1Thus saith the LORD ; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon , and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind ; 2And will send unto Babylon fanners , that shall fan her, and shall empty her land : for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about . 3Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow , and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine : and spare ye not her young men ; destroy ye utterly all her host . 4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans , and they that are thrust through in her streets . 5For Israel hath not been forsaken , nor Judah of his God , of the LORD of hosts ; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel . 6Flee out of the midst of Babylon , and deliver every man his soul : be not cut off in her iniquity ; for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance ; he will render unto her a recompence . 7Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand , that made all the earth drunken : the nations have drunken of her wine ; therefore the nations are mad . 8Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed : howl for her; take balm for her pain , if so be she may be healed . 9We would have healed Babylon , but she is not healed : forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country : for her judgment reacheth unto heaven , and is lifted up even to the skies . 10The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness : come , and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God .
The Fall of Babylon
11Make bright the arrows ; gather the shields : the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes : for his device is against Babylon , to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD , the vengeance of his temple . 12Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon , make the watch strong , set up the watchmen , prepare the ambushes : for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon . 13O thou that dwellest upon many waters , abundant in treasures , thine end is come , and the measure of thy covetousness . 14The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself , saying , Surely I will fill thee with men , as with caterpillers ; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. 15He hath made the earth by his power , he hath established the world by his wisdom , and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding . 16When he uttereth his voice , there is a multitude of waters in the heavens ; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth : he maketh lightnings with rain , and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures . 17Every man is brutish by his knowledge ; every founder is confounded by the graven image : for his molten image is falsehood , and there is no breath in them. 18They are vanity , the work of errors : in the time of their visitation they shall perish . 19The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance : the LORD of hosts is his name .
A Call to God's People
20Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war : for with thee will I break in pieces the nations , and with thee will I destroy kingdoms ; 21And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider ; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider ; 22With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman ; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young ; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid ; 23I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock ; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen ; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers . 24And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight , saith the LORD . 25Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain , saith the LORD , which destroyest all the earth : and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks , and will make thee a burnt mountain . 26And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner , nor a stone for foundations ; but thou shalt be desolate for ever , saith the LORD .
The Desolation of Babylon
27Set ye up a standard in the land , blow the trumpet among the nations , prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat , Minni , and Ashchenaz ; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers . 28Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes , the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion . 29And the land shall tremble and sorrow : for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon , to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant . 30The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight , they have remained in their holds : their might hath failed ; they became as women : they have burned her dwellingplaces ; her bars are broken . 31One post shall run to meet another , and one messenger to meet another , to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end , 32And that the passages are stopped , and the reeds they have burned with fire , and the men of war are affrighted . 33For thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel ; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor , it is time to thresh her: yet a little while , and the time of her harvest shall come . 34Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel , he hath swallowed me up like a dragon , he hath filled his belly with my delicates , he hath cast me out . 35The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon , shall the inhabitant of Zion say ; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea , shall Jerusalem say . 36Therefore thus saith the LORD ; Behold, I will plead thy cause , and take vengeance for thee ; and I will dry up her sea , and make her springs dry . 37And Babylon shall become heaps , a dwellingplace for dragons , an astonishment , and an hissing , without an inhabitant . 38They shall roar together like lions : they shall yell as lions’ whelps . 39In their heat I will make their feasts , and I will make them drunken , that they may rejoice , and sleep a perpetual sleep , and not wake , saith the LORD . 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter , like rams with he goats . 41How is Sheshach taken ! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised ! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations ! 42The sea is come up upon Babylon : she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. 43Her cities are a desolation , a dry land , and a wilderness , a land wherein no man dwelleth , neither doth any son of man pass thereby . 44And I will punish Bel in Babylon , and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up : and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall . 45My people , go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD . 46And lest your heart faint , and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land ; a rumour shall both come one year , and after that in another year shall come a rumour , and violence in the land , ruler against ruler . 47Therefore, behold, the days come , that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon : and her whole land shall be confounded , and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48Then the heaven and the earth , and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon : for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north , saith the LORD . 49As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall , so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth . 50Ye that have escaped the sword , go away , stand not still : remember the LORD afar off , and let Jerusalem come into your mind . 51We are confounded , because we have heard reproach : shame hath covered our faces : for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house . 52Wherefore, behold, the days come , saith the LORD , that I will do judgment upon her graven images : and through all her land the wounded shall groan . 53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven , and though she should fortify the height of her strength , yet spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD . 54A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon , and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans : 55Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon , and destroyed out of her the great voice ; when her waves do roar like great waters , a noise of their voice is uttered : 56Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon , and her mighty men are taken , every one of their bows is broken : for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite . 57And I will make drunk her princes , and her wise men , her captains , and her rulers , and her mighty men : and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep , and not wake , saith the King , whose name is the LORD of hosts . 58Thus saith the LORD of hosts ; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken , and her high gates shall be burned with fire ; and the people shall labour in vain , and the folk in the fire , and they shall be weary . 59The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah , the son of Maaseiah , when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign . And this Seraiah was a quiet prince . 60So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon , even all these words that are written against Babylon . 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah , When thou comest to Babylon , and shalt see , and shalt read all these words ; 62Then shalt thou say , O LORD , thou hast spoken against this place , to cut it off , that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast , but that it shall be desolate for ever . 63And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book , that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates : 64And thou shalt say , Thus shall Babylon sink , and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary . Thus far are the words of Jeremiah .