Jeremiah 51:40-50

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.”

Jeremiah 51:40-50 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

• [a]. Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon.