| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1This is what the LORD says: “I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Babylonia. | 1This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer. |
| 2Foreigners will come and winnow her, blowing her away as chaff. They will come from every side to rise against her in her day of trouble. | 2I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster. |
| 3Don’t let the archers put on their armor or draw their bows. Don’t spare even her best soldiers! Let her army be completely destroyed. | 3Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction! |
| 4They will fall dead in the land of the Babylonians, slashed to death in her streets. | 4And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets. |
| 5For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has not abandoned Israel and Judah. He is still their God, even though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.” | 5For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.” |
| 6Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves! Don’t get trapped in her punishment! It is the LORD’s time for vengeance; he will repay her in full. | 6Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves. |
| 7Babylon has been a gold cup in the LORD’s hands, a cup that made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank Babylon’s wine, and it drove them all mad. | 7Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad. |
| 8But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her. Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed. | 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed. |
| 9We would have helped her if we could, but nothing can save her now. Let her go; abandon her. Return now to your own land. For her punishment reaches to the heavens; it is so great it cannot be measured. | 9“We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches to the clouds.” |
| 10The LORD has vindicated us. Come, let us announce in Jerusalem everything the LORD our God has done. | 10“The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.” |
| 11Sharpen the arrows! Lift up the shields! For the LORD has inspired the kings of the Medes to march against Babylon and destroy her. This is his vengeance against those who desecrated his Temple. | 11Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD—vengeance for His temple. |
| 12Raise the battle flag against Babylon! Reinforce the guard and station the watchmen. Prepare an ambush, for the LORD will fulfill all his plans against Babylon. | 12Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon; post the guard; station the watchmen; prepare the ambush. For the LORD has both devised and accomplished what He spoke against the people of Babylon. |
| 13You are a city by a great river, a great center of commerce, but your end has come. The thread of your life is cut. | 13You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut. |
| 14The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has taken this vow and has sworn to it by his own name: “Your cities will be filled with enemies, like fields swarming with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.” A Hymn of Praise to the LORD | 14The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.” |
| 15The LORD made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens. | 15The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. |
| 16When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses. | 16When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses. |
| 17The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power. | 17Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. |
| 18Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed. | 18They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish. |
| 19But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including his people, his own special possession. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name! Babylon’s Great Punishment | 19The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and of the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name. |
| 20“You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the LORD. “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. | 20“You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin. |
| 21With you I will shatter armies— destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. | 21With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver. |
| 22With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and young women. | 22With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the maiden. |
| 23With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and officers. | 23With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials. |
| 24“I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. | 24Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD. |
| 25“Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD. “I will raise my fist against you, to knock you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble. | 25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain. |
| 26You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says the LORD. | 26No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD. |
| 27Raise a signal flag to the nations. Sound the battle cry! Mobilize them all against Babylon. Prepare them to fight against her! Bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander, and bring a multitude of horses like swarming locusts! | 27“Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts. |
| 28Bring against her the armies of the nations— led by the kings of the Medes and all their captains and officers. | 28Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule. |
| 29The earth trembles and writhes in pain, for everything the LORD has planned against Babylon stands unchanged. Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant. | 29The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. |
| 30Her mightiest warriors no longer fight. They stay in their barracks, their courage gone. They have become like women. The invaders have burned the houses and broken down the city gates. | 30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken. |
| 31The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured. | 31One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end. |
| 32All the escape routes are blocked. The marshes have been set aflame, and the army is in a panic. | 32The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.” |
| 33This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor, about to be trampled. In just a little while her harvest will begin.” | 33For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.” |
| 34“King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has eaten and crushed us and drained us of strength. He has swallowed us like a great monster and filled his belly with our riches. He has thrown us out of our own country. | 34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out. |
| 35Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,” say the people of Zion. “Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,” says Jerusalem. The LORD’s Vengeance on Babylon | 35May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem. |
| 36This is what the LORD says to Jerusalem: “I will be your lawyer to plead your case, and I will avenge you. I will dry up her river, as well as her springs, | 36Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry. |
| 37and Babylon will become a heap of ruins, haunted by jackals. She will be an object of horror and contempt, a place where no one lives. | 37Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant. |
| 38Her people will roar together like strong lions. They will growl like lion cubs. | 38They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs. |
| 39And while they lie inflamed with all their wine, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them. I will make them drink until they fall asleep, and they will never wake up again,” says the LORD. | 39While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD. |
| 40“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats to be sacrificed. | 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. |
| 41“How Babylon is fallen— great Babylon, praised throughout the earth! Now she has become an object of horror among the nations. | 41How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations! |
| 42The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered by its crashing waves. | 42The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves. |
| 43Her cities now lie in ruins; she is a dry wasteland where no one lives or even passes by. | 43Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through. |
| 44And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon, and make him vomit up all he has eaten. The nations will no longer come and worship him. The wall of Babylon has fallen! A Message for the Exiles | 44I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall. |
| 45“Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the LORD’s fierce anger. | 45Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD. |
| 46But do not panic; don’t be afraid when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For rumors will keep coming year by year. Violence will erupt in the land as the leaders fight against each other. | 46Do not let your heart grow faint, and do not be afraid when the rumor is heard in the land; for a rumor will come one year—and then another the next year—of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler. |
| 47For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols. Her whole land will be disgraced, and her dead will lie in the streets. | 47Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her. |
| 48Then the heavens and earth will rejoice, for out of the north will come destroying armies against Babylon,” says the LORD. | 48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon because the destroyers from the north will come against her,” declares the LORD. |
| 49“Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel and others throughout the world, so must her people be killed. | 49“Babylon must fall on account of the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon. |
| 50Get out, all you who have escaped the sword! Do not stand and watch—flee while you can! Remember the LORD, though you are in a far-off land, and think about your home in Jerusalem.” | 50You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.” |
| 51“We are ashamed,” the people say. “We are insulted and disgraced because the LORD’s Temple has been defiled by foreigners.” | 51“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.” |
| 52“Yes,” says the LORD, “but the time is coming when I will destroy Babylon’s idols. The groans of her wounded people will be heard throughout the land. | 52“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan. |
| 53Though Babylon reaches as high as the heavens and makes her fortifications incredibly strong, I will still send enemies to plunder her. I, the LORD, have spoken! Babylon’s Complete Destruction | 53Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD. |
| 54“Listen! Hear the cry of Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. | 54“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! |
| 55For the LORD is destroying Babylon. He will silence her loud voice. Waves of enemies pound against her; the noise of battle rings through the city. | 55For the LORD will destroy Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. The waves will roar like great waters; the tumult of their voices will resound. |
| 56Destroying armies come against Babylon. Her mighty men are captured, and their weapons break in their hands. For the LORD is a God who gives just punishment; he always repays in full. | 56For a destroyer is coming against her—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. |
| 57I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her captains, officers, and warriors. They will fall asleep and never wake up again!” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. | 57I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts. |
| 58This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground, and her massive gates will be burned. The builders from many lands have worked in vain, for their work will be destroyed by fire!” Jeremiah’s Message Sent to Babylon | 58This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.” |
| 59The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, a staff officer, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. | 59This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the quartermaster Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. |
| 60Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words written here. | 60Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon. |
| 61He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll. | 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, |
| 62Then say, ‘LORD, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.’ | 62and say, ‘O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain—neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.’ |
| 63When you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. | 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates. |
| 64Then say, ‘In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.’” This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages. | 64Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’ ” Here end the words of Jeremiah. |
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