Chapter 51

1

THUS says Yahuah; Behold, I will raise up against Babel, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;

2

And will send unto Babel fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of evil they shall be against her round about.

3

Against him that bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifts himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

4

Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Kasdiym, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

5

For Yashar'el has not been forsaken, nor Yahudah of his Elohiym, of Yahuah Tseva'oth; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Yashar'el.

6

Flee out of the midst of Babel, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of Yahuah's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

7

Babel has been a golden cup in Yahuah's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

8

Babel is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

9

We would have healed Babel, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country: for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

10

Yahuah has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Tsiyon the work of Yahuah Elohaynu.

11

Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: Yahuah has raised up the ruach of the kings of Madai: for his device is against Babel, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of Yahuah, the vengeance of his Temple.

12

Set up the standard upon the walls of Babel, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for Yahuah has both devised and done את that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babel.

13

O you that dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness.

14

Yahuah Tseva'oth has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

15

He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

16

When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.

17

Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

18

They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

19

The portion of Ya`aqov is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Yashar'el is the rod of his inheritance: Yahuah Tseva'oth is his name.

20

You are my battle axe and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

21

And with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;

22

With you also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces old and young; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

23

I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

24

And I will render unto Babel and to all the inhabitants of Kasdiymah את all their evil that they have done in Tsiyon in your sight, says Yahuah.

25

Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Yahuah, which destroy all the earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.

26

And they shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate forever, says Yahuah.

27

Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the shofar among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minniy, and Ashkenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.

28

Prepare against her the nations with the kings of Madai, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

29

And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of Yahuah shall be performed against Babel, to make the land of Babel a desolation without an inhabitant.

30

The mighty men of Babel have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.

31

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babel that his city is taken at one end,

32

And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.

33

For thus says Yahuah Tseva'oth, the Elohai of Yashar'el; The daughter of Babel is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

34

Nevukadne'tstsar the king of Babel has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my delicates, he has cast me out.

35

The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babel, shall the inhabitant of Tsiyon say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Kasdiymah, shall Yerushalayim say.

36

Therefore thus says Yahuah; Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

37

And Babel shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.

38

They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps.

39

In 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, says Yahuah.

40

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

41

How is Sheshak taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babel become an astonishment among the nations!

42

The sea is come up upon Babel: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

43

Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwells, neither does any son of A'dam pass thereby.

44

And I will punish Ba`al in Babel, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together anymore unto him: yea, the wall of Babel shall fall.

45

My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of Yahuah.

46

And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

47

Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon graven images of Babel: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

48

Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babel: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, says Yahuah.

49

As Babel has caused the slain of Yashar'el to fall, so at Babel shall fall the slain of all the earth.

50

Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember Yahuah afar off, and let Yerushalayim come into your mind.

51

We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Yahuah's house.

52

Wherefore, behold, the days come, says Yahuah, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

53

Though Babel should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, says Yahuah.

54

A sound of a cry comes from Babel, and great destruction from the land of the Kasdiym:

55

Because Yahuah has spoiled Babel, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:

56

Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babel, and her mighty men are taken, everyone of their bows is broken: for Yahuah El of recompences shall surely requite.

57

And 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, says the King, whose name is Yahuah Tseva'oth.

58

Thus says Yahuah Tseva'oth; The broad walls of Babel shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

59

The word which Yirmeyahu the prophet commanded Serayahu the son of Neriyahu, the son of Ma`aseyahu, when he went with Tsidqiyahu the king of Yahudah into Babel in the fourth year of his reign. And this Serayahu was a quiet prince.

60

So Yirmeyahu wrote in a cepher את all the evil that should come upon Babel, את even all these words that are written against Babel.

61

And Yirmeyahu said to Serayahu, When you come to Babel, and shall see, and shall read את all these words;

62

Then shall you say, O Yahuah, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever.

63

And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this cepher, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Perath:

64

And you shall say, Thus shall Babel 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 Yirmeyahu.



Back to top