World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 51
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says: "Behold, I will raise up against , and against those who in Lebkamai, a destroying wind. I will send to strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around. Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow, also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. Don't spare her young men! all her army! They will fall down slain in the land of the , and thrust through in her streets. For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his , by of Armies; though their land is full of against the One of Israel. "Flee out of the middle of ! Everyone his own life! Don't in her , for it is the time of . He will give to her a . has been a golden in hand, who made all the earth drunk. have drunk of her ; therefore the nations have gone mad. has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. "We would have healed , but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let's each go into his own country; for her reaches to , and is lifted up even to the skies. ' has produced our . Come, and let's declare in the work of our .' "Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! has stirred up of the kings of the , because his purpose is against , to destroy it; for it is the of , the of his temple. Set up a standard against the walls of ! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of . You who on many waters, abundant in , your end has come, the measure of your covetousness. of Armies has by himself, saying, 'Surely I will fill you with men, as with , and they will lift up a shout against you.' "He has made the earth by his . He has established the world by his . By his understanding he has stretched out . When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in , and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the , and brings the wind out of his treasuries. "Every man has become stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his , for his are falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are , a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation, they will . The of is not like these, for he formed all things, including the tribe of his . of Armies is his name. "You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider. With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin. With you I will break in pieces the and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his . With you I will break in pieces governors and deputies. "I will give to and to all the inhabitants of all their evil that they have done in in your sight," . "Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain," , "which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain. They won't take a from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate ," . "Set up a standard in the land! Blow the among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms of , Minni, and ! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the swarming ! Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the , its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their ! The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of against stand, to make the land of a desolation, without inhabitant. The of have stopped fighting, they in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on . Her bars are broken. One runner will run to meet another, and one to meet another, to show the king of that his city is taken on every quarter. So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with . The men of war are frightened." For of Armies, the of Israel says: "The daughter of is like a at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her." " the king of has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty . He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his with my delicacies. He has cast me out. May the done to me and to my be on !" the inhabitant of will say; and, "May my be on the inhabitants of !" will say. Therefore says: "Behold, I will plead your cause, and take for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. will become heaps, a for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. They will roar together like young lions. They will growl as lions' cubs. When they are inflamed, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up," . "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. "How Sheshach is taken! How the of the whole earth is seized! How has become a desolation among the nations! The sea has come up on . She is covered with of its waves. Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a , a land in which no man dwells. No passes by it. I will execute on in , and I will bring out of his that which he has swallowed up. will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of will fall. "My people, go away from the middle of her, and each of you yourselves from . Don't let faint. Don't fear for the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come one year, and after that in another year news will come, and in the land, ruler against ruler. Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute on the engraved of ; and her whole land will be confounded. All her slain will fall in the middle of her. Then and the earth, and all that is therein, will sing for joy over ; for the destroyers will come to her from the north," . "As has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so the slain of all the land will fall at . You who have escaped , go! Don't stand still! Remember from afar, and let come into ." "We are confounded because we have heard . Confusion has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of house." "Therefore behold, the days come," , "that I will execute on her engraved ; and through all her land the wounded will groan. Though should mount up to , and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers will come to her from me," . "The sound of a cry comes from , and of great from the land of the ! For lays waste, and destroys out of her the great voice! Their waves roar like many waters. The noise of their voice is uttered. For has come on her, even on . Her are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for is a of retribution. He will surely repay. I will make her princes, her men, her governors, her deputies, and her drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up," says the King, whose name is of Armies. of Armies says: "The wide walls of will be utterly overthrown. Her high will be burned with . The peoples will labor for , and the nations for the ; and they will be weary." The word which the commanded the son of , the son of Mahseiah, when he went with the king of Judah to in the fourth year of his reign. Now was chief quartermaster. wrote in a book all the evil that should come on , even all these words that are written concerning . said to , "When you come to , then see that you read all these words, and say, ', you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate .' It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the . Then you shall say, 'Thus will sink, and will not because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.'" Thus far are the words of .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Babylon and the exile, 612 BC to 539 BC ›
Babylon replaces Assyria, Jerusalem and its temple are destroyed in 586 BC, and the leadership of Judah lives in Mesopotamia without a king, a temple, or a country.
- Babylon
- Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilds the city on a scale meant to be seen from a distance: the Ishtar Gate in glazed blue brick, the processional way, the ziggurat, and gardens later counted among the wonders of the world. Babylonian tablets record rations issued to the captive king Jehoiachin of Judah by name, which is one of the tidier points of contact between the Bible and the archives.
- Egypt
- Briefly resurgent. Pharaoh Neco marches north, kills King Josiah at Megiddo, and installs and deposes kings in Jerusalem, until Babylon beats him decisively at Carchemish in 605 BC. Jeremiah spends his career saying that betting on Egypt is suicide, and is proved right.
- Judah
- Deported in stages, then destroyed. The temple is burned, the walls broken, and the leadership marched to Mesopotamia. What happens next is one of the strangest survivals in history: a people keeps its identity without land, king, or sanctuary, and comes out of it with its scriptures more central than before.
- Further afield
- An extraordinary century for ideas everywhere at once. Thales and the first Greek philosophers, Solon's reforms at Athens, the Buddha in India, Confucius and Lao Tzu in China, and Zoroaster in Persia all fall within a few generations of the exile.
All of Jeremiah