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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Jeremiah 51 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/51.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/jeremiah/51-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NRSVCE</a> > Jeremiah 51</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../jeremiah/50.htm" title="Jeremiah 50">◄</a> Jeremiah 51 <a href="../jeremiah/52.htm" title="Jeremiah 52">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><div class="text-html"> 1Thus says the Lord:<div class="poetry">I am going to stir up a destructive winda</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote a">a</a>] against Babylon     and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai;b</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote b">b</a>] 2and I will send winnowers to Babylon,     and they shall winnow her. They shall empty her land     when they come against her from every side     on the day of trouble. 3Let not the archer bend his bow,     and let him not array himself in his coat of mail. Do not spare her young men;     utterly destroy her entire army. 4They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,     and wounded in her streets. 5Israel and Judah have not been forsaken     by their God, the Lord of hosts, though their land is full of guilt     before the Holy One of Israel.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">6Flee from the midst of Babylon,     save your lives, each of you! Do not perish because of her guilt,     for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;     he is repaying her what is due. 7Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,     making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine,     and so the nations went mad. 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;     wail for her! Bring balm for her wound;     perhaps she may be healed. 9We tried to heal Babylon,     but she could not be healed. Forsake her, and let each of us go     to our own country; for her judgment has reached up to heaven     and has been lifted up even to the skies. 10The Lord has brought forth our vindication;     come, let us declare in Zion     the work of the Lord our God.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">11Sharpen the arrows!     Fill the quivers!</div>The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for his temple. <div class="poetry">12Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon;     make the watch strong; post sentinels;     prepare the ambushes; for the Lord has both planned and done     what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13You who live by mighty waters,     rich in treasures, your end has come,     the thread of your life is cut. 14The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with troops like a swarm of locusts,     and they shall raise a shout of victory over you.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">15It is he who made the earth by his power,     who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. 16When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,     and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain,     and he brings out the wind from his storehouses. 17Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;     goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols; for their images are false,     and there is no breath in them. 18They are worthless, a work of delusion;     at the time of their punishment they shall perish. 19Not like these is the Lord,c</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote c">c</a>] the portion of Jacob,     for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;     the Lord of hosts is his name.</div> <h3>Israel the Creator’s Instrument</h3><div class="poetry">20You are my war club, my weapon of battle: with you I smash nations;     with you I destroy kingdoms; 21with you I smash the horse and its rider;     with you I smash the chariot and the charioteer; 22with you I smash man and woman;     with you I smash the old man and the boy; with you I smash the young man and the girl; 23    with you I smash shepherds and their flocks; with you I smash farmers and their teams;     with you I smash governors and deputies.</div> <h3>The Doom of Babylon</h3>24I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion, says the Lord. <div class="poetry top-1">25I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the Lord,     that destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you,     and roll you down from the crags,     and make you a burned-out mountain. 26No stone shall be taken from you for a corner     and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste,     says the Lord.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">27Raise a standard in the land,     blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her,     summon against her the kingdoms,     Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her,     bring up horses like bristling locusts. 28Prepare the nations for war against her,     the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,     and every land under their dominion. 29The land trembles and writhes,     for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation,     without inhabitant. 30The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting,     they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed,     they have become women; her buildings are set on fire,     her bars are broken. 31One runner runs to meet another,     and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon     that his city is taken from end to end: 32the fords have been seized,     the marshes have been burned with fire,     and the soldiers are in panic. 33For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor     at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while     and the time of her harvest will come.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">34“King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me,     he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel,     he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies,     he has spewed me out. 35May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”     the inhabitants of Zion shall say. “May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”     Jerusalem shall say. 36Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to defend your cause     and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea     and make her fountain dry; 37and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,     a den of jackals, an object of horror and of hissing,     without inhabitant.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">38Like lions they shall roar together;     they shall growl like lions’ whelps. 39When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink     and make them drunk, until they become merry and then sleep a perpetual sleep     and never wake, says the Lord. 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,     like rams and goats.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">41How Sheshachd</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote d">d</a>] is taken,     the pride of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become     an object of horror among the nations! 42The sea has risen over Babylon;     she has been covered by its tumultuous waves. 43Her cities have become an object of horror,     a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one lives,     and through which no mortal passes. 44I will punish Bel in Babylon,     and make him disgorge what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer stream to him;     the wall of Babylon has fallen.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">45Come out of her, my people!     Save your lives, each of you,     from the fierce anger of the Lord! 46Do not be fainthearted or fearful     at the rumors heard in the land— one year one rumor comes,     the next year another, rumors of violence in the land     and of ruler against ruler.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">47Assuredly, the days are coming     when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame,     and all her slain shall fall in her midst. 48 Then the heavens and the earth,     and all that is in them, shall shout for joy over Babylon;     for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the Lord. 49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,     as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">50 You survivors of the sword,     go, do not linger! Remember the Lord in a distant land,     and let Jerusalem come into your mind: 51 We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;     dishonor has covered our face, for aliens have come     into the holy places of the Lord’s house.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">52 Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,     when I will punish her idols, and through all her land     the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,     and though she should fortify her strong height, from me destroyers would come upon her,     says the Lord.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">54 Listen!—a cry from Babylon!     A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans! 55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste,     and stilling her loud clamor. Their waves roar like mighty waters,     the sound of their clamor resounds; 56 for a destroyer has come against her,     against Babylon; her warriors are taken,     their bows are broken; for the Lord is a God of recompense,     he will repay in full. 57 I will make her officials and her sages drunk,     also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,     says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.</div> <div class="poetry top-1">58 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon     shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates     shall be burned with fire. The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,     and the nations weary themselves only for fire.e</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote e">e</a>]</div> <h3>Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah</h3>59 The word that the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in af</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote f">f</a>] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O Lord, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither human beings nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’”g</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote g">g</a>]Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. <A name="fen"></a><div class="footnotes"><h4>Footnotes</h4><ol><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:1">Jeremiah 51:1</a> Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer</li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:1">Jeremiah 51:1</a> Leb-qamai is a cryptogram for Kasdim, Chaldea</li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:19">Jeremiah 51:19</a> Heb lacks the Lord</li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:41">Jeremiah 51:41</a> Sheshach is a cryptogram for Babel, Babylon</li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:58">Jeremiah 51:58</a> Gk Syr Compare Hab 2.13: Heb and the nations for fire, and they are weary</li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:60">Jeremiah 51:60</a> Or one</li><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Jeremiah 51:64">Jeremiah 51:64</a> Gk: Heb on her. And they shall weary themselves</li></ol></div> </div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. 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