New International Version NIV
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 This is what the LORD says: “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.
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Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am stirring up against Babylon, And the inhabitants of Leb -- My withstanders, A destroying wind,
2 I 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.
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And I have sent to Babylon fanners, And they have fanned it, and they empty its land, For they have been against it, Round about -- in the day of evil.
3 Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her army.
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Let not the treader tread his bow, Nor lift himself up in his coat of mail, Nor have ye pity on her young men, Devote ye to destruction all her host.
4 They will fall down slain in Babylon,fatally wounded in her streets.
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And fallen have the wounded in the land of the Chaldeans, And the pierced-through in her streets.
5 For 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.
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For, not forsaken is Israel and Judah, By its God -- by Jehovah of Hosts, For their land hath been full of guilt, Against the Holy One of Israel.
6 “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 repay her what she deserves.
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Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, And deliver ye each his soul, Be not cut off in its iniquity, For a time of vengeance it [is] to Jehovah, Recompence He is rendering to her.
7 Babylon 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.
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A golden cup [is] Babylon in the hand of Jehovah, Making drunk all the earth, Of its wine drunk have nations, Therefore boast themselves do nations.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
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Suddenly hath Babylon fallen, Yea, it is broken, howl ye for it, Take balm for her pain, if so be it may be healed.
9 “ ‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’
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We healed Babylon, and she was not healed, Forsake her, and we go, each to his land, For come unto the heavens hath its judgment, And it hath been lifted up unto the clouds.
10 “ ‘The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.’
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Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousnesses, Come, and we recount in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.
11 “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.
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Cleanse ye the arrows, fill the shields, Stirred up hath Jehovah the spirit of the kings of Madia, For against Babylon His device [is] to destroy it, For the vengeance of Jehovah it [is], The vengeance of His temple.
12 Lift 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.
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Unto the walls of Babylon lift up an ensign, Strengthen the watch, Establish the watchers, prepare the ambush, For Jehovah hath both devised and done that which He spake, Concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be destroyed.
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O dweller on many waters, abundant in treasures, Come in hath thine end, the measure of thy dishonest gain.
14 The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.
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Sworn hath Jehovah of Hosts by Himself, That, Surely I have filled thee [with] men as the cankerworm, And they have cried against thee -- shouting.
15 “He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
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The maker of earth by His power, The establisher of the world by His wisdom, Who by His understanding stretched out the heavens,
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.
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At the voice He giveth forth, A multitude of waters [are] in the heavens, And He causeth vapours to come up from the end of the earth, Lightnings for rain He hath made, And He bringeth out wind from His treasures.
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.
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Brutish hath been every man by knowledge, Put to shame hath been every refiner by a graven image, For false [is] his molten image, And there is no breath in them.
18 They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
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Vanity [are] they -- work of errors, In the time of their inspection they 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.
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Not like these [is] the portion of Jacob, For He [is] former of all things, And [Israel is] the rod of His inheritance, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.
20 “You are my war club, my weapon for battle— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,
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An axe [art] thou to me -- weapons of war, And I have broken in pieces by thee nations, And I have destroyed by thee kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,
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And I have broken in pieces by thee horse and its rider, And I have broken in pieces by thee chariot and its charioteer,
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,
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And I have broken in pieces by thee man and woman, And I have broken in pieces by thee old and young, And I have broken in pieces by thee young man and virgin,
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.
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And I have broken in pieces by thee shepherd and his drove, And I have broken in pieces by thee husbandman and his team, And I have broken in pieces by thee governors and prefects.
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.
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And I have recompensed to Babylon, And to all inhabitants of Chaldea, All the evil that they have done in Zion, Before your eyes -- an affirmation of Jehovah.
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.
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Lo, I [am] against thee, O destroying mount, An affirmation of Jehovah, That is destroying all the earth, And I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I have rolled thee from the rocks, And given thee for a burnt 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.
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And they take not out of thee a stone for a corner, And a stone for foundations, For desolations age-during art thou, An affirmation of Jehovah.
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.
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Lift ye up an ensign in the land, Blow a trumpet among nations, Sanctify against it nations, Summon against it the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, Appoint against it an infant head, Cause the horse to ascend as the rough cankerworm.
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.
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Sanctify against it the nations with the kings of Media, Its governors and all its prefects, And all the land of its dominion.
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.
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And shake doth the land, and it is pained, For stood against Babylon have the purposes of Jehovah, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
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.
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Ceased have the mighty of Babylon to fight, They have remained in strongholds, Failed hath their might, they have become woman, They have burnt her tabernacles, Broken have been her bars.
31 One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
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Runner to meet runner doth run, And announcer to meet announcer, To announce to the king of Babylon, For, captured hath been his city -- at the extremity.
32 the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
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And the passages have been captured, And the reeds they have burnt with fire, And the men of war have been troubled.
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.”
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For thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, The daughter of Babylon [is] as a threshing-floor, The time of her threshing -- yet a little, And come hath the time of her harvest.
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.
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Devoured us, crushed us, hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, He hath set us [as] an empty vessel, He hath swallowed us as a dragon, He hath filled his belly with my dainties, He hath driven us away.
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.
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My wrong, and [that of] my flesh [is] on Babylon, Say doth the inhabitant of Zion, And my blood [is] on the inhabitants of Chaldea, Say doth 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.
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Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am pleading thy cause, And I have avenged thy vengeance, And dried up its sea, and made its fountains 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.
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And Babylon hath been for heaps, A habitation of dragons, An astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38 Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.
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Together as young lions they roar, They have shaken themselves as lions' whelps.
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.
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In their heat I make their banquets, And I have caused them to drink, so that they exult, And have slept a sleep age-during, And awake not -- an affirmation of Jehovah.
40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
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I cause them to go down as lambs to slaughter, As rams with he-goats.
41 “How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!
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How hath Sheshach been captured, Yea, caught is the praise of the whole earth, How hath Babylon been for an astonishment among nations.
42 The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.
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Come up against Babylon hath the sea, With a multitude of its billows it hath been covered.
43 Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels.
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Its cities have been for a desolation, A dry land, and a wilderness, A land -- none doth dwell in them, Nor pass over into them doth a son of man.
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.
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And I have seen after Bel in Babylon, And I have brought forth that which he swallowed -- from his mouth, And flow no more unto him do nations, Also the wall of Babylon hath fallen.
45 “Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.
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Go forth from its midst, O My people, And deliver ye, each his soul, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah,
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.
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And lest your heart be tender, And ye be afraid of the report that is heard in the land, And come in a year hath the report, And after it in a year the report, And violence [is] in the land, 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.
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Therefore, lo, days are coming, And I have seen after the graven images of Babylon. And all its land is ashamed, And all its pierced ones do fall in its midst.
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.
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And cried aloud against Babylon Have heavens and earth, and all that [is] in them, For, from the north come to it do the spoilers, An affirmation of Jehovah.
49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
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Even Babylon [is] to fall, ye pierced of Israel, Even they of Babylon have fallen, Ye pierced of all the earth.
50 You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and call to mind Jerusalem.”
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Ye escaped of the sword, go on, stand not, Remember ye from afar Jehovah, And let Jerusalem come up on your heart.
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.”
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We have been ashamed, for we heard reproach, Covered hath shame our faces, For come in have strangers, against the sanctuaries of the house of Jehovah.
52 “But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
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Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have seen after its graven images, And in all its land groan doth the wounded.
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” declares the LORD.
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Because Babylon goeth up to the heavens, And because it fenceth the high place of its strength, From Me come into it do spoilers, An affirmation of Jehovah.
54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
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A voice of a cry [is] from Babylon, And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldean.
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.
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For Jehovah is spoiling Babylon, And hath destroyed out of it a great voice, And sounded have its billows as many waters, Given forth a noise hath their voice.
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.
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For come in against it -- against Babylon -- hath a spoiler, And captured have been its mighty ones, Broken have been their bows, For the God of recompences -- Jehovah -- doth certainly repay.
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.
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And I have caused its princes to drink, And its wise men, its governors, And its prefects, and its mighty ones, And they have slept a sleep age-during, And they awake not -- an affirmation of the king, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.
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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Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, the wall of Babylon -- The broad one -- is utterly made bare, And her high gates with fire are burnt, And peoples labour in vain, And nations in fire, and have been weary!
59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet 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.
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The word that Jeremiah the prophet hath commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, in his going with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign -- and Seraiah [is] a quiet prince;
60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon.
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and Jeremiah writeth all the evil that cometh unto Babylon on one book -- all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud.
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And Jeremiah saith unto Seraiah, `When thou dost enter Babylon, then thou hast seen, and hast read all these words,
62 Then say, ‘LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’
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and hast said: Jehovah, Thou, Thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that there is none dwelling in it, from man even unto cattle, for it is a desolation age-during.
63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
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And it hath come to pass, when thou dost finish reading this book, thou dost bind to it a stone, and hast cast it into the midst of Phrat,
64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.’ ” The words of Jeremiah end here.
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and said, Thus sink doth Babylon, and it doth not arise, because of the evil that I am bringing in against it, and they have been weary.' Hitherto [are] words of Jeremiah.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.