Jeremiah 51 - Meaning, Themes & Application

" 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; "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. "

" 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 "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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 "

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

" 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. "

" 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; "

" 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; "

" 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; "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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, "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

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

" How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! "

" The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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 "

" 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. "

" As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. "

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