Jeremiah 51:33-64

For YAHWEH, the God of Israel, Commander of Angel Armies, says to you: “When people trample down the threshing place, the time of threshing is not far off. The time to harvest Fair Babylon is almost here!” Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, devoured us, chewed us up, and consumed us like a hungry man consumes a meal. Like a monster he swallowed us whole, filled his belly with our delicacies and then expelled us. Let the people of Zion say, “May the violence done to our people fall upon Babylon!” Let Jerusalem say, “May the Chaldeans pay for the crime of shedding my blood!” YAHWEH This is what YAHWEH says: “Look, I am taking up your cause to make sure you are avenged. I will dry up her water source and make her rivers run dry. Babylon will be reduced to a pile of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a thing of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. Like lions, the Babylonians all roar over their prey; they growl like lions’ cubs. Are they ready to feast? I will prepare them a drink that will make them drunk. They will drink themselves tipsy and fall into an everlasting sleep,” declares YAHWEH. “I will lead these proud lions down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats to be sacrificed.” “What! Has the great city of Babylon been taken? Has the pride of the whole world been seized? Babylon has become an object of horror throughout the nations. The sea has risen over Babylon; she sinks beneath its crashing waves. Her nearby towns have become desolate, a parched land, a desert where no one lives and where nobody goes. I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon, and make him give back what he has stolen. The people will no longer stream to him to bring him their offering. The walls of Babylon have fallen.” YAHWEH “Leave Babylon behind, my people. Each of you, save your lives from YAHWEH’s furious anger. But make sure that you are not discouraged. Do not worry about the many conspiracy theories that are being circulated throughout the country. For every year a different rumor spreads— rumors of violence, rumors of one king fighting another. “Behold, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s ‘gods.’ Her entire country will be humiliated, with all her slaughtered lying in the streets. Creation itself will sing for joy over Babylon’s demise. Destroyers from the north will attack her,” declares YAHWEH. “For people throughout the world have been slain by Babylon. And now, because of Israel’s slaughtered ones, Babylon will fall.” YAHWEH “You who have escaped with your life, do not wait to leave Babylon behind. Remember YAHWEH your God in a distant land, and let your thoughts turn to beautiful Jerusalem.” “We were mocked and ashamed; we were covered with disgrace because foreigners had entered the temple of YAHWEH’s holy places.” YAHWEH declares, “Behold, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s ‘gods,’ and throughout the land, wounded people will be groaning in pain. I, YAHWEH, say, even if Babylon should climb up to the sky, and entrench herself in an inaccessible height, I would still call her enemies to destroy her.” “Listen! The voice of a shout from Babylon. It is a noise of great destruction coming from the country of the Chaldeans. I am attacking Babylon and will destroy her and will silence the noise of the city. The enemy armies rush in like roaring waves and attack with shouts and battle cries. An enemy has come to destroy Babylon. They have captured Babylon’s soldiers and broken their bows into pieces. For YAHWEH is a God of recompense; he never fails to repay. I will make her soldiers and all her leaders drunk, including the advisers, officials, and military commanders. They will fall into an everlasting sleep, never to wake again,” declares the King, whose name is YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. “The attacking army will demolish the massive walls protecting Babylon and burn down the lofty gates of the city. The nations wear themselves out to no avail; they will see the flames destroy what they’ve done,” declares YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. Now Jeremiah had written all these prophecies of Babylon’s doom on a scroll. In the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, the king traveled to Babylonia, accompanied by his personal attendant, Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. Jeremiah gave Seraiah the scroll together with this command: “When you arrive in Babylon, be sure to read all the prophecies written on this scroll to all the people. Afterward, pray this prayer: ‘O  YAHWEH, you have promised to destroy this place so that no one will live here ever again, neither human nor animal. You said it will be desolate forever.’ “Then, Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people, tie a heavy stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River with these words: ‘Just as this scroll will sink, so Babylon will sink to the depths, never to rise again from the disaster I am going to bring on her.’ ” This ends Jeremiah’s writings.