The LORD stirs up the spirit of the destroyer against Babylon, who has been a golden cup in his hand. Israel is told to flee and escape. Seraiah is told to read the book and throw it into the Euphrates, saying Babylon shall sink.
1 Thus 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 ;
2 And 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 .
3 Against 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 .
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans , and they that are thrust through in her streets .
5 For 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 .
6 Flee 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 .
7 Babylon 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 .
8 Babylon 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 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 .
10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness : come , and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God .
11 Make 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 .
12 Set 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 .
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters , abundant in treasures , thine end is come , and the measure of thy covetousness .
14 The 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.
15 He hath made the earth by his power , he hath established the world by his wisdom , and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding .
16 When 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 .
17 Every 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.
18 They are vanity , the work of errors : in the time of their visitation they shall perish .
19 The 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 .
20 Thou 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 ;
21 And 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 ;
22 With 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 ;
23 I 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 .
24 And 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 .
25 Behold, 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 .
26 And 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 .
27 Set 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 .
28 Prepare 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 .
29 And 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 .
30 The 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 .
31 One 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 ,
32 And that the passages are stopped , and the reeds they have burned with fire , and the men of war are affrighted .
33 For 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 .
34 Nebuchadrezzar 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 .
35 The 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 .
36 Therefore 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 .
37 And Babylon shall become heaps , a dwellingplace for dragons , an astonishment , and an 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 , saith the LORD .
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter , like rams with he goats .
41 How is Sheshach taken ! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised ! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations !
42 The sea is come up upon Babylon : 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 dwelleth , neither doth any son of man pass thereby .
44 And 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 .
45 My people , go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD .
46 And 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 .
47 Therefore, 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.
48 Then 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 .
49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall , so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth .
50 Ye that have escaped the sword , go away , stand not still : remember the LORD afar off , and let Jerusalem come into your mind .
51 We are confounded , because we have heard reproach : shame hath covered our faces : for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house .
52 Wherefore, 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 .
53 Though 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 .
54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon , and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans :
55 Because 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 :
56 Because 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 .
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 , saith the King , whose name is the LORD of hosts .
58 Thus 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 .
59 The 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 .
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon , even all these words that are written against Babylon .
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah , When thou comest to Babylon , and shalt see , and shalt read all these words ;
62 Then 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 .
63 And 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 :
64 And 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 .