VIN(i)
1 This is what the LORD says: "Look, I'm going to stir up a destroying wind against Babylon and the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.
2 I'll send foreigners to Babylon, and they'll winnow her, and devastate her land. They'll come against her from every side on the day of her disaster.
3 Don't let the archer bend the bow; don't let him rise up in his armor. Don't spare her young men. Completely destroy her entire army.
4 They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of the LORD Almighty, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee from Babylon, and each of you, escape with your life! Don't be destroyed because of her guilt, for it's time for the LORD's vengeance. He is paying back what is due to her.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, therefore the nations have gone mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her. Take balm for her pain, perhaps she may be healed.
9 “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let's each go into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 The LORD will vindicate us. Come! Let us declare the work of the LORD our God in Zion.
11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes he has decided to destroy Babylon. Indeed, it's the LORD's vengeance, vengeance for his temple.
12 Set up the banner on the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up the watchmen; prepare the ambushes. For the LORD has both planned and done that which He spoke against the people of Babylon.
13 O you who live by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your unjust gain.
14 the LORD Almighty has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they shall lift up a shout against you.
15 He that made the earth by his power, that hath prepared the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
16 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens. He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his own idols, for his images are false, and there is no life in them.
18 They're worthless, a work of mockery, and when the time of punishment comes, they'll perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the former of all things; including the tribe of his inheritance: the LORD of Armies is his name.
20 You are My war club and weapons of war, for with you I will shatter nations and with you I will destroy kingdoms.
21 and with you, I shatter the horse and his rider; and with you, I shatter the chariot and his rider;
22 and with you, I shatter man and woman; and with you, I shatter aged and lad; and with you, I shatter the youth and the virgin;
23 I'll smash the shepherd and his flock with you. I'll smash the farmer and his team of oxen with you. I'll smash governors and officials with you.
24 "Before your eyes I'll repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil that they did in Zion," declares the LORD.
25 "Look, I'm against you, destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth," declares the LORD. "I'll stretch out my hand against you and roll you down from the crags. And I'll make you a burned-out mountain.
26 And they will not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but you will be desolate forever, says the LORD.
27 Set 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 Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Cause the horses to come u
28 Prepare the nations for holy war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and all their officials, and every land of their dominion.
29 The land quakes and writhes because the LORD's purposes against Babylon stand firm, to make the land of Babylon a waste without inhabitants.
30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their strongholds; their strength is dried up; they have become like women. Her buildings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.
31 Runners run to meet runners. Messengers follow messengers. They inform the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured.
32 the fords occupied; the fens burnt up; and the soldiers sore afraid.
33 For thus says the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden down, just a little while and the time of the harvest will come for her."
34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has cast me out.
35 May the violence done to me and my flesh be on Babylon," says the inhabitant of Zion. "May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore thus said the LORD; Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
37 "Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.
38 They'll roar together like young lions; they'll growl like lion cubs.
39 When they're excited I'll serve them their banquet, and make them drunk until they're merry. They'll sleep forever and won't wake up," declares the LORD.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
41 How Sheshach is taken, and the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
42 The sea came up against Babylon with its roaring waves, and she is overwhelmed.
43 Her towns have become a waste, a dry and unwatered land, where no man has his living-place and no son of man goes by.
44 I'll punish Bel in Babylon, and I'll make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth. The nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 »Get out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the burning anger of the LORD.
46 "Do not lose courage or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land. One rumor comes one year; another rumor comes the next year. Rumors of violence are in the land. Rumors that one ruler will fight against another are in the land.
47 Therefore, look, days are coming when I'll punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will be put to shame, and all her slain will fall in her midst.
48 Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for from the north the destroyers will come to it," declares the LORD.
49 "So Babylon will fall because of the slain of Israel, even as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
50 You people escaped from the sword. Now leave! Do not just stand there. Remember the LORD in a distant land and think about Jerusalem.
51 We have been put to shame. We have been disgraced. Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have gone into the holy places of the LORD's temple.
52 "Therefore, look, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
53 "Though Babylon should reach up to the heavens and fortify her high fortresses, from me destroyers will come to her," declares the LORD.
54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For the LORD is devastating Babylon, and he obliterates her loud noise from her. Their waves roar like mighty waters, the roar of their voices resounds.
56 Indeed, the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her warriors are captured, and her bows are broken. For the LORD is a God of recompense, and he will repay in full.
57 "I will make their officials and wise men drunk, along with their governors, officers, and soldiers. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up," proclaims the king, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
58 This is what the LORD Almighty says: The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled, and its high gates will be set on fire. People exhaust themselves for nothing. The nations wear themselves out only to have a fire.
59 This is the charge that Jeremiah gave unto Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went toward Babylon with Zedekiah the king of Judah, in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was a peaceable prince.
60 Jeremiah wrote on a single scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these things that were written about Babylon.
61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,
62 Then says: 'the LORD, you have threatened to destroy this place so that no person or animal will live here. It will become a permanent ruin.'
63 "When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.
64 and shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise, because of the evil that I will bring upon it: and they shall be weary. Thus far the words of Jeremiah.