Jeremiah 51:25-35

25 "Behold, ¹I am against you, ²O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth," declares the LORD, "And I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags, And I will make you a ³burnt out mountain.

26 "They will not take from you even a stone for a corner Nor a stone for foundations, But you will be ⁴desolate forever," declares the LORD.

27 ⁵Lift up a signal in the land, Blow a trumpet among the nations! Consecrate the nations against her, Summon against her the ⁶kingdoms of ⁷Ararat, Minni and ⁸Ashkenaz; Appoint a marshal against her, Bring up the ⁹horses like bristly locusts.

28 Consecrate the nations against her, The kings of the Medes, Their governors and all their prefects, And every land of their dominion.

29 So the ¹⁰land quakes and writhes, For the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, To make the land of Babylon A ¹¹desolation without inhabitants.

30 The ¹²mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, They stay in the strongholds; ¹³Their strength is exhausted, They are becoming ¹⁴like women; Their dwelling places are set on fire, The ¹⁵bars of her gates are broken.

31 One ¹⁶courier runs to meet another, And one ¹⁷messenger to meet another, To tell the king of Babylon That his city has been captured from end to end;

32 The fords also have been seized, And they have burned the marshes with fire, And the men of war are terrified.

33 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "The daughter of Babylon is like a ¹⁸threshing floor At the time it is stamped firm; Yet in a little while the time of ¹⁹harvest will come for her."

34 "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has ²⁰devoured me and crushed me, He has set me down like an ²¹empty vessel; He has ²²swallowed me like a monster, He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has washed me away.

35 "May the ²³violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon," The inhabitant of Zion will say; And, "May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.

Jeremiah 51:25-35 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.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 50:31
• 2. Isaiah 13:2; Zechariah 4:7
• 3. Revelation 8:8
• 4. Isaiah 13:19-22; Jeremiah 50:13; Jeremiah 51:29
• 5. Isaiah 13:2-5; Isaiah 18:3; Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:12
• 6. Jeremiah 50:3, 9
• 7. Genesis 8:4; 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38
• 8. Genesis 10:3
• 9. Jeremiah 50:42
• 10. Jeremiah 8:16; Jeremiah 10:10; Jeremiah 50:46; Amos 8:8
• 11. Isaiah 13:19, 20; Isaiah 47:11; Jeremiah 50:13; Jeremiah 51:26, 43
• 12. Psalms 76:5; Jer 50:15, 36, 37
• 13. Isaiah 13:7, 8; Nahum 3:13
• 14. Isaiah 13:7, 8; Nahum 3:13
• 15. Isaiah 45:1, 2; Lamentations 2:9; Amos 1:5; Nahum 3:13
• 16. 2 Chronicles 30:6
• 17. 2 Samuel 18:19-31
• 18. Isaiah 21:10; Isaiah 41:15, 16; Micah 4:13
• 19. Isaiah 17:5; Hosea 6:11; Joel 3:13; Revelation 14:15
• 20. Jeremiah 50:17
• 21. Isaiah 24:1-3
• 22. Job 20:15; Jeremiah 51:44
• 23. Psalms 137:8

Footnotes

• [a] Or "standard"
• [b] Lit "Her"
• [c] Lit "Her"
• [d] I.e. lieutenant governors
• [e] Lit "his"
• [f] Or "An object of horror"
• [g] Lit "dried up"
• [h] Lit "runner"
• [i] Lit "runner"
• [j] Lit "announcer"
• [k] Lit "announcer"
• [l] Lit "of treading it"
• [m] Lit "inhabitress"