Description
These two chapters prophesy the fall of ancient Babylon, which was fulfilled in 539 BC. They also prophesy the fall of Mystery Babylon in the end times, as seen in Revelation 17-18.
Commentary
These two chapters prophesy the fall of ancient Babylon, which was fulfilled in 539 BC. They also prophesy the fall of Mystery Babylon in the end times, as seen in Revelation 17-18.
Chapter 50
Bel and Marduk will be put to shame (v2) - as in Isaiah 46:1. Babylon will be attacked from the north (v3). Babylon was Israel’s nemesis from the north. Now Babylon will face its own attack from the north. Babylon’s fall will allow the return of both Israel and Judah, who will return to their land together (v4). But when Babylon fell in 539 BC, it was only Judah that returned. When they return this time, they will both bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten. This is the New Covenant announced in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and 32:40, a covenant that Israel and Judah will accept in the end times, and then never turn away from. Acceptance of this covenant includes a recognition that Israel has been like sheep that have gone astray and become lost (v6) - see Israel’s end-time confession in Isaiah 53:6. Israel also recognises that it was destroyed by other nations because it had sinned against God (v7).
The Jews are warned to leave Babylon quickly (v8) - see Revelation 18:4, “Come out of her my people”. Babylon will be destroyed by precision weapons (v9) and then plundered (v10). She will be put to great shame (v12) and become an uninhabited barren waste (v12-13). She will be attacked (v14) and will surrender. She will be torn down (v15) and her people killed. Her foreign workers will be allowed to escape and return to their own countries (v16).
The people of Israel are like sheep who have been scattered by the lions of Assyria and Babylon (v17). God will punish Babylon as he punished Assyria (v18). He will restore Israel to their own land. Bashan (the Golan heights), Ephraim (today’s disputed West Bank) and Gilead (on the east side of the River Jordan) belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel (v19). God will completely forgive the survivors of Israel and Judah (v20), which is part of his New Covenant promise in Jeremiah 31:34.
God makes a renewed call for Babylon and its armies to be destroyed (v21-30) and summons all who draw the bow (v29). He will open up his weapons arsenal for them to be used against Babylon (v25). All her soldiers will be killed (v30). Babylon’s refugees will declare that God is taking revenge for what Babylon did to God’s temple (v28). Babylon will be burned and humbled (v32).
Israel and Judah are oppressed and held captive (v33). The Lord of heaven’s armies (Jesus) will liberate them and establish peace on earth, but trouble to Babylonia (v34). Destructive forces will come against her false prophets, who will be shown to be fools (v36). In its end-time context, this may refer to Mystery Babylon’s muslim clerics. Her armed forces and foreign troops will be destroyed and her treasures taken as plunder (v37). Her rivers and canals will dry up - relating to Mystery Babylon, these could be the rivers of oil in Arabia (v38). Babylon will be left uninhabited except by wild animals (v39-40). God will destroy Babylonia like he did Sodom and Gomorrah (v40).
A mighty nation and many kings will come together against Babylon from the north (v41). The king of Babylon will be paralysed with fear when he hears about it (v43). Just as Israel was scattered like sheep by the lion of Babylon (v17), so now God’s lion will rise up from the Jordan and scatter the Babylonians (v44). In its historic context, this lion was Cyrus the Persian, but in its end-time context, this lion will be Jesus. The mighty nation and kings that come together from the north my be the same as the seven shepherds that God raises up in Micah 5:5 when the Antichrist invades Israel. Afterwards, Jesus will rule over Babylonia and no-one will be able to call him to account (v44). Babylon will be completely destroyed and the nations will quake at the news (v45-46).
Chapter 51
Jeremiah prophesies judgment against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai (v1). ‘Leb Kamai’ is code for ‘Chaldeans’ (Babylonians), formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. Here in verse 41, and in Jeremiah 25:26, Jeremiah refers to Babylon as ’Sheshach’, formed using the same code. Revelation 17:5 interprets this as ‘Mystery Babylon’. On the same basis, we can understand the people of ‘Leb Kamai’ to be the ‘Mystery Babylonians’. It suggests that although chapters 50-51 were directed against the Babylonian empire of the 6th century BC, they are also directed against ‘Mystery Babylonia” of the end-times.
Jeremiah pictures Babylon being winnowed by a strong destructive wind that blows away the chaff (v2). Babylon’s whole army will be suddenly destroyed. A surprise attack will come so suddenly that her soldiers will not even have time to put their armour on and will fall in the streets of her cities (v3-4). This aligns with Revelation 18:10, "Woe, woe, O great city, Babylon the powerful city! For in a single hour your doom has come!" Israel and Judah will not be forsaken, implying that God will rescue them. Babylonia is full of guilt against ‘the Holy one of Israel’ (v5), whom she defied according to Jeremiah in 50:29. The foreigners need to flee to save their lives before God unleashes havoc (v6). Jeremiah told us in 50:40 that Babylon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. The command to flee is like that given to Lot and his family (Genesis 19:17).
Babylonia has been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand. She has made the nations drink this wine of her wrath, and they have all gone mad (v7). When Jeremiah saw this cup of God’s wrath in chapter 25, Jerusalem had to drink it first, then all the nations, and last of all the king of Sheshach (Mystery Babylon). Revelation 17 combines this portrayal with that of Isaiah 47, the virgin daughter of Babylon who thinks she will reign as queen forever and never experience widowhood or the loss of children. So in Revelation 17:5, she becomes Mystery Babylon, the Great Prostitute, seducing and intoxicating the nations with her wine. If Mystery Babylon is Arabia, as suggested by Isaiah 21, this wine may represent Saudi Arabia’s oil that causes foreign nations to overlook her human rights abuses and sinfulness. But ultimately, the wine represents God’s wrath, and those who drink it will share in her judgment. When Babylonia is destroyed, foreigners will try unsuccessfully to heal her wounds saying, “We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed”. Her judgment will be 'vast in its proportions…piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds' (v9). Such descriptions, together with the suddenness of her destruction (v3), suggest the possibility of a nuclear attack against Saudi Arabia. According to Isaiah 21, the sudden end to the 'glory of Kedar' comes after a year-long Arabian refugee crisis, resulting from an attack by Elam and Media (modern-day Iran). Here in verse 11, Jeremiah also identifies the kings of Media as the instruments of his revenge against Babylon. Historically, Cyrus the Persian conquered and absorbed the Median empire into his Persian empire in 550 BC, and then together with the Medes, conquered the Babylonian empire in 539 BC. But if Mystery Babylon is modern-day Saudi Arabia, it is possible that the current cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran will result in an end-time fulfilment of this prophecy.
The fall of Mystery Babylon brings about deliverance for the exiles from Judah (v10) and is seen as revenge for the destruction of their temple. This was fulfilled historically when Cyrus defeated Babylon and allowed the exiles to return (Ezra 1). In the end-times, it is likely that Saudi Arabia is involved in the restoration of the Islamic empire which, under the leadership of the Antichrist, invades Jerusalem and desecrates the third temple, with the Antichrist setting up the abomination of desolation (Daniel 9:27).
It is possible the sudden and devastating attack described in verses 3 to 11 is a localised attack against 'the glory of Kedar' (Isaiah 21:16) which may be Mecca and possibly Jeddah. According to Revelation 18:17, Babylon's sudden destruction by fire is visible to ships travelling along the coast, probably that of the Red Sea. Verses 12 to 16 signal the final phase of Babylon's judgment. The 'Yahweh of Armies' swears that an enemy army will swarm over Babylonia like locusts (v14). The language of verses 15 to 16 suggests that the Lord is at the head of this army as in Joel 2:11. As it advances, God unleashes his heavenly weapons of thunder, lightning, wind and rain. It is a mystery what this locust army represents, but it may be an army of resurrected believers who fight alongside Jesus after his second coming.
Verses 17 to 19 denounce the idolatry of Babylonia. Historically, these were man-made idols of Babylonian gods, especially of Marduk who was also called Bel (Jeremiah 50:2). If Mystery Babylon is modern-day Arabia, one might argue that Islam forbids idolatry, so there are no idols. However, muslims pray towards the Black Stone in the Kaaba at Mecca. The Black Stone is believed to be a meteorite stone, similar to that described in Acts 19:35, "Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?". Although it wasn't man-made, the bible still calls this stone an image. In verses 20 to 23, God describes Babylon as his war club which he used to smash nations and people. In the end times, it is possible that Saudi Arabia, as head of a restored Islamic empire, will also destroy nations and people in the end-time war. They will be repaid for their crimes against Zion (v24). God compares Babylon to a destructive mountain (v25). Mountains often metaphorically represent kingdoms in the bible. Babylon will end up being rolled off a cliff. She will become like a burned-out mountain, and lie desolate forever (v26).
Verses 27 to 28 again call for nations to come and fight against Babylon. The nations specifically named were located in eastern Turkey and north-west Iran. The fall of Babylon causes the earth to tremble and writhe in agony (v29). Babylon's soldiers will be too terrified to continue fighting (v30). Messengers tell the king of Babylon that the city has fallen (v31). In its end-time context, the king of Babylon is the Antichrist, as in Isaiah 14. According to Ezekiel 38, Gog the Antichrist comes from Turkey, but he rises to power over the end-time empire (Daniel 7:7-8) that I believe will have first been re-established by Saudi Arabia.
In verse 33, Babylon is addressed as 'Fair Babylon' (literally 'Daughter Babylon'). She will become like a threshing floor, another picture of judgment similar to that of winnowing in verse 2. In Psalm 137:8, 'Daughter Babylon' is equated with Edom, which similarly faces destruction. Babylon will be repaid for devouring the people of Zion (v34-35). God will dry up her 'sea' and make her 'springs' run dry. This could be her sea and springs of oil. She will then become a heap of ruins where no-one lives (v37). God will make the Babylonians drunk with his wrath and lead them off to be slaughtered (v38-40). Sheshach (Mystery Babylon) is turned from an object of pride to an object of horror (v41). She will become a dry and barren desert (v43). God will punish Bel in Babylon and make her spit out Zion whom she swallowed like a monster (v34 & 44). The nations will no longer come streaming to him (v44). This is probably God's humiliation of Allah and Islam, with the nations no longer streaming to Mecca in pilgrimage. Verse 45 repeats the call to flee Babylon to save your lives. Verse 46 seems to describe a period of war within Arabia, as in Isaiah 21:16. In the first year, the report will be of war. After that, the next report will be of her destruction, when all her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst (v47). Heaven and earth will sing for joy over Babylon's fall (v48). She must fall because of the Israelites she killed (v49). The Israelites who survive are urged to remember God and think of Jerusalem (v50). Foreigners have invaded her temple (v51), probably referring to Antichrist's desecration of the temple (Daniel 9:27). God will destroy Babylon, even if she climbs high into the sky (v53). Saudi Arabia is currently building the Jeddah Tower, with plans for it to reach 1 km in height, like a modern Tower of Babel. God is ready to destroy Babylon and put an end to her loud noise (v55), probably a reference to Islam. Babylon's warriors will be captured and their weapons broken (v56). God will make Babylon's leaders and warriors drunk with the wine of his wrath and make them sleep (die) so they never wake up. The destruction of Babylon's gates may be another figurative reference to the destruction of Islam. Jesus claimed to be the true gate (John 10:7), and in Matthew 7:13 he said, "Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it". Islam is a wide gate through which many people strive to attain salvation, but it does not satisfy and will be destroyed (v58).
In verses 59 to 64, Jeremiah gives the scroll containing this prophecy to Seraiah, to read it aloud and then throw it in the Euphrates with a stone attached, symbolising Babylon's coming destruction. This affirms the relevance of this prophecy to historic ancient Babylon. But it doesn't deny its future application to Mystery Babylon, as in Revelation 17-18.
Chapter 50
Bel and Marduk will be put to shame (v2) - as in Isaiah 46:1. Babylon will be attacked from the north (v3). Babylon was Israel’s nemesis from the north. Now Babylon will face its own attack from the north. Babylon’s fall will allow the return of both Israel and Judah, who will return to their land together (v4). But when Babylon fell in 539 BC, it was only Judah that returned. When they return this time, they will both bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten. This is the New Covenant announced in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and 32:40, a covenant that Israel and Judah will accept in the end times, and then never turn away from. Acceptance of this covenant includes a recognition that Israel has been like sheep that have gone astray and become lost (v6) - see Israel’s end-time confession in Isaiah 53:6. Israel also recognises that it was destroyed by other nations because it had sinned against God (v7).
The Jews are warned to leave Babylon quickly (v8) - see Revelation 18:4, “Come out of her my people”. Babylon will be destroyed by precision weapons (v9) and then plundered (v10). She will be put to great shame (v12) and become an uninhabited barren waste (v12-13). She will be attacked (v14) and will surrender. She will be torn down (v15) and her people killed. Her foreign workers will be allowed to escape and return to their own countries (v16).
The people of Israel are like sheep who have been scattered by the lions of Assyria and Babylon (v17). God will punish Babylon as he punished Assyria (v18). He will restore Israel to their own land. Bashan (the Golan heights), Ephraim (today’s disputed West Bank) and Gilead (on the east side of the River Jordan) belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel (v19). God will completely forgive the survivors of Israel and Judah (v20), which is part of his New Covenant promise in Jeremiah 31:34.
God makes a renewed call for Babylon and its armies to be destroyed (v21-30) and summons all who draw the bow (v29). He will open up his weapons arsenal for them to be used against Babylon (v25). All her soldiers will be killed (v30). Babylon’s refugees will declare that God is taking revenge for what Babylon did to God’s temple (v28). Babylon will be burned and humbled (v32).
Israel and Judah are oppressed and held captive (v33). The Lord of heaven’s armies (Jesus) will liberate them and establish peace on earth, but trouble to Babylonia (v34). Destructive forces will come against her false prophets, who will be shown to be fools (v36). In its end-time context, this may refer to Mystery Babylon’s muslim clerics. Her armed forces and foreign troops will be destroyed and her treasures taken as plunder (v37). Her rivers and canals will dry up - relating to Mystery Babylon, these could be the rivers of oil in Arabia (v38). Babylon will be left uninhabited except by wild animals (v39-40). God will destroy Babylonia like he did Sodom and Gomorrah (v40).
A mighty nation and many kings will come together against Babylon from the north (v41). The king of Babylon will be paralysed with fear when he hears about it (v43). Just as Israel was scattered like sheep by the lion of Babylon (v17), so now God’s lion will rise up from the Jordan and scatter the Babylonians (v44). In its historic context, this lion was Cyrus the Persian, but in its end-time context, this lion will be Jesus. The mighty nation and kings that come together from the north my be the same as the seven shepherds that God raises up in Micah 5:5 when the Antichrist invades Israel. Afterwards, Jesus will rule over Babylonia and no-one will be able to call him to account (v44). Babylon will be completely destroyed and the nations will quake at the news (v45-46).
Chapter 51
Jeremiah prophesies judgment against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai (v1). ‘Leb Kamai’ is code for ‘Chaldeans’ (Babylonians), formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. Here in verse 41, and in Jeremiah 25:26, Jeremiah refers to Babylon as ’Sheshach’, formed using the same code. Revelation 17:5 interprets this as ‘Mystery Babylon’. On the same basis, we can understand the people of ‘Leb Kamai’ to be the ‘Mystery Babylonians’. It suggests that although chapters 50-51 were directed against the Babylonian empire of the 6th century BC, they are also directed against ‘Mystery Babylonia” of the end-times.
Jeremiah pictures Babylon being winnowed by a strong destructive wind that blows away the chaff (v2). Babylon’s whole army will be suddenly destroyed. A surprise attack will come so suddenly that her soldiers will not even have time to put their armour on and will fall in the streets of her cities (v3-4). This aligns with Revelation 18:10, "Woe, woe, O great city, Babylon the powerful city! For in a single hour your doom has come!" Israel and Judah will not be forsaken, implying that God will rescue them. Babylonia is full of guilt against ‘the Holy one of Israel’ (v5), whom she defied according to Jeremiah in 50:29. The foreigners need to flee to save their lives before God unleashes havoc (v6). Jeremiah told us in 50:40 that Babylon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. The command to flee is like that given to Lot and his family (Genesis 19:17).
Babylonia has been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand. She has made the nations drink this wine of her wrath, and they have all gone mad (v7). When Jeremiah saw this cup of God’s wrath in chapter 25, Jerusalem had to drink it first, then all the nations, and last of all the king of Sheshach (Mystery Babylon). Revelation 17 combines this portrayal with that of Isaiah 47, the virgin daughter of Babylon who thinks she will reign as queen forever and never experience widowhood or the loss of children. So in Revelation 17:5, she becomes Mystery Babylon, the Great Prostitute, seducing and intoxicating the nations with her wine. If Mystery Babylon is Arabia, as suggested by Isaiah 21, this wine may represent Saudi Arabia’s oil that causes foreign nations to overlook her human rights abuses and sinfulness. But ultimately, the wine represents God’s wrath, and those who drink it will share in her judgment. When Babylonia is destroyed, foreigners will try unsuccessfully to heal her wounds saying, “We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed”. Her judgment will be 'vast in its proportions…piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds' (v9). Such descriptions, together with the suddenness of her destruction (v3), suggest the possibility of a nuclear attack against Saudi Arabia. According to Isaiah 21, the sudden end to the 'glory of Kedar' comes after a year-long Arabian refugee crisis, resulting from an attack by Elam and Media (modern-day Iran). Here in verse 11, Jeremiah also identifies the kings of Media as the instruments of his revenge against Babylon. Historically, Cyrus the Persian conquered and absorbed the Median empire into his Persian empire in 550 BC, and then together with the Medes, conquered the Babylonian empire in 539 BC. But if Mystery Babylon is modern-day Saudi Arabia, it is possible that the current cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran will result in an end-time fulfilment of this prophecy.
The fall of Mystery Babylon brings about deliverance for the exiles from Judah (v10) and is seen as revenge for the destruction of their temple. This was fulfilled historically when Cyrus defeated Babylon and allowed the exiles to return (Ezra 1). In the end-times, it is likely that Saudi Arabia is involved in the restoration of the Islamic empire which, under the leadership of the Antichrist, invades Jerusalem and desecrates the third temple, with the Antichrist setting up the abomination of desolation (Daniel 9:27).
It is possible the sudden and devastating attack described in verses 3 to 11 is a localised attack against 'the glory of Kedar' (Isaiah 21:16) which may be Mecca and possibly Jeddah. According to Revelation 18:17, Babylon's sudden destruction by fire is visible to ships travelling along the coast, probably that of the Red Sea. Verses 12 to 16 signal the final phase of Babylon's judgment. The 'Yahweh of Armies' swears that an enemy army will swarm over Babylonia like locusts (v14). The language of verses 15 to 16 suggests that the Lord is at the head of this army as in Joel 2:11. As it advances, God unleashes his heavenly weapons of thunder, lightning, wind and rain. It is a mystery what this locust army represents, but it may be an army of resurrected believers who fight alongside Jesus after his second coming.
Verses 17 to 19 denounce the idolatry of Babylonia. Historically, these were man-made idols of Babylonian gods, especially of Marduk who was also called Bel (Jeremiah 50:2). If Mystery Babylon is modern-day Arabia, one might argue that Islam forbids idolatry, so there are no idols. However, muslims pray towards the Black Stone in the Kaaba at Mecca. The Black Stone is believed to be a meteorite stone, similar to that described in Acts 19:35, "Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?". Although it wasn't man-made, the bible still calls this stone an image. In verses 20 to 23, God describes Babylon as his war club which he used to smash nations and people. In the end times, it is possible that Saudi Arabia, as head of a restored Islamic empire, will also destroy nations and people in the end-time war. They will be repaid for their crimes against Zion (v24). God compares Babylon to a destructive mountain (v25). Mountains often metaphorically represent kingdoms in the bible. Babylon will end up being rolled off a cliff. She will become like a burned-out mountain, and lie desolate forever (v26).
Verses 27 to 28 again call for nations to come and fight against Babylon. The nations specifically named were located in eastern Turkey and north-west Iran. The fall of Babylon causes the earth to tremble and writhe in agony (v29). Babylon's soldiers will be too terrified to continue fighting (v30). Messengers tell the king of Babylon that the city has fallen (v31). In its end-time context, the king of Babylon is the Antichrist, as in Isaiah 14. According to Ezekiel 38, Gog the Antichrist comes from Turkey, but he rises to power over the end-time empire (Daniel 7:7-8) that I believe will have first been re-established by Saudi Arabia.
In verse 33, Babylon is addressed as 'Fair Babylon' (literally 'Daughter Babylon'). She will become like a threshing floor, another picture of judgment similar to that of winnowing in verse 2. In Psalm 137:8, 'Daughter Babylon' is equated with Edom, which similarly faces destruction. Babylon will be repaid for devouring the people of Zion (v34-35). God will dry up her 'sea' and make her 'springs' run dry. This could be her sea and springs of oil. She will then become a heap of ruins where no-one lives (v37). God will make the Babylonians drunk with his wrath and lead them off to be slaughtered (v38-40). Sheshach (Mystery Babylon) is turned from an object of pride to an object of horror (v41). She will become a dry and barren desert (v43). God will punish Bel in Babylon and make her spit out Zion whom she swallowed like a monster (v34 & 44). The nations will no longer come streaming to him (v44). This is probably God's humiliation of Allah and Islam, with the nations no longer streaming to Mecca in pilgrimage. Verse 45 repeats the call to flee Babylon to save your lives. Verse 46 seems to describe a period of war within Arabia, as in Isaiah 21:16. In the first year, the report will be of war. After that, the next report will be of her destruction, when all her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst (v47). Heaven and earth will sing for joy over Babylon's fall (v48). She must fall because of the Israelites she killed (v49). The Israelites who survive are urged to remember God and think of Jerusalem (v50). Foreigners have invaded her temple (v51), probably referring to Antichrist's desecration of the temple (Daniel 9:27). God will destroy Babylon, even if she climbs high into the sky (v53). Saudi Arabia is currently building the Jeddah Tower, with plans for it to reach 1 km in height, like a modern Tower of Babel. God is ready to destroy Babylon and put an end to her loud noise (v55), probably a reference to Islam. Babylon's warriors will be captured and their weapons broken (v56). God will make Babylon's leaders and warriors drunk with the wine of his wrath and make them sleep (die) so they never wake up. The destruction of Babylon's gates may be another figurative reference to the destruction of Islam. Jesus claimed to be the true gate (John 10:7), and in Matthew 7:13 he said, "Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it". Islam is a wide gate through which many people strive to attain salvation, but it does not satisfy and will be destroyed (v58).
In verses 59 to 64, Jeremiah gives the scroll containing this prophecy to Seraiah, to read it aloud and then throw it in the Euphrates with a stone attached, symbolising Babylon's coming destruction. This affirms the relevance of this prophecy to historic ancient Babylon. But it doesn't deny its future application to Mystery Babylon, as in Revelation 17-18.
Tags
Places: Israel, Jerusalem, Zion, Babylon, Sheshach, Mystery Babylon, Chaldea, Leb Kamai, Arabia, Saudi Arabia, Mecca, Media, Iran, Jeddah Tower
Symbols: Cup of intoxicating wine of judgment, Threshing floor of judgment, End-time harvest, Golden cup, Gates of Babylon as false way of salvation
Tags: Babylon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah, Fall of Babylon, Fall of Islam, Bel and Marduk, New covenant, Return of exiles to Israel, Restoration of Israel and Judah, Mystery Babylon, Babylon as Sheshach, Babylonia as Leb Kamai, Antichrist as king of Sheshach, Foreigners flee Babylon, Possible nuclear attack, Islamic idolatry, Iran attacks Saudi Arabia, Jeddah Tower like modern Tower of Babel
Symbols: Cup of intoxicating wine of judgment, Threshing floor of judgment, End-time harvest, Golden cup, Gates of Babylon as false way of salvation
Tags: Babylon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah, Fall of Babylon, Fall of Islam, Bel and Marduk, New covenant, Return of exiles to Israel, Restoration of Israel and Judah, Mystery Babylon, Babylon as Sheshach, Babylonia as Leb Kamai, Antichrist as king of Sheshach, Foreigners flee Babylon, Possible nuclear attack, Islamic idolatry, Iran attacks Saudi Arabia, Jeddah Tower like modern Tower of Babel
Judgment Against Babylon
50 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah.
2 “Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: ‘Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon’s idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed.
3 For a nation from the north will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’
4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together. They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion; they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have allowed them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said, ‘We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture. They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors trusted.’
8 “People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly! Leave the land of Babylonia! Be the first to depart! Be like the male goats that lead the herd.
9 For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed.
10 Babylonia will be plundered. Those who plunder it will take all they want,” says the Lord.
11 “People of Babylonia, you plundered my people. That made you happy and glad. You frolic about like calves in a pasture. Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion.
12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.
13 After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it.
14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! For she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the Lord, am wreaking revenge, take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done!
16 Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army.
17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep which lions have chased away. First the king of Assyria devoured them. Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones.
18 So I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, say: ‘I will punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture. They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan. They will eat until they are full on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead.
20 When that time comes, no guilt will be found in Israel. No sin will be found in Judah. For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. I, the Lord, affirm it!’”
21 The Lord says, “Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them! Do just as I have commanded you!
22 The noise of battle can be heard in the land of Babylonia. There is the sound of great destruction.
23 Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that ‘hammer’ has been broken and shattered! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon; you were caught before you knew it. You fought against me. So you were found and captured.
25 I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. For I, the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia.
26 Come from far away and attack Babylonia! Open up the places where she stores her grain! Pile her up in ruins! Destroy her completely! Do not leave anyone alive!
27 Kill all her soldiers! Let them be slaughtered! They are doomed, for their day of reckoning has come, the time for them to be punished.”
28 Listen! Fugitives and refugees are coming from the land of Babylon. They are coming to Zion to declare there how the Lord our God is getting revenge, getting revenge for what they have done to his temple.
29 “Call for archers to come against Babylon! Summon against her all who draw the bow! Set up camp all around the city! Do not allow anyone to escape! Pay her back for what she has done. Do to her what she has done to others. For she has proudly defied me, the Holy One of Israel.
30 So her young men will fall in her city squares. All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,” says the Lord.
31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” says the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Indeed, your day of reckoning has come, the time when I will punish you.
32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.”
33 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The people of Israel are oppressed. So too are the people of Judah. All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free.
34 But the one who will rescue them is strong. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He will strongly champion their cause. As a result he will bring peace and rest to the earth, but trouble and turmoil to the people who inhabit Babylonia.
35 “Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians,” says the Lord. “They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia, against her leaders and her men of wisdom.
36 Destructive forces will come against her false prophets; they will be shown to be fools! Destructive forces will come against her soldiers; they will be filled with terror!
37 Destructive forces will come against her horses and her chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; they will be as frightened as women! Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder!
38 A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up. All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. Her people act like madmen because of those idols they fear.
39 Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there. Ostriches will dwell in it too. But no people will ever live there again. No one will dwell there for all time to come.
40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord.
41 “Look! An army is about to come from the north. A mighty nation and many kings are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.
42 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses. Lined up in formation like men going into battle, they are coming against you, fair Babylon!
43 The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming. Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.
44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me.
45 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.
46 The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured. Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations.”
51 The Lord says, “I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia.
2 I 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.
3 Do 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.
4 Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia, mortally wounded in the streets of her cities.
5 “For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Get 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.
7 Babylonia 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.
8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!
9 Foreigners 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 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 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 Give 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.
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.
14 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies 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 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.
16 When 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 All 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.
18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
19 The 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. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
20 “Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I used you to smash horses and their riders. I used you to smash chariots and their drivers.
22 I 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.
23 I 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 “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 The 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.
26 No 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 “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.
28 Prepare 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.
29 The 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.
30 The 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.
31 One 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.
32 They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified.
33 For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel 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 “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.”
35 The 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.”
36 Therefore 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.
37 Babylon 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 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat.
39 When 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 lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.”
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!
42 The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude of its waves.
43 The 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.
44 I 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 “Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord!
46 Do 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 “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.
48 Then 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 the Israelites she has killed, just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon.
50 You who have escaped the sword, go, do not delay. Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem.
51 ‘We 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 Yes, but the time will certainly come,” says the Lord, “when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.
53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” says the Lord.
54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
55 For 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.
56 For 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.
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 of Heaven’s Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies 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.”
59 This 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.)
60 Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies written about Babylon.
61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies.
62 Then 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!’
63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.
64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”
The prophecies of Jeremiah end here
50 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah.
2 “Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: ‘Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon’s idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed.
3 For a nation from the north will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’
4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together. They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zion; they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have allowed them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who encountered them devoured them. Their enemies who did this said, ‘We are not liable for punishment! For those people have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture. They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors trusted.’
8 “People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly! Leave the land of Babylonia! Be the first to depart! Be like the male goats that lead the herd.
9 For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier who does not return from the battle empty-handed.
10 Babylonia will be plundered. Those who plunder it will take all they want,” says the Lord.
11 “People of Babylonia, you plundered my people. That made you happy and glad. You frolic about like calves in a pasture. Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion.
12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.
13 After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it.
14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! For she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the Lord, am wreaking revenge, take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done!
16 Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army.
17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep which lions have chased away. First the king of Assyria devoured them. Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones.
18 So I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, say: ‘I will punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture. They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan. They will eat until they are full on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead.
20 When that time comes, no guilt will be found in Israel. No sin will be found in Judah. For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. I, the Lord, affirm it!’”
21 The Lord says, “Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them! Do just as I have commanded you!
22 The noise of battle can be heard in the land of Babylonia. There is the sound of great destruction.
23 Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that ‘hammer’ has been broken and shattered! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations!
24 I set a trap for you, Babylon; you were caught before you knew it. You fought against me. So you were found and captured.
25 I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. For I, the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia.
26 Come from far away and attack Babylonia! Open up the places where she stores her grain! Pile her up in ruins! Destroy her completely! Do not leave anyone alive!
27 Kill all her soldiers! Let them be slaughtered! They are doomed, for their day of reckoning has come, the time for them to be punished.”
28 Listen! Fugitives and refugees are coming from the land of Babylon. They are coming to Zion to declare there how the Lord our God is getting revenge, getting revenge for what they have done to his temple.
29 “Call for archers to come against Babylon! Summon against her all who draw the bow! Set up camp all around the city! Do not allow anyone to escape! Pay her back for what she has done. Do to her what she has done to others. For she has proudly defied me, the Holy One of Israel.
30 So her young men will fall in her city squares. All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,” says the Lord.
31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” says the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Indeed, your day of reckoning has come, the time when I will punish you.
32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.”
33 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The people of Israel are oppressed. So too are the people of Judah. All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free.
34 But the one who will rescue them is strong. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He will strongly champion their cause. As a result he will bring peace and rest to the earth, but trouble and turmoil to the people who inhabit Babylonia.
35 “Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians,” says the Lord. “They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia, against her leaders and her men of wisdom.
36 Destructive forces will come against her false prophets; they will be shown to be fools! Destructive forces will come against her soldiers; they will be filled with terror!
37 Destructive forces will come against her horses and her chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; they will be as frightened as women! Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder!
38 A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up. All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. Her people act like madmen because of those idols they fear.
39 Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there. Ostriches will dwell in it too. But no people will ever live there again. No one will dwell there for all time to come.
40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord.
41 “Look! An army is about to come from the north. A mighty nation and many kings are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.
42 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses. Lined up in formation like men going into battle, they are coming against you, fair Babylon!
43 The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming. Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.
44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me.
45 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.
46 The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured. Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations.”
51 The Lord says, “I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia.
2 I 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.
3 Do 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.
4 Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia, mortally wounded in the streets of her cities.
5 “For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Get 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.
7 Babylonia 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.
8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!
9 Foreigners 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 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 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 Give 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.
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.
14 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies 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 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.
16 When 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 All 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.
18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
19 The 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. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
20 “Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I used you to smash horses and their riders. I used you to smash chariots and their drivers.
22 I 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.
23 I 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 “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 The 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.
26 No 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 “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.
28 Prepare 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.
29 The 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.
30 The 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.
31 One 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.
32 They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified.
33 For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel 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 “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.”
35 The 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.”
36 Therefore 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.
37 Babylon 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 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat.
39 When 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 lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.”
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!
42 The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude of its waves.
43 The 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.
44 I 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 “Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord!
46 Do 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 “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.
48 Then 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 the Israelites she has killed, just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon.
50 You who have escaped the sword, go, do not delay. Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem.
51 ‘We 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 Yes, but the time will certainly come,” says the Lord, “when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.
53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” says the Lord.
54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
55 For 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.
56 For 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.
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 of Heaven’s Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies 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.”
59 This 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.)
60 Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies written about Babylon.
61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies.
62 Then 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!’
63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.
64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”
The prophecies of Jeremiah end here
(NET)
