Jeremiah 51:59-64

The Scroll Concerning Babylon is Thrown into the Euphrates

59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, [to] Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah [was the] {quartermaster}.
60 And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "At your coming [to] Babylon, then you must see [that] you read aloud all these words.
62 And you must say, 'Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that [there will] not be in it [anything] living, from humankind to animals, for it will be {an everlasting desolation}.'
63 {And then} when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of [the] Euphrates.
64 And you must say, 'Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, {because of} the face of the disasters that I [am] bringing on her, and they will grow weary.'" {Thus far} the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 51:59-64 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 51

The former part of this chapter is a continuation of the prophecy of the preceding chapter, concerning the destruction of Babylon, Jer 51:1-58; the latter part of it contains a prophecy of Jeremiah sent to the captives in Babylon by the hand of Seraiah, with the copy of the above prophecy against Babylon, and an order to fasten a stone to it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign, confirming the utter and irreparable ruin of Babylon, Jer 51:59-64.

Footnotes 8

  • [a]. Literally "official of [the] resting place"
  • [b]. Hebrew "disaster"
  • [c]. Hebrew "animal"
  • [d]. Literally "a desolation of eternity"
  • [e]. Literally "And it will happen"
  • [f]. Literally "from"
  • [g]. Hebrew "disaster"
  • [h]. Literally "Up to here"
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