Jeremiah 51:15-58 NIV

Jeremiah 51:15-58 NIV [15] “He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. [16] When 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. [17] “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them. [18] They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish. [19] He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the people of his inheritance—the LORD Almighty is his name. [20] “You are my war club, my weapon for battle—with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms, [21] with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver, [22] with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and young woman, [23] with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials. [24] “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. [25] “I am against you, you 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. [26] No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD. [27] “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. [28] Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule. [29] The 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. [30] Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken. [31] One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured, [32] the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.” [33] This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.” [34] “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. [35] May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion. “May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem. [36] Therefore 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. [37] Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. [38] Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs. [39] But 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. [40] “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats. [41] “How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations! [42] The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her. [43] Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels. [44] I 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. [45] “Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD. [46] Do 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. [47] For 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. [48] Then 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. [49] “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon. [50] You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and call to mind Jerusalem.” [51] “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.” [52] “But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan. [53] Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” declares the LORD. [54] “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. [55] The 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. [56] A 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. [57] I 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. [58] This 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.”

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