Thus says the LORD:“Behold, I am going to stir up and put into action a fury against BabylonAnd against the rebellious people of Leb-kamai (Chaldea)A adestroying wind and hostile spirit;Jer 4:11, 12; 23:19; Hos 13:15
2 And I will send foreigners to Babylon that they may awinnow herAnd may devastate and empty her land;For in the day of destructionThey will be against her on every side.Is 41:16; Jer 15:7; Matt 3:123 “Do not let him (the Chaldean defender) who abends his bow bend it,Nor let him rise up in his bcoat of armor.So do not spare her young men;Devote her entire army to destruction.Jer 50:14, 29Jer 46:44 “They shall fall down dead in the land of the Chaldeans,And awounded in her streets.”Is 13:15; 14:19; Jer 49:26; 50:30, 37 5 For aneither Israel nor Judah has been 1abandonedBy his God, the LORD of hosts,Though their land is bfull of sin and guiltBefore the Holy One of Israel.Lit widowed.Is 54:7, 8; Jer 33:24-26Hos 4:1, 26 aFlee out of Babylon,Let every one of you save his life!Do not be bdestroyed in her punishment,For this is the ctime of the LORD’S vengeance;He is going to dpay her what she has earned. Jer 50:28; 2+@Cor 6:17; Rev 18:4Jer 50:8, 28; Rev 18:4Num 16:26Jer 50:15Jer 25:147 Babylon has been a golden acup in the LORD’S hand,Intoxicating all the earth.The bnations drank her wine;Therefore the nations have cgone mad. Rev 14:8; 17:4Jer 25:15; Hab 2:16; Rev 14:8; 17:4Rev 14:8; 18:3Jer 25:168 aBabylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered!bWail for her if you care to!cGet balm for her incurable pain;Perhaps she may be healed. Jer 25:15; Rev 14:8-10; 16:19; 18:2, 3Is 21:9; Jer 50:2; Rev 14:8; 18:2Is 13:6; Rev 18:9Jer 46:119 We would have healed Babylon, but she was not to be healed.Abandon her and alet each captive return to his own country,For her guilt and judgment have breached to heavenAnd are lifted up to the very skies. Gen 18:20, 21Is 13:14; Jer 46:16; 50:16Ezra 9:6; Rev 18:510 The LORD has abrought about our vindication and has revealed the righteousness of our cause;Come and let us bproclaim in ZionThe work of the LORD our God!Ps 37:6; Mic 7:9Is 40:2; Jer 50:28 11 aSharpen the arrows, take up the shields and cover yourselves!The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the 1Medes,Because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it;For that is the bvengeance of the LORD, vengeance on Babylon for plundering and destroying His temple.Perhaps a reference to the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians in 539 B.C.Jer 46:4, 9; Joel 3:9, 10Jer 50:2812 aSet up a signal on the walls of Babylon to spread the news;Post a strong blockade,Station the guards,Prepare the men for ambush!For the LORD has both bpurposed and doneThat which He spoke against the people of Babylon.Is 13:2; Jer 50:2; 51:27Jer 4:28; 23:20; 51:2913 O Babylon you who alive by many waters,Rich in btreasures,Your end has come,And the line measuring your life is ccut. Rev 17:1-6Rev 17:1Is 45:3Is 57:17; Hab 2:9-1114 The aLORD of hosts has sworn an oath by Himself, saying,“Surely I will fill you with men, as with a swarm of blocusts who strip the land clean,And they will lift up a song and shout of victory over you.”Jer 49:13Jer 51:27; Nah 3:15 15 aHe made the earth by His power;He established the world by His wisdomAnd bstretched out the heavens by His understanding.Gen 1:1; Jer 10:12-16; 51:15-19Job 9:8; Ps 146:5, 6; Jer 32:17; Acts 14:15; Rom 1:2016 When He utters His avoice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,And He causes the bclouds to ascend from the ends of the earth.He makes lightnings for the rainAnd brings out the cwind from His storehouses.Job 37:2-6; Ps 18:13Ps 135:7; Jer 10:13Jon 1:417 aEvery man has become stupid and brutelike, without knowledge of God;Every goldsmith is shamed by the cast images he has made;For his molten idols are ba lie,And there is no breath of life or spirit in them.Is 44:18-20; Jer 10:14Hab 2:18, 1918 They are aworthless (empty, false, futile) , a work of delusion and worthy of derision;In the time of their inspection and punishment they will perish.Jer 18:1519 The aPortion of Jacob the true God of Israel is not like these handmade gods;For He is the Maker of all and the One who formed and fashioned all things,And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—The bLORD of hosts is His name. Jer 10:12-16Ps 73:26; Jer 10:16Jer 50:3420 “You Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon are My abattle-axe and weapon of war—For with you I bshatter nations,With you I destroy kingdoms.Is 10:5; 41:15, 16; Jer 50:23Is 8:9; 41:15, 16; Mic 4:12, 1321 “With you I ashatter the horse and his rider,With you I shatter the bchariot and its driver,Ex 15:1Ex 15:4; Is 43:1722 With you I shatter aman and woman,With you I shatter old man and byouth,With you I shatter young man and virgin,2 Chr 36:17; Is 13:15, 16Is 13:1823 With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,With you I shatter the farmer and his yoke of oxen,And with you I shatter governors and commanders. 24 “And I will completely repay Babylon and all the people of aChaldea for ball the evil that they have done in Zion—before your very eyes I will do it,” says the LORD.Jer 50:10Jer 50:15, 29
25 “Behold, aI am against you,bO destroying mountain conqueror of nations,Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD,“I will stretch out My hand against you,And roll you down from the rugged cliffs,And will make you a cburnt mountain (extinct volcano) .Jer 50:31Is 13:2; Zech 4:7Rev 8:826 “They will not take from you even a stone for a cornerstoneNor any rock for a foundation,But you will be 1adesolate forever,” says the LORD.See note Is 13:22 for this prophecy’s fulfillment.Is 13:19-22; Jer 50:13; 51:29 27 aLift up a signal in the land to spread the news!Blow the trumpet among the nations!Dedicate the nations for war against her;Call against her the bkingdoms of cArarat, Minni, and dAshkenaz.Appoint a marshal against her;Cause the ehorses to come up like bristly locusts with their wings not yet released from their cases.Is 13:2-5; 18:3; Jer 50:2; 51:12Jer 50:3, 9Gen 8:4; 2 Kin 19:37; Is 37:38Gen 10:3Jer 50:4228 Prepare and dedicate the nations for war against her—The kings of Media,With their governors and commanders,And every land of their dominion.29 The aland trembles and writhes in pain and sorrow,For the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand,To make the land of BabylonA bdesolation without inhabitants.Jer 8:16; 10:10; 50:46; Amos 8:8Is 13:19, 20; 47:11; Jer 50:13; 51:26, 4330 The amighty warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight;They remain in their strongholds.bTheir strength and power have failed;They are becoming weak and helpless clike women.Their dwelling places are set on fire;The 1dbars on her gates are broken.Babylon fell in 539 B.C. on the night King Belshazzar was assassinated (Dan 5:30).Ps 76:5; Jer 50:15, 36, 37Is 13:7, 8; Nah 3:13Is 45:1, 2; Lam 2:9; Amos 1:5; Nah 3:1331 One acourier runs to meet another,And one bmessenger to meet another,To tell the 1king of BabylonThat his city has been captured from end to end;In 553 B.C. Belshazzar was named co-ruler of Babylon by his father, King Nabonidus, and reigned in that capacity until Babylon was conquered. In spite of this co-regency, Nabonidus is regarded historically as the last of the Babylonian kings. Belshazzar’s mother, Nitrocris, was the daughter of King Nebuchadnezzar.2 Chr 30:62 Sam 18:19-3132 And that the fords across the Euphrates have been blocked and the ferries seized,And they have set the great marshes on fire,And the men of war are terrified. 33 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:“The Daughter of Babylon is like a 1athreshing floorAt the time it is being trampled and prepared;Yet in a little while the time of bharvest will come for her.”At harvest time the threshing floor had to be firmly trampled before the grain or seeds could be extracted with the flail. A flail consisted of a handle to which was attached a freely swinging stick or bar. In the Bible, the harvest is often used as metaphor for judgment.Is 21:10; 41:15, 16; Mic 4:13Is 17:5; Hos 6:11; Joel 3:13; Rev 14:15
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has adevoured 1me, he has crushed me,He has set me down like an bempty vessel.Like a monster he has cswallowed me up,He has filled his belly with my delicacies;He has spit me out and washed me away.The Jewish captives.Jer 50:17Is 24:1-3Job 20:15; Jer 51:4435 “May the aviolence done to me and to my flesh and blood be upon Babylon,”The inhabitant of Zion will say;And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”Jerusalem will say.Ps 137:8 36 Therefore thus says the LORD,“Behold, I will aplead your caseAnd btake full vengeance for you;cI will dry up her sea and great reservoirAnd make her fountain dry.Ps 140:12Jer 51:6, 11; Rom 12:19Jer 50:38
37 “aBabylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt and dwelling place of jackals,An object of bhorror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing of scorn and amazement, without inhabitants.Rev 18:2Jer 25:938 “They (the Chaldean lords) will be roaring together before their sudden capture like ayoung lions roaring over their prey,They (the princes) will be growling like lions’ cubs.Jer 2:1539 “When they are 1inflamed with wine and lust during their drinking bouts, I will prepare them a feast of My wrathAnd amake them drunk, that they may rejoiceAnd may bsleep a perpetual sleepAnd not wake up,” declares the LORD.Through the voice of Jeremiah God revealed the ultimate destiny of great Babylon, whom Herodotus praised as “embellished with ornaments more than any city.” The fact that all of the details of the prophecy were fulfilled is recorded by Daniel (5:1-30), and becomes even more amazing after twenty-six centuries. Only a “fool” could say in his heart, “There is no God” (Ps 14:1).Jer 25:27; 48:26; 51:57Ps 76:540 “I will bring them down like lambs ato the slaughter,Like rams together with male goats.Jer 48:15; 50:27 41 “How aSheshak (Babylon) has been captured,And bthe praise of the whole earth been seized!How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror among the nations!Jer 25:26Jer 49:2542 “The asea has come up over Babylon;She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves.Is 8:7, 8; Jer 51:55; Dan 9:2643 “Her cities have become an astonishing adesolation and an object of horror,A parched land and a desert,A land in which bno one lives,And through which no son of man passes.Jer 50:12Is 13:20; Jer 2:644 “aI will punish and judge Bel the handmade god in BabylonAnd btake out of his mouth what he has swallowed up the stolen sacred articles and the captives of Judah and elsewhere.The nations will no longer cflow to him.Yes, the dwall of Babylon has fallen down!Is 46:1; Jer 50:2Ezra 1:7, 8Is 2:2Jer 50:15; 51:58 45 “aCome out of her midst, My people,And each of you escape and bsave yourselfFrom the fierce anger of the LORD. Jer 50:8; 2+@Cor 6:17; Rev 18:4Is 48:20; Jer 50:8, 28; 51:6; Rev 18:4Gen 19:12-16; Acts 2:4046 “Now beware aso that you do not lose heart,And so that you are not afraid at the brumor that will be heard in the land—For the rumor shall come one year,And after that another rumor in another year,And violence shall be in the land,cRuler against ruler—Is 43:5; Jer 46:27, 282 Kin 19:7; Is 13:3-5Is 19:247 Therefore behold (listen carefully) , the days are comingWhen I will judge and punish the aidols of Babylon;Her whole land will be perplexed and bshamed,And all her slain will fall in her midst.Is 21:9; 46:1, 2; Jer 50:2; 51:52Jer 50:12, 35-3748 “Then aheaven and earth and all that is in themWill shout and sing for joy over Babylon,For the 1bdestroyers will come against her from the north,”Says the LORD. Is 44:23; Jer 51:11; Rev 12:12; 18:20I.e. the Medo-Persian Empire.Is 44:23; 48:20; 49:13; Rev 18:20Jer 50:3 49 aIndeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,As also for Babylon bthe slain of all the earth have fallen.Ps 137:8; Jer 50:29Rev 18:2450 You awho have escaped the sword,Go away! Do not stay!bRemember the LORD from far away,And let desolate Jerusalem come into your mind.Jer 44:28Deut 4:29-31; Ps 137:651 aWe are perplexed and ashamed, for we have heard reproach;Disgrace has covered our faces,For bforeigners from Babylon have comeInto the most sacred parts of the sanctuary of the LORD even those places forbidden to all but the appointed priest.Ps 44:15Ps 74:3-8; Lam 1:10 52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,“When I will judge and punish the aidols of Babylon,And throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.”Jer 50:3853 “Though Babylon should aascend to the heavens,And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold,Yet destroyers will come on her from bMe,” says the LORD.Gen 11:4; Job 20:6; Ps 139:8-10; Is 14:12-14; Jer 49:16; Amos 9:2; Obad 4Is 13:3 54 The asound of an outcry comes from Babylon,And the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!Jer 48:3-5; 50:22, 4655 For the LORD is going to destroy Babylon and make her a ruin,And He will still her great voice that hums with city life.And the awaves of her conquerors roar like great waters,The noise of their voices is raised up like the marching of an army.Ps 18:4; 69:2; 124:2, 4, 5; Jer 51:4256 For the adestroyer is coming against her, against Babylon;And her mighty warriors will be captured,Their bbows are shattered;For the LORD is a God of just crestitution;He will fully repay.Jer 51:48, 53; Hab 2:8Ps 46:9; 76:3Deut 32:35; Ps 94:1, 2; Jer 51:6, 2457 “I will amake her princes and her wise men drunk,Her governors and her commanders and her mighty warriors;They will sleep a bperpetual sleep and not wake up,”cSays the King—the LORD of hosts is His name.Jer 25:27Ps 76:5, 6Jer 46:18; 48:15 58 Thus says the LORD of hosts,“The 1broad awall of Babylon will be completely overthrown and the foundations razedAnd her high bgates will be set on fire;The peoples will clabor in vain,And the nations become dexhausted only for fire that will destroy their work.” Hab 2:13Babylon was surrounded by a moat and two separate walls approximately fifty feet high. Both walls consisted of two layers. The outer layer of the outer wall was twenty-five feet thick, and the inner layer twenty-three feet thick. The outer layer of the inner defensive wall was twenty-one feet thick, and the inner layer twelve feet thick. These walls were so massive that archeologists estimate that 180 million bricks were required for their construction. Babylon’s immense ruins may still be seen—an amazing, enduring testimony to the power of God.Jer 50:15Is 45:1, 2Hab 2:13Jer 9:5; 51:64; Lam 5:5
59 The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of aNeriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with bZedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was chief chamberlain or quartermaster and brother of Baruch.Jer 32:12; 36:4; 45:1Jer 28:1; 52:1 60 So Jeremiah awrote in a single scroll all the disaster which would come on Babylon, that is all these words which have been written concerning Babylon.Is 30:8; Jer 30:2, 3; 36:2, 4, 32 61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words aloud, 62 and say, ‘You, O LORD, have promised concerning this place to acut it off and destroy it, so that there shall be bnothing living in it, neither man nor animal, but it will be perpetually desolate.’Is 13:19-22; 14:22, 23; Jer 50:3, 13, 39, 40Jer 51:43; Ezek 35:9 63 And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and athrow it into the middle of the Euphrates.Jer 19:10, 11; Rev 18:21 64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink down and anot rise because of the disaster that I will bring on her; and the Babylonians will become hopelessly bexhausted.’” cThus the words of Jeremiah are completed. Rev 18:21Nah 1:8, 9Jer 51:58Job 31:40; Ps 72:20