| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1This is what the LORD says: "See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai. | 1The LORD says, "I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. |
| 2I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster. | 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 string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy 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 will fall down slain in Babylon, fatally 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 Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before 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 Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD's vengeance; he will repay her what she deserves. | 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 gold cup in the LORD's hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone 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. |
| 8Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can 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! |
| 9"'We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.' | 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.' |
| 10"'The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.' | 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 kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, 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. |
| 12Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The LORD will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people 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. |
| 13You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be destroyed. | 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 Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph 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"He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. | 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 thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out 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. |
| 17"Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have 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, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish. | 18They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed. |
| 19He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the people of his inheritance-- the LORD Almighty 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 war club, my weapon for battle-- with you I shatter nations, 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 shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver, | 21I used you to smash horses and their riders. I used you to smash chariots and their drivers. |
| 22with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and 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 shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials. | 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"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. | 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"I am against you, you 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. | 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 rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever," 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"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. | 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 battle against her-- the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule. | 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, for the LORD's purposes against Babylon stand-- to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there. | 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. |
| 30Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates 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 courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured, | 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 river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified." | 32They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified. |
| 33This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon 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 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. | 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." |
| 35May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon," say the inhabitants of Zion. "May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia," says Jerusalem. | 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 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. | 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. |
| 37Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. | 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. |
| 38Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs. | 38The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. |
| 39But 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. | 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. |
| 40"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats. | 40"I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats." |
| 41"How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be 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 will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her. | 42The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude of its waves. |
| 43Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels. | 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. |
| 44I 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. | 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"Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run 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! |
| 46Do 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. | 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." |
| 47For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within 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 heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her," 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. |
| 49"Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon. | 49"Babylon must fall because of the Israelites she has killed, just as the earth's mortally wounded fell because of Babylon. |
| 50You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and call to mind Jerusalem." | 50You who have escaped the sword, go, do not delay. Remember the LORD in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem. |
| 51"We are disgraced, for we have been insulted and shame covers our faces, because foreigners have entered 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"But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will 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. |
| 53Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers 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"The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. | 54Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. |
| 55The LORD will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound. | 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. |
| 56A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full. | 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 her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty. | 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. |
| 58This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Babylon's thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations' labor is only fuel for the flames." | 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." |
| 59This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. | 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 had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon--all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. | 60Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon--all these prophecies written about Babylon. |
| 61He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. | 61Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies. |
| 62Then say, 'LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will 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 scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. | 63When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. |
| 64Then say, 'So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.'" The words of Jeremiah end here. | 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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