Jeremiah 51:35-61

³⁵“The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon!” Shall the inhabitant of Zion say; And, “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldaeans!” shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶Therefore, thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will maintain thy cause, And take vengeance for thee; And I will dry up her sea, And make her springs dry.

³⁷And Babylon shall become heaps, The dwelling-place of jackals, An astonishment and a hissing, Without an inhabitant.

³⁸Together shall they roar like lions; They shall yell like lions' whelps.

³⁹In their heat I will prepare them a drink, And will make them drunk, so that they shall rejoice, And then sleep an everlasting sleep, And awake no more, saith Jehovah.

⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams with he-goats.

⁴¹How is Sheshach taken! How is the praise of the whole earth fallen! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

⁴²The sea is come up over Babylon; With the roaring of its waves is she covered.

⁴³Her cities have become a desolation, A dry land and a desert, A land in which no man dwelleth, And which no son of man passeth through.

⁴⁴I will punish Bel at Babylon, And bring forth from his mouth that which he hath swallowed, And the nations shall flow to him no more; Even the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵Go ye out of her, my people, And save ye every man his life From the fierce anger of Jehovah!

⁴⁶And let not your heart faint, And fear ye not on account of the rumors which are heard in the land, When in one year a rumor cometh, And after it in another year another rumor, And violence is in the land, Ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷Therefore, behold the days come When I will punish 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 heavens shall shout over Babylon, And the earth and all that is therein; For out of the North come spoilers against her, saith Jehovah.

⁴⁹As Babylon caused the slain of Israel to fall, So at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

⁵⁰Ye that have escaped her sword, go! Tarry not! Remember Jehovah afar off, And let Jerusalem come into your mind!

⁵¹We have been confounded, because we have heard reproach; Shame hath covered our faces, For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the house of Jehovah.

⁵²Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, When I will punish her graven images, And through all her land shall the wounded groan.

⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, And make inaccessible the height of her strength, Yet from me shall spoilers come upon her, saith Jehovah.

⁵⁴Hark! a cry from Babylon, Of great destruction from the land of the Chaldaeans!

⁵⁵For Jehovah destroyeth Babylon, And bringeth to silence her loud tumult; Their waves roar like great waters; Their tumultuous noise resounds.

⁵⁶For the spoiler is come upon her, upon Babylon; And their mighty men are taken, And all their bows are broken; For Jehovah is a God of retribution; He will surely requite.

⁵⁷And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, Her prefects, and her governors, and her mighty men; And they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, And shall no more awake, saith the King, Whose name is Jehovah of hosts.

⁵⁸Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be razed to the foundations, And her high gates shall be burned with fire; So that nations shall have labored for naught, And kingdoms have wearied themselves for fire.

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. This Seraiah was chief chamberlain.

⁶⁰And Jeremiah wrote all the evil that was to come upon Babylon in one book, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, see that thou read all these words,