Jeremiah 51 - The Scriptures 1998

¹ Thus said יהוה, “See, I am stirring up the spirit of a destroyer against Baḇ

² And I shall send winnowers to Baḇ

³ “Let the archer draw his bow, and let him stand ready in his armour. Do not spare her young men, put all her army under the ban.

⁴ “And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the pierced-through in her streets.

⁵ “For neither Yisra’ĕ

⁶ Flee from the midst of Baḇ

⁷ Baḇ

⁸ Baḇ

⁹ We would have healed Baḇ

¹⁰ יהוה  has brought forth our righteousness. Come and let us relate in Tsiyon the work of יהוה  our Elohim.

¹¹ Polish the arrows! Put on the shields! יהוה  has stirred up the spirit of the sovereigns of the Medes. For His plan is against Baḇ

¹² Lift up a banner on the walls of Baḇ

¹³ You who dwell upon many waters, great in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your greedy gain.

¹⁴ יהוה  of hosts has sworn by Himself, “I shall certainly fill you with men, as with locusts, and they shall lift up a shout against you.”

¹⁵ He made the earth by His power, He established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹⁶ When He gives forth His voice the waters in the heavens roar, and He makes vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain, and He brings the wind out of His treasuries.

¹⁷ All mankind has become too brutish to know, every smith has been put to shame by the carved image, for his moulded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸ They are worthless, a work of mockery. In the time of their punishment they perish.

¹⁹ The Portion of Yaʽ

²⁰ “You are My battle-axe, weapons of battle, and with you I shall break nations in pieces, and with you I shall destroy reigns.

²¹ “And with you I shall break in pieces the horse and its rider, and with you I shall break in pieces the chariot and its rider.

²² “And with you I shall break in pieces man and woman, and with you I shall break in pieces old and young, and with you I shall break in pieces the young man and the maiden.

²³ “And with you I shall break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with you I shall break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen. And with you I shall break in pieces governors and rulers.

²⁴ “And I shall repay Baḇ

²⁵ “See, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth,” declares יהוה. “And I shall stretch out My hand against you. And I shall roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.

²⁶ “And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner nor a stone for a foundation, but you shall be a waste forever,” declares יהוה.

²⁷ Lift up a banner in the land, blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her, call the reigns together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her, bring up horses like hairy locusts.

²⁸ Separate the nations against her, with the sovereigns of the Medes, its governors and all its rulers, all the land of his rule,

²⁹ so that the land shakes and writhes in pain. For every plan of יהוה  shall be established against Baḇ

³⁰ The mighty men of Baḇ

³¹ One runner runs to meet another, and one reporter to meet another, to report to the sovereign of Baḇ

³² and the fords have been captured, and they have burned the reeds with fire, and the soldiers are startled.

³³ For thus said יהוה  of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

³⁴ “Neḇ

³⁵ “Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Baḇ

³⁶ Therefore thus said יהוה, “See, I am pleading your case. And I shall take vengeance for you and dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.

³⁷ “And Baḇ

³⁸ “Together they roar like lions, they shall growl like lions’ cubs.

³⁹ “In their heat I prepare their feasts. And I shall make them drunk, so that they rejoice, and sleep a neverending sleep and not awake,” declares יהוה.

⁴⁰ “I shall bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.

⁴¹ “Oh, how Shĕ

⁴² “The sea has risen over Baḇ

⁴³ “Her cities have become a ruin, a dry land and a desert, a land where no one dwells, neither does son of man pass by it.

⁴⁴ “And I shall punish Bĕ

⁴⁵ “Come out of her midst, My people! And let everyone deliver his being from the burning displeasure of יהוה.

⁴⁶ “And lest your heart grow faint, and you fear the report heard in the land – for a report shall come one year, and after that, in another year a report shall come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler –

⁴⁷ therefore see, the days are coming that I shall bring punishment on the carved images of Baḇ

⁴⁸ “And the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall shout for joy over Baḇ

⁴⁹ As Baḇ

⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword, go away! Do not stand still! Remember יהוה  from afar, and let Yerushalayim come to your heart.

⁵¹ We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the set-apart places of the House of יהוה.

⁵² “Therefore see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “that I shall bring punishment on her carved images, while the wounded groan throughout all her land.

⁵³ “Though Baḇ

⁵⁴ Listen! A cry from Baḇ

⁵⁵ because יהוה  is ravaging Baḇ

⁵⁶ because the ravager shall come against her, against Baḇ

⁵⁷ “And I shall make her rulers drunk, and her wise men, her governors, and her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a lasting sleep, and not awake,” declares the Sovereign, whose Name is יהוה  of hosts.

⁵⁸ Thus said יהוה  of hosts, “The broad walls of Baḇ

⁵⁹ The word that Yirmeyahu the prophet commanded Serayah son of Nĕ

⁶⁰ So Yirmeyahu wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Baḇ

⁶¹ And Yirmeyahu said to Serayah, “When you come to Baḇ

⁶² then you shall say, ‘O יהוה, You have spoken concerning this place to cut it off, so that none shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, for it is a ruin forever.’

⁶³ “And it shall be, when you have ended reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the midst of the Euphrates,

⁶⁴ and shall say, ‘So does Baḇ