Parallel Bible results for "jeremiah 51"

Jeremiah 51

New Living Translation NLT

1 This is what the LORD says: “I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Babylonia.

2 Foreigners will come and winnow her, blowing her away as chaff. They will come from every side to rise against her in her day of trouble.

3 Don’t let the archers put on their armor or draw their bows. Don’t spare even her best soldiers! Let her army be completely destroyed.

4 They will fall dead in the land of the Babylonians, slashed to death in her streets.

5 For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has not abandoned Israel and Judah. He is still their God, even though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

6 Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves! Don’t get trapped in her punishment! It is the LORD ’s time for vengeance; he will repay her in full.

7 Babylon has been a gold cup in the LORD ’s hands, a cup that made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank Babylon’s wine, and it drove them all mad.

8 But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her. Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed.

9 We would have helped her if we could, but nothing can save her now. Let her go; abandon her. Return now to your own land. For her punishment reaches to the heavens; it is so great it cannot be measured.

10 The LORD has vindicated us. Come, let us announce in Jerusalem everything the LORD our God has done.

11 Sharpen the arrows! Lift up the shields! For the LORD has inspired the kings of the Medes to march against Babylon and destroy her. This is his vengeance against those who desecrated his Temple.

12 Raise the battle flag against Babylon! Reinforce the guard and station the watchmen. Prepare an ambush, for the LORD will fulfill all his plans against Babylon.

13 You are a city by a great river, a great center of commerce, but your end has come. The thread of your life is cut.

14 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has taken this vow and has sworn to it by his own name: “Your cities will be filled with enemies, like fields swarming with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”

15 The LORD made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens.

16 When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.

17 The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.

18 Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.

19 But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including his people, his own special possession. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

20 “You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the LORD . “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms.

21 With you I will shatter armies— destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer.

22 With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and young women.

23 With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and officers.

24 “I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem,” says the LORD .

25 “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD . “I will raise my fist against you, to knock you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble.

26 You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says the LORD .

27 Raise a signal flag to the nations. Sound the battle cry! Mobilize them all against Babylon. Prepare them to fight against her! Bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander, and bring a multitude of horses like swarming locusts!

28 Bring against her the armies of the nations— led by the kings of the Medes and all their captains and officers.

29 The earth trembles and writhes in pain, for everything the LORD has planned against Babylon stands unchanged. Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant.

30 Her mightiest warriors no longer fight. They stay in their barracks, their courage gone. They have become like women. The invaders have burned the houses and broken down the city gates.

31 The news is passed from one runner to the next as the messengers hurry to tell the king that his city has been captured.

32 All the escape routes are blocked. The marshes have been set aflame, and the army is in a panic.

33 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor, about to be trampled. In just a little while her harvest will begin.”

34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has eaten and crushed us and drained us of strength. He has swallowed us like a great monster and filled his belly with our riches. He has thrown us out of our own country.

35 Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,” say the people of Zion. “Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,” says Jerusalem.

36 This is what the LORD says to Jerusalem: “I will be your lawyer to plead your case, and I will avenge you. I will dry up her river, as well as her springs,

37 and Babylon will become a heap of ruins, haunted by jackals. She will be an object of horror and contempt, a place where no one lives.

38 Her people will roar together like strong lions. They will growl like lion cubs.

39 And while they lie inflamed with all their wine, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them. I will make them drink until they fall asleep, and they will never wake up again,” says the LORD .

40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats to be sacrificed.

41 “How Babylon is fallen— great Babylon, praised throughout the earth! Now she has become an object of horror among the nations.

42 The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered by its crashing waves.

43 Her cities now lie in ruins; she is a dry wasteland where no one lives or even passes by.

44 And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon, and make him vomit up all he has eaten. The nations will no longer come and worship him. The wall of Babylon has fallen!

45 “Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the LORD ’s fierce anger.

46 But do not panic; don’t be afraid when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For rumors will keep coming year by year. Violence will erupt in the land as the leaders fight against each other.

47 For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols. Her whole land will be disgraced, and her dead will lie in the streets.

48 Then the heavens and earth will rejoice, for out of the north will come destroying armies against Babylon,” says the LORD .

49 “Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel and others throughout the world, so must her people be killed.

50 Get out, all you who have escaped the sword! Do not stand and watch—flee while you can! Remember the LORD, though you are in a far-off land, and think about your home in Jerusalem.”

51 “We are ashamed,” the people say. “We are insulted and disgraced because the LORD ’s Temple has been defiled by foreigners.”

52 “Yes,” says the LORD, “but the time is coming when I will destroy Babylon’s idols. The groans of her wounded people will be heard throughout the land.

53 Though Babylon reaches as high as the heavens and makes her fortifications incredibly strong, I will still send enemies to plunder her. I, the LORD, have spoken!

54 “Listen! Hear the cry of Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

55 For the LORD is destroying Babylon. He will silence her loud voice. Waves of enemies pound against her; the noise of battle rings through the city.

56 Destroying armies come against Babylon. Her mighty men are captured, and their weapons break in their hands. For the LORD is a God who gives just punishment; he always repays in full.

57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her captains, officers, and warriors. They will fall asleep and never wake up again!” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

58 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground, and her massive gates will be burned. The builders from many lands have worked in vain, for their work will be destroyed by fire!”

59 The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, a staff officer, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign.

60 Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words written here.

61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll.

62 Then say, ‘ LORD, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.’

63 When you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates River.

64 Then say, ‘In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.’” This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages.

Common English Bible CEB

1 The LORD proclaims: I'm stirring up a violent wind against Babylon and those who live in Leb-qamai.

2 I will send mercenaries to Babylon who will sift her and clear out her land. They will surround her on the day of disaster.

3 Let the archers draw their bows; let them prepare their armor. Show no mercy to her young men; wipe out her entire company!

4 They will fall wounded in the land of Babylon, struck down in her streets.

5 God, the LORD of heavenly forces, hasn't abandoned Israel and Judah, even though they live in a land filled with guilt before the holy one of Israel.

6 Escape from Babylon; each of you run for your lives! Don't perish because of her guilt, because this is the time for the LORD's retribution, a day of reckoning for all that Babylon has done.

7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand; it made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine and went mad.

8 But suddenly Babylon fell and shattered into pieces. Wail for her! Bring medicine for her pain; perhaps she will recover.

9 We tried to cure Babylon, but she was beyond help. Let's depart from her and return to your own country, each of you. Her punishment reaches to heaven and extends to the clouds.

10 The LORD has come to our defense, so let's declare in Zion what the LORD our God has done!

11 Sharpen your arrows; prepare your shields. The LORD is stirring up the spirit of kings from Media. He intends to destroy Babylon; this is the LORD's retribution, a day of reckoning for his temple.

12 Set up a flag on the walls of Babylon, fortify the guards, post watchmen, prepare an ambush, because the LORD has a plan against the inhabitants of Babylon. He will accomplish it, just as he said he would.

13 You live beside a great river, and you are rich in treasures. But your time has come; your cruelty has caught up with you.

14 The LORD of heavenly forces has sworn by his own name: I'm going to fill your cities with soldiers like a swarm of locusts; they will celebrate their victory over you.

15 God made the earth by his might, shaped the world by his wisdom, and crafted the skies by his knowledge.

16 At the sound of God's voice, the heavenly waters roar. God raises the clouds from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and sends the wind from his treasuries.

17 Everyone is too foolish to understand; every smith is shamed by his idols, for their images are shams; they aren't alive.

18 They are a delusion, a charade; at the appointed time they will be ruined!

19 But the portion of Jacob is utterly different, for he has formed all things, including his very own tribe; the LORD of heavenly forces is his name!

20 You are my hammer, my weapon of war. With you I will crush the nations. With you I will destroy kingdoms.

21 With you I will crush horse and rider. With you I will crush chariot and driver.

22 With you I will crush men and women. With you I will crush old and young. With you I will crush young men and young women.

23 With you I will crush shepherds and flocks. With you I will crush farmers and oxen. With you I will crush governors and officials.

24 I will repay Babylon and all its inhabitants for the terrible things they have done to Zion in your sight, declares the LORD.

25 I'm against you, you mountain of destruction, declares the LORD, you destroyer of the whole earth! I will reach out against you; I will topple you from your heights; I will turn you into a rubbish heap.

26 They will never remove a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you. You will be a wasteland forever, declares the LORD.

27 Set up a flag in the land; sound the alarm among the nations! Prepare them for war against her; summon kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; call up the troops, like swarms of locusts!

28 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of Media, its governors, all its officials, and all the countries they rule.

29 The earth quakes and trembles because the LORD's plans against Babylon are fulfilled: to reduce Babylon to a wasteland, with no one left in it.

30 Babylon's warriors quit fighting; they hide in their fortifications. Their strength is worn out; their courage is gone! Babylon's houses are burned down, and its gates are smashed.

31 Courier joins courier, messenger joins messenger to relate the news to the king of Babylon that his entire city has fallen.

32 The river crossings are blocked; the marshes are on fire; the soldiers are terrified.

33 The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor ready to be trampled down. In a little while her harvest will come.

34 Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar has eaten us alive; he's drained us of strength; he's left us for dead. He's gobbled us up like a great sea monster; he's filled his belly with our treasures; and he's spit us out.

35 May Babylon be violated as our bodies were, say the inhabitants of Zion. May our blood be on the Babylonians, say those from Jerusalem.

36 Therefore, the LORD proclaims: I'm going to defend your cause; I'll turn the tables on your attacker. I'll dry up her sea; I'll shut up her springs.

37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a den of wild dogs, a wasteland with no one left in it.

38 Like lions they will roar together; they will growl like lions' cubs.

39 They are ready to devour, so I'll prepare the feast and mix the drinks! But after their noisy drunkenness, they will fall fast asleep. They will sleep forever, never to get up, declares the LORD.

40 I'll lead them off like lambs for slaughter, like rams and goats.

41 How Sheshach has been defeated, the pride of the whole earth taken captive! How Babylon has become a wasteland among the nations!

42 The sea has risen over Babylon; its pounding waves overwhelm her.

43 Her towns are devastated; her land is scorched and barren, a place where no one lives or dares to pass through.

44 I will punish Bel in Babylon; I will force him to vomit what he's consumed. Then nations will no longer stream to him, and Babylon's walls will collapse!

45 Get out of Babylon, my people! Run for your lives from the LORD's fierce anger.

46 Don't be distracted or frightened by the rumors you hear in the land. Sometimes you hear one thing and another time something else: rumors of violence and uprisings.

47 The time is coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols; the whole land will be disgraced, and her wounded will fall in her midst.

48 Then all creation will rejoice over Babylon, because out of the north destroying armies will come to attack her, declares the LORD.

49 Babylon must fall for the dead in Israel, as the dead of all the earth have fallen to Babylon.

50 You survivors of war, leave now; don't delay! Remember the LORD, from a faraway land. Keep Jerusalem alive in your hearts.

51 We're humiliated by their taunts; we're disgraced that strangers have violated the sacred places of the LORD's temple.

52 The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will deal with her idols, and the wounded in her land will groan.

53 Even if Babylon scales the heavens and strengthens its towering defenses, the destroying armies will still come against her, at my command, declares the LORD.

54 Listen to the cries for help from Babylon, signs of massive devastation in the land, declares the LORD.

55 The LORD is destroying Babylon and silencing her outcry, whose roar is like the crushing waves, a deafening crash.

56 He certainly comes against her; the destroyer comes against Babylon. Her warriors are captured; their bows are broken. The LORD is an exacting God who repays in full.

57 I'll make her leaders and sages drunk, her governors, officials, and warriors as well. They will sleep forever, never to get up, declares the king, whose name is the LORD of heavenly forces.

58 The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: Babylon's massive walls will come down, down to the ground; and its high gates will be burned to the ground. People labor in vain; nations toil for nothing but ashes!

59 This is what the prophet Jeremiah instructed the staff officer Seraiah, Neriah's son and Mahseiah's grandson, when Seraiah went to Babylon with Judah's King Zedekiah in the fourth year of his rule. Jeremiah's words end here.

60 Jeremiah wrote down in a single scroll all the disasters that would happen to Babylon—all these things concerning Babylon.

61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When you get to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words.

62 Then say, "LORD, you declared that this place will be destroyed and nothing will remain in it—neither human nor animal; that it will forever be a wasteland!"

63 When you finish reading the scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River.

64 Then say, "In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I'm bringing against it."