Babylon Will Be Destroyed

Jeremiah 51 (selections)

Biblical Period

11Polish the arrows,
Fill the quivers!
The Lord has roused the spirit of the kings of Media,
For His plan against Babylon is to destroy her.
This is the vengeance of the Lord,
Vengeance for His Temple. [ . . . ]
28Appoint nations for war against her—
The kings of Media,
Her governors and all her prefects,
And all the lands they rule!
29Then the earth quakes and writhes,
For the Lord’s purpose is fulfilled against Babylon,
To make the land of Babylon
A waste without inhabitant.
30The warriors of Babylon stop fighting,
They sit in the strongholds,
Their might is dried up,
They become women.
Her dwellings are set afire,
Her bars are broken.
31Runner dashes to meet runner,
Messenger to meet messenger,
To report to the king of Babylon
That his city is captured, from end to end. [ . . . ]
54Hark! an outcry from Babylon,
Great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.
55For the Lord is ravaging Babylon;
He will put an end to her great din,
Whose roar is like waves of mighty waters,
Whose tumultuous noise resounds.
56For a ravager is coming upon Babylon,
Her warriors shall be captured, their bows shall be snapped.
For the Lord is a God of requital,
He deals retribution.
57I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
Her governors and prefects and warriors;
And they shall sleep an endless sleep,
Never to awaken [ . . . ].

59The instructions that the prophet Jeremiah gave to Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when the latter went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylonia, in the fourth year of [Zedekiah’s] reign. Seraiah was quartermaster. 60Jeremiah wrote down in one scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon [ . . . ]. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read out all these words. [ . . . ] 63And when you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and hurl it into the Euphrates. 64And say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink and never rise again, because of the disaster that I will bring upon it. And [nations] shall have wearied themselves [for fire].’”

Thus far the words of Jeremiah.

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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Related Guide

Jeremiah and the Destruction of the First Temple

Jeremiah engaged in debates with royal officials and with other prophets in Jerusalem, urged submission to Babylonia, and was repeatedly imprisoned as a traitor. 

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