Jeremiah 51:20-46
20
“You are my war club,
my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter nations,
with you I destroy kingdoms,
21
with you I shatter horse and rider,
with you I shatter chariot and driver,
22
with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and maiden,
23
with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.
24 “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.
25
“I am against you, O destroying mountain,
you who destroy the whole earth,”
declares the Lord.
“I will stretch out my hand against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a burned-out mountain.
26
No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor any stone for a foundation,
for you will be desolate forever,”
declares the Lord.
27
“Lift up a banner in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations for battle against her;
summon against her these kingdoms:
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a commander against her;
send up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28
Prepare the nations for battle against her—
the kings of the Medes,
their governors and all their officials,
and all the countries they rule.
29
The land trembles and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand—
to lay waste the land of Babylon
so that no one will live there.
30
Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;
they remain in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become like women.
Her dwellings are set on fire;
the bars of her gates are broken.
31
One courier follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,
32
the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers terrified.”
33
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest her will soon come.”
34
“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed us out.
35
May the violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon,”
say the inhabitants of Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”
says Jerusalem.
36
Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“See, I will defend your cause
and avenge you;
I will dry up her sea
and make her springs dry.
37
Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,
a place where no one lives.
38
Her people all roar like young lions,
they growl like lion cubs.
39
But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,
so that they shout with laughter—
then sleep forever and not awake,”
declares the Lord.
40
“I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.
41
“How Sheshach will be captured,
the boast of the whole earth seized!
What a horror Babylon will be
among the nations!
42
The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves will cover her.
43
Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no man travels.
44
I will punish Bel in Babylon
and make him spew out what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall of Babylon will fall.
45
“Come out of her, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46
Do not lose heart or be afraid
when rumors are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.