CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Jeremiah 51
Chapter 51 of 52
Chapter Overview
What happens in Jeremiah 51
This chapter continues the great prophecy against Babylon. God describes in vivid detail how Babylon will be destroyed, comparing it to a threshing floor ready for harvest. He declares his power as Creator over Babylon's worthless idols. The chapter ends with Jeremiah sending a scroll of these prophecies to be read in Babylon and then sunk in the Euphrates River as a sign that Babylon will sink and never rise again.
Scripture
Jeremiah 51
God Sends a Destroying Wind Against Babylon
Study note
God declares he will send a destroying wind and foreign attackers against Babylon. Despite Israel and Judah's sins, God has not abandoned his people. Babylon had been like a golden cup in God's hand that made all nations drunk with its power, but now it has suddenly fallen. There is no remedy for Babylon's wounds. God's people are told to flee Babylon and let each person return to their own country. The fall of Babylon reveals God's justice -- what Babylon did to Jerusalem will be done to it.
1 The Lord says this. "I will stir up a deadly wind against Babylon. It will strike the people who turned against me." Thus 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;
2 "I will send outsiders to Babylon who will scatter its people and sweep the land clean. Enemies will close in from every direction on the day of disaster." And 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.
3 "Do not let the Babylonian archers get a chance to string their bows or put on their armor. Do not hold back from their young soldiers. Wipe out the entire army completely." Against 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.
4 "Dead bodies will drop all over Babylon's land. People with deadly wounds will fall in its streets." Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.
5 "Israel and Judah have not been left alone by their God. The Lord of Armies still cares for them. Yes, their land was stained with sin. But the Holy One of Israel has not given up." For 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.
6 "Get out of Babylon now! Run for your lives! Do not get caught up in the punishment for its sins. This is the time when the Lord is settling the score. He is giving Babylon exactly what it has coming." Flee 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.
7 "Babylon was like a golden cup in the Lord's hand, and it made the entire world drunk. The nations gulped down its wine, and it drove them all out of their minds." Babylon 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.
8 "In one sudden moment, Babylon has crashed and been smashed! Weep over it! Bring ointment for its wounds. Maybe there is still a chance it can be healed." Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 "We did our best to heal Babylon, but it is beyond saving. Walk away and leave it behind. Let every person go back to their own country. Babylon's judgment stretches all the way up to the heavens and reaches the clouds." We 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.
10 "The Lord has proven that we were in the right all along. Come on, let us go tell everyone in Zion what the Lord our God has accomplished!" The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
The Creator's Power Over Idols
Study note
God has stirred up the kings of the Medes (Persians) as his instrument against Babylon, just as he had once used Babylon against Jerusalem. This section contrasts the living God with dead idols. God made the earth by his power and stretched out the heavens. He controls the weather, lightning, rain, and wind. But every idol maker is foolish, because their metal images are lies with no breath in them. The God of Jacob is not like these worthless things -- he is the one who made everything, and Israel is the people he has chosen.
11 "Sharpen your arrows! Stock up your quivers! The Lord has motivated the kings of Media to take action, because his goal is to demolish Babylon. This is the Lord's payback -- his payback for what was done to his temple." Make 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.
12 "Raise the battle flag in front of Babylon's walls! Beef up the guard! Station watchmen in position! Set up surprise attacks! The Lord has followed through on everything he said he would do to Babylon." Set 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.
13 "You who sit beside great rivers, surrounded by enormous wealth -- your end has arrived. The thread of your life is about to be snipped." O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
14 "The Lord of Armies has sworn this. 'I will fill Babylon with enemy soldiers. They will be as thick as a swarm of locusts. They will shout in triumph over you.'" The 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.
15 "God created the earth with his incredible power. He set the world in place with his wisdom and stretched out the vast sky with his understanding." He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
16 "When he raises his voice, the waters in the sky thunder and roar. He pulls clouds up from the far edges of the earth. He sends bolts of lightning along with the downpour and releases the wind from his storerooms." When 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.
17 "Every person who trusts in idols is foolish and ignorant. Every metalworker should be embarrassed by the statues he makes. Those metal images are fakes -- there is no life in them." Every 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.
18 "Idols are useless junk, objects to be laughed at. When judgment day arrives, they will all be destroyed." They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19 "But the God of Jacob is nothing like those worthless idols. He is the Creator of everything, and Israel is the nation he has chosen as his very own. His name is the Lord of Armies." The 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.
God's Battle Hammer
Study note
God addresses an unnamed instrument (likely Babylon itself, or the coming Persian Empire) as his 'battle axe' or war club with which he breaks nations. But then he turns against Babylon, calling it a 'destroying mountain' that has laid waste the whole earth. He will roll Babylon down from its heights and make it a burned-out mountain. No one will take stones from it for building ever again -- meaning Babylon will never be rebuilt or serve as a foundation for another power.
20 "You are my battle hammer, my weapon of war. With you, I smash nations to pieces. With you, I tear kingdoms apart." Thou 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;
21 "With you, I shatter horse and rider alike. With you, I wreck chariot and driver." And 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;
22 "With you, I crush man and woman. With you, I bring down old and young. With you, I strike young man and young woman." With 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;
23 "With you, I scatter shepherd and flock. With you, I break farmer and oxen. With you, I topple governors and commanders." I 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.
24 "But now I will make Babylon and all the Babylonians pay for every evil thing they did in Zion. You will see it happen with your own eyes, says the Lord." And 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.
25 "I am against you, you mountain of destruction, says the Lord -- the mountain that has wrecked the entire earth. I will reach out my hand and shove you off the cliffs, leaving you a burned-out, blackened heap." Behold, 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.
26 "No one will ever take a stone from your ruins to build with. You will be an empty waste forever," says the Lord. And 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.
Nations Gather Against Babylon
Study note
God calls on the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz (regions in ancient Armenia and eastern Turkey) to join the Medes in attacking Babylon. Babylon's warriors will stop fighting, their strength will fail, and their city will burn. Messengers will run to tell the king that his city has been taken from every side. The river crossings will be seized and the marshes set on fire. Babylon is compared to a threshing floor at harvest time -- the time to thresh her has come.
27 "Raise a war banner across the land! Blast the trumpet among the nations! Get the nations ready to fight against Babylon! Call up the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Choose a commanding officer to lead the attack. Send in horses so thick they look like swarms of bristly locusts." 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 Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
28 "Rally the nations against Babylon! Call the kings of Media. Call their rulers and all their leaders. Call every land they control." Prepare 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.
29 "The ground shakes and twists in pain. The Lord's plan against Babylon is being carried out. Babylon's land will become an empty waste. No one will live there." And 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.
30 "Babylon's soldiers have quit fighting. They are hiding in their fortified positions. Their courage has completely drained away, and they are as helpless as can be. Babylon's buildings are on fire. The iron bars on its gates have been snapped apart." The 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.
31 "Runner after runner races to Babylon's king with the same news. 'Your city has been taken from end to end!'" One 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,
32 "The river crossings have been seized by the enemy. The marshlands have been set ablaze. Babylon's soldiers are paralyzed with fear." And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
33 The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Babylon is like a threshing floor right at the moment when it gets trampled flat. Just a little bit longer, and the harvest of judgment will begin." For 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.
Jerusalem's Suffering Will Be Avenged
Study note
Jerusalem speaks, saying that Nebuchadnezzar devoured and crushed her like a monster swallowing its prey. God promises to take Jerusalem's side and dry up Babylon's water sources. Babylon will become a heap of ruins where no one lives. God will punish the god Bel in Babylon and make him spit out what he has swallowed -- meaning the nations and treasures Babylon took will be freed. God's people are told to leave Babylon and save their lives from his fierce anger.
34 "King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has chewed us up and spit us out. He has crushed us like trash. He has swallowed us whole like some enormous sea creature, stuffing himself with our best food, and then he tossed us aside." Nebuchadrezzar 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.
35 The people of Zion say, "Make Babylon pay for the violence done to us and our families!" The people of Jerusalem say, "Let our blood be on their heads!" The 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.
36 So the Lord replies: "I will fight your battle and get justice for you. I will dry up Babylon's great river and drain every last one of its water sources." Therefore 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.
37 "Babylon will become a pile of rubble. Wild dogs will hide in it. The sight will make people gasp. No one would ever want to live there." And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 "The Babylonians will roar together like a pack of young lions. They will snarl like hungry lion cubs." They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps.
39 "While they are all worked up and excited, I will serve them a very different kind of drink. I will make them so drunk that they pass out and fall into an eternal sleep from which they will never, ever wake up. That is the Lord's word." In 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.
40 "I will march them off to the slaughter like lambs, like rams and goats." I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
41 "Can you believe it? Babylon has been captured -- the city that the whole world was so proud of! Babylon has become a sight that horrifies every nation on earth." How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
42 "The sea has surged over Babylon. Massive, thundering waves have buried it." The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
43 "Its cities have become dry, empty wastes. No one lives there. No one even passes through." Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
44 "I will punish the god Bel there in Babylon and force him to cough up everything he swallowed. The nations will stop streaming to worship him. Even the mighty wall of Babylon will come crashing down." And 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.
The Scroll Sunk in the Euphrates
Study note
The chapter concludes with a dramatic symbolic act. Jeremiah wrote all these prophecies against Babylon on a scroll and gave it to Seraiah, who was traveling to Babylon with King Zedekiah. Jeremiah instructed Seraiah to read the scroll aloud in Babylon, then tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River. As it sank, Seraiah was to declare, 'In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again.' This powerful visual prophecy was fulfilled when the Persian Empire conquered Babylon in 539 BC, and the great city eventually became ruins. The final note marks the end of Jeremiah's own words.
45 "My people, get out of Babylon! Save yourselves from the Lord's blazing anger!" My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
46 "Do not panic or get scared when you hear rumors spreading through the land. One rumor flies around this year, another one next year -- stories about bloodshed in the country and leaders fighting against each other." And 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.
47 "The time is definitely coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols. The entire land will be put to shame, and dead bodies will litter the ground everywhere." Therefore, 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.
48 "Then the heavens, the earth, and all living things will cheer. Babylon has fallen! Armies of ruin sweep down from the north," says the Lord. Then 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.
49 "Babylon must fall for all the people of Israel it killed. People from every nation fell dead because of Babylon." As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
50 "All of you who survived the sword, go now! Do not stand around waiting! Even though you are far from home, keep the Lord in your thoughts, and let Jerusalem stay in your hearts." Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 "We feel so ashamed because people have mocked and insulted us. Disgrace is written all over our faces because outsiders barged into the sacred rooms of the Lord's temple." We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.
52 "But the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will deal with Babylon's idols. All across its territory, wounded people will moan in pain." Wherefore, 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.
53 "Babylon might build all the way up to the sky. It might make its high walls beyond reach. I would still send an army to tear it down," says the Lord. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
54 "Listen! A great scream comes from Babylon. The sound of vast ruin fills the land." A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
55 "The Lord is tearing Babylon apart and shutting its booming voice forever. Wave after wave of enemies roars in like crashing flood waters. The thunderous noise of their attack echoes in every direction." Because 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:
56 "A destroyer has arrived at Babylon's doorstep. Its soldiers have been taken prisoner, and their bows have been snapped in half. The Lord is a God who always evens the score. He will pay back every last bit of what is owed." Because 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.
57 "I will get Babylon's officials and so-called wise men drunk, along with its governors, military officers, and warriors. They will fall into a permanent sleep and never open their eyes again. This is the announcement of the King whose name is the Lord of Armies." And 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.
58 The Lord of Armies says: "Babylon's massive, thick walls will be completely flattened. Its towering gates will be set on fire. All the hard work of the nations will go up in smoke. Everything the people labored for will feed the flames and be gone." Thus 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.
59 Here is the assignment Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, grandson of Mahseiah. This happened when Seraiah traveled to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah during the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. Seraiah was the chief officer in charge. The 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.
60 Jeremiah wrote on a single scroll every bad thing coming to Babylon. He wrote down all the words about Babylon found in this book. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
61 Jeremiah told Seraiah this. "When you get to Babylon, read every word of this scroll out loud. Make sure all can hear it." And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
62 "Then pray and say, 'Lord, you have declared that you will wipe this place off the map so that nobody will ever live here again -- not people, not animals. It will be a deserted wasteland forever.'" Then 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.
63 "After you finish reading the scroll, tie a heavy rock to it. Then throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River." And 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:
64 "Then say, 'This is exactly how Babylon will sink to the bottom and never come back up, because of the disaster I am sending against it.'" These are the final words of Jeremiah. And 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Jeremiah 51
God's power over the mightiest empireThe Creator versus worthless idolsVengeance belongs to GodThe symbolic sinking of babylon's scrollGod's people called to flee corruption
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Jeremiah Jeremiah 51:6-9 Revelation 18:4
The call to flee from Babylon before its destruction is echoed in Revelation's call to 'come out of her, my people,' connecting the historical judgment on Babylon with the eschatological fall of all corrupt world systems.
Apply This Today
Living Jeremiah 51
God calls His people to come out of Babylon before its destruction, a theme that echoes throughout Scripture. The symbolic act of tying a scroll to a stone and sinking it in the Euphrates powerfully illustrates the finality of Babylon's fall. No system of power built on injustice and idolatry can stand forever.
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