| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai, | 1The LORD says, "I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit 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. | 2I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. They will winnow her and strip her land bare. This will happen when they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her. |
| 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. | 3Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor. Do not spare any of her young men. Completely destroy her whole army. |
| 4They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets. | 4Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia, mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. |
| 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. | 5"For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God, the LORD who rules over all. For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt 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. | 6Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. Flee to save your lives. Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins. For it is time for the LORD to wreak his revenge. He will pay Babylonia back for what she has done. |
| 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. | 7Babylonia had been a gold cup in the LORD's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad. |
| 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. | 8But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can 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. | 9Foreigners living there will say, 'We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let's leave Babylonia and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.' |
| 10The LORD has brought about our vindication; come, let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. | 10The exiles from Judah will say, 'The LORD has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let's go and proclaim in Zion what 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. | 11"Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The LORD will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media. For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the LORD will get his revenge--how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians' destruction of 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. | 12Give the signal to attack Babylon's wall! Bring more guards! Post them all around the city! Put men in ambush! For the LORD will do what he has planned. He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. |
| 13O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut. | 13"You who live along the rivers of Babylon, the time of your end has come. You who are rich in plundered treasure, it is time for your lives to be cut off. |
| 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 who rules over all has solemnly sworn, 'I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. They will raise up shouts of victory over it.' |
| 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. | 15He is the one who by his power made the earth. He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place, by his understanding he spread 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 his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar. He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain. He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. |
| 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. | 17All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols. |
| 18They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. | 18They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will 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. | 19The LORD, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob, is not like them. For he is the one who created everything, including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own. He is known as the LORD who rules over all. |
| 20“You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; | 20"Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms. |
| 21with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; | 21I used you to smash horses and their riders. I used you to smash chariots and their drivers. |
| 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; | 22I used you to smash men and women. I used you to smash old men and young men. I used you to smash 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. | 23I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks. I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen. I used you to smash governors and leaders." |
| 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"But I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wicked things they did in Zion right before the eyes of you Judeans," 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. | 25The LORD says, "Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth. I will unleash my power against you; I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain. |
| 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. | 26No one will use any of your stones as a cornerstone. No one will use any of them in the foundation of his house. For you will lie desolate forever," 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. | 27"Raise up battle flags throughout the lands. Sound the trumpets calling the nations to do battle. Prepare the nations to do battle against Babylonia. Call for these kingdoms to attack her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander to lead the attack. Send horses against her like a swarm of locusts. |
| 28Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. | 28Prepare the nations to do battle against her. Prepare the kings of the Medes. Prepare their governors and all their leaders. Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. |
| 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 will tremble and writhe in agony. For the LORD will carry out his plan. He plans to make the land of Babylonia a wasteland where no one lives. |
| 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. | 30The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting. They will remain in their fortified cities. They will lose their strength to do battle. They will be as frightened as women. The houses in her cities will be set on fire. The gates of her cities will be broken down. |
| 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; | 31One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured. |
| 32the fords have been seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic. | 32They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified. |
| 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.” | 33For the LORD God of Israel who rules over all says, 'Fair Babylon will be like a threshing floor which has been trampled flat for harvest. The time for her to be cut down and harvested will come very soon.' |
| 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 devoured me and drove my people out. Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me. He filled his belly with my riches. He made me an empty dish. He completely cleaned me out." |
| 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. | 35The person who lives in Zion says, "May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives." Jerusalem says, "May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people." |
| 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, | 36Therefore the LORD says, "I will stand up for your cause. I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. I will dry up their sea. I will make their springs run dry. |
| 37and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant. | 37Babylon will become a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, a place where no one lives. |
| 38“They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions’ cubs. | 38The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. |
| 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. | 39When their appetites are all stirred up, I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out, they will fall asleep forever, they will never wake up," says the LORD. |
| 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats. | 40"I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats." |
| 41“How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! | 41"See how Babylon has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! |
| 42The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves. | 42The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude of its 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. | 43The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins. She has become a dry and barren desert. No one lives in those towns any more. No one even passes through them. |
| 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. | 44I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall." |
| 45“Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every one save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD! | 45"Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the LORD! |
| 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. | 46Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler." |
| 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. | 47"So the time will certainly come when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame. All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. |
| 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 heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon. For destroyers from the north will attack it," says the LORD. |
| 49Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. | 49"Babylon must fall because of the Israelites she has killed, just as the earth's mortally wounded fell because of Babylon. |
| 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: | 50You who have escaped the sword, go, do not delay. Remember the LORD in a faraway land. Think about 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.’ | 51We are ashamed because we have been insulted. Our faces show our disgrace. For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms in the LORD's temple.' |
| 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. | 52Yes, but the time will certainly come," says the LORD, "when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan. |
| 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. | 53Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold, I will send destroyers against her," says the LORD. |
| 54“A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! | 54Cries of anguish will come from 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 ready to destroy Babylon, and put an end to her loud noise. Their waves will roar like turbulent waters. They will make a deafening noise. |
| 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. | 56For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. Her warriors will be captured; their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God who punishes; he pays back 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. | 57"I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her governors, leaders, and warriors. They will fall asleep forever and never wake up," says the King whose name is the LORD who rules over all. |
| 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 who rules over all says, "Babylon's thick wall will be completely demolished. Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed." |
| 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. | 59This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign. (Seraiah was a quartermaster.) |
| 60Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. | 60Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon--all these prophecies written about Babylon. |
| 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, | 61Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies. |
| 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, 'O LORD, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!' |
| 63When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, | 63When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of 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 the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.'" The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. |
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