Jeremiah 51

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Jeremiah 51 prophesies the utter destruction of Babylon by the LORD, who will raise up nations like the Medes against her. God declares vengeance for Babylon's pride, idolatry, and oppression of Israel, promising to make her a perpetual desolation. The chapter concludes with a symbolic act of casting a scroll into the Euphrates, signifying Babylon's irreversible fall.

God Promises Babylon's Destruction 1–5

Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.

And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

Flee Babylon! The Time of Vengeance 6–14

Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Jehovah’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.

Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

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.

Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.

Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.

Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.

Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

A Hymn to the Creator God 15–19

He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens.

When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.

Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.

God's Battle Axe Against the Nations 20–24

Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

and with thee will I break in pieces 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 governors and deputies.

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 Jehovah.

The Destruction of the Destroying Mountain 25–33

Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

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 Jehovah.

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 up as the rough canker-worm.

Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion.

And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken.

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.

Zion's Vengeance and Babylon's Fall 34–44

Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath, like a monster, swallowed me up, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath cast me out.

The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.

They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions’ whelps.

When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

Final Warning and Exhortation to Escape 45–58

My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Jehovah.

And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the tidings that shall be heard in the land; for tidings shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come tidings, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute 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.

Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, saith Jehovah.

As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.

Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah’s house.

Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, saith Jehovah.

The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

For Jehovah layeth Babylon waste, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:

for the destroyer is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Jehovah is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.

And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.

The Symbolic Prophecy of the Sinking Scroll 59–64

The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain.

And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words,

and say, O Jehovah, thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

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 the Euphrates:

and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 51

Verse 1

a destroying wind — 'Raise up' is ur, to rouse, the verb used again in v.11 of the spirit of the Medes. 'Wind' is ruach, wind or spirit, the word translated 'breath' in v.17. 'Destroying' (shachath) is the verb of v.11 'to destroy it' and v.25 'which destroyest all the earth', and so the destroyer is destroyed.

Verse 5

Israel hath not been forsaken — Alman, 'widowed', occurs only here in the Bible: Israel is not left a widow, for the LORD said, 'I was an husband unto them' (Jer 31:32). 'The Holy One of Israel' appears in Jeremiah only here and in 50:29, where Babylon 'hath been proud against' him.

Verse 6

Flee out of the midst of Babylon — The command is to escape (malat) with one's 'soul' (nephesh, life), 'be not cut off in her iniquity', as the angels urged Lot, 'lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city' (Gen 19:15). 'Render' (shalam) and 'recompence' (gemul) mark the time as the LORD's 'vengeance'.

Verse 7

a golden cup — Babylon is the cup (kos) in the LORD'S hand, the 'wine cup of this fury' that the nations were made to drink (Jer 25:15). Rev 17:4 pictures 'a golden cup in her hand full of abominations', and Rev 14:8 says she 'made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication'.

Verse 11

the kings of the Medes — 'Raised up the spirit' uses ur, as in v.1. The LORD names the Medes beforehand: 'I will stir up the Medes against them' (Isa 13:17); 'Darius the Median took the kingdom' (Dan 5:31). 'The vengeance of his temple' answers the temple's burning (Jer 52:13). 'Device' (mezimmah) is his plan.

Verse 13

upon many waters — Babylon sat on the Euphrates (v.63). Rev 17:1 takes up the phrase, 'the great whore that sitteth upon many waters', and Rev 17:15 explains the waters as 'peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues'. 'Thine end' is qets, the limit; the 'measure' (ammah) is a cubit.

Verse 15

He hath made the earth by his power — Vv.15–19 repeat Jer 10:12–16 almost word for word. Prov 3:19 has the same pair of agents: 'The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens'. 'Stretched out' is natah, the verb of the hand stretched out against Babylon in v.25.

Verse 17

no breath in them — Ruach, the word of v.1 for the wind the LORD raises. The idol has none, as Hab 2:19 says, 'there is no breath at all in the midst of it', and Ps 135:17, 'neither is there any breath in their mouths'. The founder (tsaraph, goldsmith) is 'confounded' by the image he made; 'falsehood' is sheqer.

Verse 20

my battle axe — Mappets, a smasher or maul, occurs only here. 'Break in pieces' (naphats) falls nine times in vv.20–23, each time 'with thee'. Babylon is called 'the hammer of the whole earth' in Jer 50:23; some read these verses of the Medes (v.11). Either way, the instrument is the LORD's, and v.24 repays Babylon.

Verse 24

in Zion in your sight — 'Render' is shalam, the verb of v.6; the repayment answers the harm done to Zion, as v.35 has it: 'The violence done to me… be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say'. Ps 137:8 pronounces 'happy' the one 'that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us'.

Verse 25

a burnt mountain — Babylon is a 'destroying mountain' (mashchith) that 'destroyest all the earth', the shachath of vv.1, 11 and 20. The sentence fits the deed: the LORD stretches out his hand, rolls it down from the rocks and makes it 'a burnt mountain', as her gates burn in v.58.

Verse 27

Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz — Ararat is where the ark rested (Gen 8:4); Ashkenaz was a son of Gomer (Gen 10:3). Minni occurs only here. 'Prepare' is qadash, to consecrate, as in 'Prepare ye war against her' (Jer 6:4). 'Captain' (tiphsar) is found only here and Nah 3:17.

Verse 30

they became as women — The mighty men 'have forborn to fight' and stay in their holds. Their 'bars' (berich) are broken, as the LORD promised Cyrus: 'cut in sunder the bars of iron' (Isa 45:2). 'Their might hath failed' (gevurah); the dwellingplaces, not only the walls, are burned.

Verse 33

a threshingfloor — The 'time to thresh her' is followed by 'the time of her harvest', the figure of Joel 3:13, 'Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe'. Isa 21:10, in the oracle on Babylon's fall (Isa 21:9), has 'O my threshing, and the corn of my floor'. 'Daughter of Babylon' is the figure of Ps 137:8.

Verse 34

swallowed me up like a dragon — The speaker is Zion (v.35, 'the inhabitant of Zion'). Bala, to swallow, returns in v.44, 'that which he hath swallowed up', taken out of Bel's mouth. 'Dragon' is tannin, as in Ps 74:13. The 'empty vessel' (keli, reiq) is a vessel emptied of its contents.

Verse 36

I will plead thy cause — Riv, the verb and noun of Ps 74:22, 'plead thine own cause'. The LORD here promises for his people what the psalmist asked. 'Take vengeance' is naqam, with neqamah (vengeance). The drying of her 'sea' and 'springs' matches Jer 50:38, 'A drought is upon her waters'.

Verse 41

Sheshach — The name appears elsewhere only in Jer 25:26, 'the king of Sheshach shall drink after them', the nations of the cup; here it stands in parallel with 'Babylon'. 'The praise of the whole earth' is tehillah, the word used in 49:25. 'Astonishment' (shammah) is the word of 50:23, 'a desolation among the nations'.

Verse 44

I will punish Bel — Bel is Babylon's god, 'Bel is confounded' (Jer 50:2), 'Bel boweth down' (Isa 46:1). The verb for 'swallowed' (bala, v.34) gives the noun here, taken from his mouth. 'Flow together' is nahar, the verb of Isa 2:2, 'all nations shall flow unto it', and Jer 31:12. Nations will no longer flow together to Bel.

Verse 45

go ye out of the midst of her — This is nearly the sentence of v.6, with 'deliver… his soul' (malat, nephesh) repeated, now addressed to 'My people'. Isa 48:20 says 'Go ye forth of Babylon', and Rev 18:4 takes it up: 'Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins'.

Verse 46

lest your heart faint — Rakak, to go soft, the verb of Deut 20:3, 'let not your hearts faint', said to Israel before battle. 'Rumour' (shemuah) comes three times in the verse: one year, then another, with 'violence in the land, ruler against ruler'. The hearers are told not to fear.

Verse 53

mount up to heaven — Babylon's ambition is the tower of Babel, 'whose top may reach unto heaven' (Gen 11:4), and the king of Babylon's 'I will ascend into heaven' (Isa 14:13). 'From me shall spoilers come' (shadad): the destroyers are sent by the LORD, however high she builds.

Verse 58

broad walls — The 'broad walls' are 'utterly broken' (arar, laid bare) and the 'high gates… burned with fire'. 'The people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire' is repeated in Hab 2:13, which asks first, 'is it not of the LORD of hosts?', then 'the people shall labour in the very fire'.

Verse 59

Seraiah the son of Neriah — Seraiah and Baruch share a father and grandfather: 'Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah' (Jer 32:12). He went to Babylon 'in the fourth year' of Zedekiah, carrying a word Jeremiah 'commanded' (tsavah) him to read there.

Verse 63

cast it into the midst of Euphrates — When the reading is finished, a stone is bound to the book and thrown in the river, and v.64 gives the meaning: 'Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise'. Rev 18:21 repeats the act with 'a stone like a great millstone' cast into the sea: 'Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down'.