51This is what the LORD says: "See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.H559H3068H5782H894H3427H3820H6965H7843H73072I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.H7971H894H2114H2219H1238H776H3117H7451H54393Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her army.H1869H1869H1869H7198H5927H5630H2550H970H2763H66354They will fall down slain in Babylon, fatally wounded in her streets.H2491H5307H776H3778H1856H23515For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.H3478H488H3063H430H3068H6635H776H4390H817H6918H34786"Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD'S vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves.H5127H8432H894H4422H376H5315H1826H5771H6256H3068H5360H7999H15767Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD'S hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.H894H2091H3563H3068H3027H776H7937H1471H8354H3196H1471H19848Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.H894H6597H5307H7665H3213H3947H6875H4341H74959"'We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the clouds.'H7495H894H7495H5800H3212H376H776H4941H5060H8064H5375H783410"'The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.'H3068H3318H6666H935H5608H6726H4639H3068H43011"Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple.H1305H2671H4390H7982H3068H5782H7307H4428H4074H4209H894H7843H5360H3068H5360H196412Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The LORD will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people of Babylon.H5375H5251H2346H894H4929H2388H6965H8104H3559H693H3068H2161H6213H1696H3427H89413You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be cut off.H7931H7931H7227H4325H7227H214H7093H935H520H121514The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with men, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.H3068H6635H7650H5315H4390H120H3218H6030H195915"He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.H6213H776H3581H3559H8398H2451H5186H8064H839416When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.H5414H6963H1995H4325H8064H5387H5927H7097H776H6213H1300H4306H3318H7307H21417"Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.H120H1197H1847H6884H3001H6459H5262H8267H730718They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.H1892H4639H8595H6256H6486H619He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the tribe of his inheritance—the LORD Almighty is his name.H2506H3290H3335H7626H5159H3068H6635H803420"You are my war club, my weapon for battle—with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,H4661H3627H4421H5310H1471H7843H446721with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,H5310H5483H7392H5310H7393H739222with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and maiden,H5310H376H802H5310H2205H5288H5310H970H133023with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.H5310H7462H5739H5310H406H6776H5310H6346H546124"Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion," declares the LORD.H7999H894H3427H3778H7451H6213H6726H5869H5002H306825"I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth," declares the LORD. "I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.H4889H2022H5002H3068H7843H776H5186H3027H1556H5553H5414H8316H202226No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever," declares the LORD.H3947H68H6438H68H4146H8077H5769H5002H306827"Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.H5375H5251H776H8628H7782H1471H6942H1471H8085H4467H780H4508H813H6485H2951H5483H5927H5569H321828Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.H6942H1471H4428H4074H6346H5461H776H447529The land trembles and writhes, for the LORD'S purposes against Babylon stand—to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.H776H7493H2342H4284H3068H6965H894H7760H776H894H8047H342730Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.H1368H894H2308H3898H3427H4679H1369H5405H802H3341H4908H1280H766531One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,H7323H7323H7125H7323H5046H7125H5046H5046H4428H894H5892H3920H709732the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified."H4569H8610H98H8313H784H582H4421H92633This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come."H559H3068H6635H430H3478H1323H894H1637H6256H1869H4592H6256H7105H93534"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.H5019H4428H894H398H2000H3322H7385H3627H1104H8577H4390H3770H5730H174035May the violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon," say the inhabitants of Zion. "May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia," says Jerusalem.H2555H7607H894H3427H6726H559H1818H3427H3778H3389H55936Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.H559H3068H7378H7379H5358H5360H2717H3220H4726H300137Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.H894H1530H4583H8577H8047H8322H342738Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.H7580H3162H3715H5286H738H148439But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter—then sleep forever and not awake," declares the LORD.H2527H7896H4960H7937H5937H3462H5769H8142H6974H5002H306840"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.H3381H3733H2873H352H626041"How Sheshach will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! What a horror Babylon will be among the nations!H8347H3920H8416H776H8610H894H8047H147142The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.H3220H5927H894H3680H1995H153043Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no man travels.H5892H8047H6723H776H6160H776H376H3427H1121H120H5674H200444I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.H6485H1078H894H3318H6310H1105H1471H5102H2346H894H530745"Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.H5971H3318H8432H4422H376H5315H2740H639H306846Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.H3824H7401H3372H8052H8085H776H8052H935H8141H310H8141H8052H2555H776H4910H491047For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her.H3117H935H6485H6456H894H776H954H2491H5307H843248Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her," declares the LORD.H8064H776H7442H894H7703H935H6828H5002H306849"Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.H1571H894H2491H3478H5307H894H5307H2491H77650You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem."H6405H2719H1980H5975H2142H3068H7350H3389H5927H382451"We are disgraced, for we have been insulted and shame covers our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD'S house."H954H8085H2781H3639H3680H6440H2114H935H4720H3068H100452"But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.H3117H935H5002H3068H6485H6456H776H2491H60253Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her," declares the LORD.H894H5927H8064H1219H4791H5797H227H7703H935H5002H306854"The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.H6963H2201H894H1419H7667H776H377855The LORD will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound.H3068H7703H894H6H1419H6963H1530H1993H7227H4325H7588H6963H541456A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.H7703H935H894H1368H3920H7198H2865H3068H410H1578H7999H799957I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.H7937H8269H2450H6346H5461H1368H3462H5769H8142H6974H5002H4428H8034H3068H663558This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Babylon's thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations' labor is only fuel for the flames."H559H3068H6635H7342H2346H894H6209H6209H1364H8179H3341H784H5971H3021H7385H3816H1767H784H328659This is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign.H1697H3414H5030H6680H8304H1121H5374H1121H4271H3212H6667H4428H3063H894H7243H8141H4427H8304H4496H826960Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon.H3414H3789H259H5612H7451H935H894H1697H3789H89461He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud.H3414H559H8304H935H894H7200H7121H169762Then say, 'O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.'H559H3068H1696H4725H3772H3427H120H929H8077H576963When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.H3615H7121H5612H7194H68H7993H8432H657864Then say, 'So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.H559H894H8257H6965H6440H7451H935H3286H1697H3414