Jeremiah 51

Jeremiah · Chapter 51

Jeremiah 51:55

1Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;2And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.3Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.5For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.6Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this 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 drunken 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 bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.12Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.13O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.14The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.15He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.16When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.17Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.18They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.19The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.20Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for 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 his rider;22With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;23I will also break in pieces with thee 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 captains and rulers.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 Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.28Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.29And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.30The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; 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 at one end,32And that the passages are stopped, 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 threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.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 belly 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 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 springs dry.37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.38They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.39In their heat I will make their feasts, 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 how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!42The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.43Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.44And I will punish 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.45My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.46And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both 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 confounded, 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 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 earth.50Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.51We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame 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.54A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:55Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:56Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.57And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, 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 broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.59The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.60So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;62Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, 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 from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
55Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:For 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.For Jehovah layeth Babylon waste, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

Where

Locations from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Some ancient sites are uncertain.

Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
forכִּֽי־ki-H3588A
for

כִּי (ki) 1) that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since 1a) that 1a1) yea, indeed 1b) when (of time) 1b1) when, if, though (with a concessive force) 1c) because, since (causal connection) 1d) but (after negative) 1e) that if, for if, indeed if, for though, but if 1f) but rather, but 1g) except that 1h) only, nevertheless 1i) surely 1j) that is 1k) but if 1l) for though 1m) forasmuch as, for therefore

[is] about to destroyשֹׁדֵ֤דsho-DEDH7703
to ruin

שָׁדַד (sha.dad) 1) to deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin, destroy, spoil 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to violently destroy, devastate, despoil, assail 1a2) devastator, despoiler (participle) (subst) 1b) (Niphal) to be utterly ruined 1c) (Piel) 1c1) to assault 1c2) to devastate 1d) (Pual) to be devastated 1e) (Poel) to violently destroy 1f) (Hophal) to be devastated Also means: shud (שׁוּד "to waste" H7736)

Yahwehיְהוָה֙YAH-wehH3068G
Lord

אֲדֹנָי (a.do.nai) Lord - a title, spoken in place of Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence Another name of ye.ho.vah (יהוה "LORD" H3068G)

Babylonבָּבֶ֔לba-VELH0894
Babylon

בָּבֶ֫ל, בָּבֶל (ba.vel) § Babel or Babylon = "confusion (by mixing)" Babel or Babylon, the ancient site and/or capital of Babylonia (modern Hillah) situated on the Euphrates

and he will destroyוְאִבַּ֥דve-'i-BADH0006
to perish

אָבַד (a.vad) 1) perish, vanish, go astray, be destroyed 1a) (Qal) 1a1) perish, die, be exterminated 1a2) perish, vanish (fig.) 1a3) be lost, strayed 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to destroy, kill, cause to perish, to give up (as lost), exterminate 1b2) to blot out, do away with, cause to vanish, (fig.) 1b3) cause to stray, lose 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to destroy, put to death 1c1a) of divine judgment 1c2) object name of kings (fig.) Aramaic equivalent: a.vad (אֲבַד "to destroy" H0007)

from itמִמֶּ֖נָּהmi-ME-nahH4480A
from

מִן־ (min) prep 1) from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than 1a) from (expressing separation), off, on the side of 1b) out of 1b1) (with verbs of proceeding, removing, expelling) 1b2) (of material from which something is made) 1b3) (of source or origin) 1c) out of, some of, from (partitively) 1d) from, since, after (of time) 1e) than, more than (in comparison) 1f) from...even to, both...and, either...or 1g) than, more than, too much for (in comparisons) 1h) from, on account of, through, because (with infinitive) conj 2) that …

a soundק֣וֹלKolH6963A
voice

קוֹל (qol) : voice/shout/loud 1) voice, sound, noise 1a) voice 1b) sound (of instrument)

greatגָּד֑וֹלga-DOLH1419A
great: large

גָּדוֹל (ga.dol) adj 1) great 1a) large (in magnitude and extent) 1b) in number 1c) in intensity 1d) loud (in sound) 1e) older (in age) 1f) in importance 1f1) important things 1f2) great, distinguished (of men) 1f3) God Himself (of God) subst 1g) great things 1h) haughty things 1i) greatness Also means: ga.dol (גָּדוֹל ": old" H1419K) § Haggedolim = "the great one" (CLBL) Haggedolim, the great man?, father of Zabdiel

and they will roarוְהָמ֤וּve-ha-MUH1993
to roar

הָמָה (ha.mah) 1) to murmur, growl, roar, cry aloud, mourn, rage, sound, make noise, tumult, be clamorous, be disquieted, be loud, be moved, be troubled, be in an uproar 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to growl 1a2) to murmur (fig. of a soul in prayer) 1a3) to roar 1a4) to be in a stir, be in a commotion 1a5) to be boisterous, be turbulent

waves theirגַלֵּיהֶם֙ga-lei-HEMH1530H
heap

גַּל (gal) : heap/pile 1) heap, spring, wave, billow 1a) heap (of stones) 1a1) over dead body 1a2) alone 1a3) used in ratifying a covenant 1b) waves (fig. of chastisement of Jehovah) 1c) spring Also means: gal (גַּל ": wave" H1530H)

like watersכְּמַ֣יִםke-MA-yimH4325G
water

מַי (ma.yim) 1) water, waters 1a) water 1b) water of the feet, urine 1c) of danger, violence, transitory things, refreshment (fig.)

manyרַבִּ֔יםra-BIMH7227A
many

רַב (rav) adj 1) much, many, great 1a) much 1b) many 1c) abounding in 1d) more numerous than 1e) abundant, enough 1f) great 1g) strong 1h) greater than adv 1i) much, exceedingly

it will be givenנִתַּ֥ןni-TANH5414M
to give: give

נָתַן (na.tan) : give/deliver/send/produce 1) to give, put, set 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to give, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote, consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend, commit, entrust, give over, deliver up, yield produce, occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention, utter, stretch out, extend 1a2) to put, set, put on, put upon, set, appoint, assign, designate 1a3) to make, constitute 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be given, be bestowed, be provided, be entrusted to, be granted to, be permitted, be issued, be published, be uttered, be assigned 1b2) to be set, be put, be made, be inflicted …

[the] uproar ofשְׁא֖וֹןshe-'onH7588
roar

שָׁאוֹן (sha.on) 1) roar, din, crash, uproar 1a) roar (of water) 1b) uproar (of revellers)

voice theirקוֹלָֽם׃ko-LAMH6963A
voice

קוֹל (qol) : voice/shout/loud 1) voice, sound, noise 1a) voice 1b) sound (of instrument)

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.