, and every land of their dominion.
29
And the land quakes and writhes, for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon as a horror, {without} inhabitant.
30
The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they remain in the strongholds, their power has dried up, they have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire, her bars are broken.
31
[one] runner runs to meet [another] runner, and [one] messenger to meet [another] messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, {from end to end}.
32
And the fords have been seized, and the reed marshes have been burned with fire, and {the soldiers} are horrified.
33
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshing floor [at the] time it [is] trodden down, {just a little while}
and the time of the harvest will come for her."
34
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me [and] sucked me dry; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like the sea monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies; he has rinsed me.
35
"[May] the violence done to me and to my flesh [be] on Babylon," the inhabitants of Zion will say; and "My blood [be] upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.
36
{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to contend your case, and I will avenge your vengeance, and I will cause her sea to dry up, and I will cause her fountain to dry up.
37
And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, [an object of] horror, and [an object of] hissing, {without} inhabitants.
38
They will roar together like the young lions, they will growl like the cubs of lions.
39
At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep {an everlasting sleep}, and they will not wake up," {declares} Yahweh.
40
"I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter, like rams and goats.
41
How Sheshach is captured, and the glory of all the earth is seized! How Babylon has become as an [object of] horror among the nations!
42
The sea has risen over Babylon, she has been covered by the roar of its waves.
43
Her cities have become as an [object of] horror, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no person lives, nor does a son of humankind pass through it.
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And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will wrench out from his mouth {what he has swallowed}. And [the] nations will not stream towards him [any] longer {what's worse}, the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45
Come out from her midst, my people, and save each one his life from {the burning anger of} Yahweh.
46
Now {so that you are not fainthearted}, and you are afraid at the rumors that are heard in the land-- and in the year the rumor comes, and in the year after it the rumor, and violence [is] in the land, with ruler against ruler--
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{therefore} look, days [are] coming, and I will punish the images of Babylon, and all her land will be put to shame, and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.
48
Then [the] heaven and [the] earth and all that [is] in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for from [the] north the destroyers will come to it," {declares} Yahweh.
49
Babylon must fall not only [because of] the slain ones of Israel, but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.
50
Survivors of [the] sword, go! You must not linger! Remember Yahweh from far [away], and let Jerusalem come to your {mind}.
51
We are ashamed, for we have heard taunts, disgrace covers our faces, for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.
52
"{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will punish her images, and [the] fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.
53
Though Babylon goes up [to] the heavens, and though she fortifies the high place of her strength, from me destroyers will come to her," {declares} Yahweh.
54
[The] sound of a cry for help from Babylon, and a great collapse from the land of [the] Chaldeans.
55
For Yahweh [is] devastating Babylon, and he obliterates [her] loud noise from her. Their waves roar like mighty waters, the roar of their voices resounds.
56
For a destroyer [is] coming against her, against Babylon, and her warriors are captured. Their bows are broken; for Yahweh [is] a God of recompense, certainly he will repay.
57
"And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men, her governors, and her officials, and her warriors, and they will sleep {an everlasting sleep}, and they will not wake up," {declares} the King, Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.
58
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished, and her high gates will burn with fire, and [the] peoples will labor {for nothing},
and [the] nations {for fire}, and they will grow weary."
The Scroll Concerning Babylon is Thrown into the Euphrates
59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, [to] Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah [was the] {quartermaster}.
60
And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "At your coming [to] Babylon, then you must see [that] you read aloud all these words.
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And you must say, 'Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that [there will] not be in it [anything] living, from humankind to animals, for it will be {an everlasting desolation}.'
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{And then} when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of [the] Euphrates.
64
And you must say, 'Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, {because of} the face of the disasters that I [am] bringing on her, and they will grow weary.'" {Thus far} the words of Jeremiah.