Severe Judgment against Babylon

1Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

2And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall fan her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

3Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

4And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

5For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

6Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

7Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand; that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

8Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

9We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

10The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

11Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: the LORD hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his device is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

12Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.

14The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the cankerworm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

Song of Praise

15He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens:

16when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.

17Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

18They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

19The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

Babylon's Punishment

20Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

21and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein;

22and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

23and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

24And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

25Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

26And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

27Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough cankerworm.

28Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

29And the land trembleth and is in pain: for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

30The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strong holds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.

31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

32and the passages are surprised, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

33For thus saith 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 harvest shall come for her.

34Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his maw with my delicates; he hath cast me out.

35The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

36Therefore thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and an hissing, without inhabitant.

38They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps.

39When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

41How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

42The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

43Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

44And I will do judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

Instructions for the Exiles

45My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of the LORD.

46And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; for a rumour shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

47Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon, and her whole land shall be ashamed; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

48Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.

49As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

50Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember the LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

51We are ashamed, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house.

52Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

54The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55For the LORD spoileth Babylon, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters, the noise of their voice is uttered:

56for the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces: for the LORD is a God of recompences, he shall surely requite.

57And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

58Thus saith the LORD of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labour for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.

Jeremiah's Prophecy to Seraiah

59The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain. 60And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words, 62and say, O LORD, thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: 64and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.