Jeremiah 51-52
Easy-to-Read Version
51 The Lord says,
“I will cause a powerful, destructive
wind to blow against Babylon and the Babylonians.[a]
2 I will send foreigners to winnow[b] Babylon,
and they will take everything from the city.
Armies will surround the city,
and there will be terrible destruction.
3 The Babylonian soldiers will not get to use their bows and arrows.
They will not even put on their armor.
Don’t feel sorry for the soldiers of Babylon.
Destroy her army completely!
4 Babylon’s soldiers will be killed in the land of the Chaldeans.
They will be badly wounded in the streets of Babylon.”
5 The Lord All-Powerful did not leave Israel and Judah alone, like a widow.
No, they are guilty of leaving the Holy One of Israel.
Their God did not leave them.
They left him!
6 Run away from Babylon.
Run to save your lives!
Don’t stay and be killed because of Babylon’s sins!
It is time for the Lord to punish the Babylonians for the bad things they have done.
Babylon will get the punishment that she should have.
7 Babylon was like a golden cup in the Lord’s hand.
Babylon made the whole world drunk.
The nations drank Babylon’s wine,
so they went crazy.
8 But Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.
Cry for her!
Get medicine for her pain,
and maybe she can be healed.
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
but she cannot be healed.
So let us leave her,
and let each of us go to our own country.
God in heaven will decide Babylon’s punishment.
He will decide what will happen to Babylon.
10 The Lord got even for us.
Come, let’s tell about that in Zion.
Let’s tell what the Lord our God has done.
11 Sharpen the arrows!
Get your shields!
The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes
because he wants to destroy Babylon.
The army from Babylon destroyed his Temple in Jerusalem,
so he will give them the punishment they deserve.
12 Lift up a flag against the walls of Babylon.
Bring more guards.
Put the watchmen in their places.
Get ready for a secret attack.
The Lord will do what he has planned.
He will do what he said he would do against the people of Babylon.
13 Babylon, you live near much water.
You are rich with treasures, but your end as a nation has come.
It is time for you to be destroyed.
14 The Lord All-Powerful used his name to make this promise:
“Babylon, I will fill you with so many enemy soldiers they will be like a cloud of locusts.
They will win their war against you.
They will stand over you shouting their victory cry.”
15 God used his great power and made the earth.
He used his wisdom to build the world
and his understanding to stretch out the skies.
16 When he thunders, the waters in the skies roar.
He sends clouds all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17 But people are so stupid.
They don’t understand what God has done.
Skilled workers make statues of false gods.
Those statues are only false gods.
They show how foolish those workers are.
Those statues are not alive.
18 Those idols are worthless.
People made them, and they are nothing but a joke.
Their time of judgment will come,
and those idols will be destroyed.
19 But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like those worthless statues.
People didn’t make God;
God made his people.
He made everything.
His name is the Lord All-Powerful.
20 The Lord says, “Babylon, you are my club.
I used you to smash nations.
I used you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I used you to smash horse and rider.
I used you to smash chariot and driver.
22 I used you to smash men and women.
I used you to smash men, old and young.
I used you to smash young men and young women.
23 I used you to smash shepherds and flocks.
I used you to smash farmers and oxen.
I used you to smash governors and important officials.
24 But I will repay Babylonia and all the Babylonians for all the evil things they did to Zion.
I will pay them back so that you can see it, Judah.”
This is what the Lord said.
25 The Lord says,
“Babylon, you are like a volcano
that destroys the whole country.
But I have turned against you,
and I will turn you into a burned-out mountain.
26 People will not take stones from Babylon to use as the foundation of a building.
That is because they will not find any stones big enough for cornerstones.
Your city will be a pile of broken rocks forever.”
This is what the Lord said.
27 “Lift up the war flag in the land!
Blow the trumpet in all the nations!
Prepare the nations for war against Babylon.
Call these kingdoms to come fight against Babylon:
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Choose a commander to lead the army against her.
Send so many horses that they are like a swarm of locusts.
28 Get the nations ready for battle against her.
Get the kings of the Medes ready.
Get their governors and all their important officials ready.
Get all the countries they rule ready for battle against Babylon.
29 The land shakes and moves as if it is in pain.
It will shake when the Lord does to Babylon what he plans—
to make the land of Babylon an empty desert,
a place where no one will live.
30 Babylon’s soldiers have stopped fighting.
They stay in their forts.
Their strength is gone.
They have become like frightened women.
Babylon’s houses are burning.
The bars of her gates are broken.
31 One messenger follows another.
Messenger follows messenger.
They announce to the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured.
32 The places where people cross the rivers have been captured.
The swamplands are burning.
All of Babylon’s soldiers are afraid.”
33 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says:
“Babylon is like a threshing floor,
where people beat the grain at harvest time.
And the time to beat Babylon is coming soon.
34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed us in the past.
In the past he hurt us.
In the past he took our people away,
and we became like an empty jar.
He took the best we had.
He was like a giant monster that ate everything until it was full.
He took the best we had
and then threw us away.
35 Babylon did terrible things to hurt us.
Now I want those things to happen to Babylon.”
The people living in Zion said,
“The people of Babylon are guilty of killing our people.
Now they are being punished for the bad things they did.”
The city of Jerusalem said those things.
36 So this is what the Lord says:
“I will defend you, Judah.
I will make sure that Babylon is punished.
I will dry up Babylon’s sea.
And I will make her water springs become dry.
37 Babylon will become a pile of ruined buildings,
a place fit only for wild dogs.
People will be shocked and shake their heads at what is left there.
It will be a place where no one lives.
38 “The people of Babylon are like roaring young lions.
They growl like baby lions.
39 They are acting like powerful lions.
I will give a party for them.
I will make them drunk.
They will laugh and have a good time,
and then they will sleep forever.
They will never wake up.”
This is what the Lord said.
40 “Babylon will be like sheep, rams, and goats waiting to be killed.
I will lead them to the slaughter.
41 “Sheshach[c] will be defeated.
The best and proudest country of the whole earth will be taken captive.
People from other nations will look at Babylon,
and what they see will make them afraid.
42 The sea will rise over Babylon.
Its roaring waves will cover her.
43 Babylon will be like a dry, desert land.
Its cities will be empty ruins.
No one will live in those cities.
No one will even travel through them.
44 I will punish the false god Bel in Babylon.
I will make him vomit out the people he swallowed.
The wall around Babylon will fall,
and other nations will stop coming to Babylon.
45 Come out of the city of Babylon, my people.
Run to save your lives.
Run from the Lord’s great anger.
46 “Don’t be sad, my people.
Rumors will spread, but don’t be afraid.
One rumor comes this year.
Another rumor will come next year.
There will be rumors about terrible fighting in the country.
There will be rumors about rulers fighting against other rulers.
47 The time will surely come when I will punish the false gods of Babylon,
and the whole land of Babylon will be put to shame.
There will be many dead people,
lying in the streets of that city.
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout with joy about Babylon.
They will shout because an army came from the north
and fought against Babylon.”
This is what the Lord said.
49 “Babylon killed people from Israel.
Babylon killed people from every place on earth.
So Babylon must fall!
50 You people escaped the swords.
You must hurry and leave Babylon.
Don’t wait!
You are in a faraway land,
but remember the Lord where you are and remember Jerusalem.”
51 “We people of Judah are ashamed.
We have been insulted,
because strangers have gone into
the holy places of the Lord’s Temple.”
52 The Lord says, “The time is coming,
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
At that time wounded people will cry
with pain everywhere in that country.
53 Babylon might grow until she touches the sky.
Babylon might make her forts strong,
but I will send people to fight against that city.
And they will destroy her.”
This is what the Lord said.
54 “We can hear people crying in Babylon.
We hear the sound of people destroying things in the land of Babylon.
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon very soon.
He will stop the loud noises in that city.
Enemies will come roaring in like ocean waves.
People all around will hear that roar.
56 The army will come and destroy Babylon.
Its soldiers will be captured, and their bows will be broken,
This will happen because the Lord punishes people for the bad things they do.
He gives them the full punishment they deserve.
57 I will make Babylon’s wise men
and important officials drunk.
I will make the governors, officers,
and soldiers drunk too.
Then they will sleep forever.
They will never wake up.”
This is what the King said.
His name is the Lord All-Powerful.
58 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Babylon’s thick, strong wall will be pulled down.
Her high gates will be burned.
The people of Babylon will work hard,
but it will not help.
They will get very tired trying to save the city.
But they will only be fuel for the flames.”
Jeremiah Sends a Message to Babylon
59 This is the message that Jeremiah gave to the officer Seraiah[d] son of Neriah. Neriah was the son of Mahseiah. Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This happened in the fourth year that Zedekiah[e] was king of Judah. At that time Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah, the officer. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll all the terrible things that would happen to Babylon. He had written all these things about Babylon.
61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “Seraiah, go to Babylon. Be sure to read this message so that all the people can hear you. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy this place, Babylon. You will destroy it so that no people or animals will live in it. This place will be an empty ruin forever.’ 63 After you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink. Babylon will rise no more. It will sink because of the terrible things that I will make happen here.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
The Fall of Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah.[f] Hamutal’s family was from the town of Libnah. 2 Zedekiah did evil things, just as King Jehoiakim had done. The Lord did not like Zedekiah doing those evil things. 3 Terrible things happened to the people of Jerusalem and Judah because the Lord was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month,[g] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. The army of Babylon set up their camp outside of Jerusalem. Then they built ramps all around the city walls so that they could get over the walls. 5 The city of Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Babylon until the eleventh year that Zedekiah[h] was king. 6 By the ninth day of the fourth month of that year, the hunger in the city was very bad. There was no food left for the people in the city to eat. 7 On that day the army of Babylon broke into Jerusalem. The soldiers of Jerusalem ran away. They left the city at night. They went through the gate between the two walls. That gate was near the king’s garden. Even though the army of Babylon had surrounded the city, the soldiers of Jerusalem still ran away toward the desert.
8 But the Babylonian army chased King Zedekiah and caught him on the plains of Jericho. All of Zedekiah’s soldiers ran away. 9 The army of Babylon captured King Zedekiah and took him to the king of Babylon who was at the city of Riblah, in the land of Hamath. At Riblah the king of Babylon announced his judgment on King Zedekiah. 10 There, at the town of Riblah, the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons while Zedekiah watched. The king of Babylon also killed all the royal officials of Judah. 11 Then the king of Babylon tore out Zedekiah’s eyes. He put bronze chains on him and took him to Babylon. In Babylon he put Zedekiah into prison. He stayed in prison until the day he died.
12 Nebuzaradan was the commander of the king of Babylon’s special guard. He was one of the king’s most important officials while at Jerusalem. He came to Jerusalem on the tenth day of the fifth month, in the 19th year that Nebuchadnezzar[i] was king. 13 Nebuzaradan burned the Lord’s Temple, the king’s palace, and every important building in Jerusalem, as well as all the houses. 14 All the Babylonian soldiers that were with the commander broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Commander Nebuzaradan took the people who were still in Jerusalem[j] and those who had surrendered earlier and made them captives. He took them and the skilled craftsmen who were left in Jerusalem as captives to Babylon. 16 But Nebuzaradan left some of the poorest people behind in the land. He left them to work in the vineyards and the fields.
17 The Babylonian army broke up the bronze columns of the Lord’s Temple. They also broke up the stands and the bronze tank[k] that were in the Lord’s Temple. They carried all that bronze to Babylon. 18 The army of Babylon also took these things from the Temple: pots, shovels, lamp snuffers, large bowls, pans, and all the bronze things that were used in the Temple service. 19 The commander of the king’s special guards took these things away: basins, firepans, large bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and bowls used for drink offerings. He took everything that was made of gold or silver. 20 The two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the moveable stands were very heavy. King Solomon had made those things for the Lord’s Temple. The bronze that those things were made of was so heavy it could not be weighed.
21 Each of the bronze pillars was 31 feet[l] tall. Each pillar was almost 21 feet[m] around. Each pillar was hollow. The wall of each pillar was 3 inches[n] thick. 22 The bronze capital on top of the first pillar was over 5 feet[o] tall. It was decorated with a net design and bronze pomegranates all around it. The other pillar had pomegranates too. It was like the first pillar. 23 There were 96 pomegranates on the sides of the pillars. All together, there were 100 pomegranates above the net design that went around the pillars.
24 The commander of the king’s special guards took Seraiah the high priest and Zephaniah the next highest priest as prisoners. The three doorkeepers were also taken as prisoners. 25 The commander of the king’s special guards also took the officer in charge of the fighting men. He also took seven of the king’s advisors as prisoners. They were still there in Jerusalem. He also took the scribe who was in charge of putting people in the army. And he took 60 of the ordinary people who were there in the city. 26-27 Nebuzaradan, the commander, took all these officials and brought them to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon was at the city of Riblah. Riblah is in the country of Hamath. There at the city of Riblah, the king ordered all of them to be killed.
So the people of Judah were taken from their country. 28 This is how many people Nebuchadnezzar carried into captivity:
In Nebuchadnezzar’s 7th year[p] as king of Babylon, 3023 people were taken from Judah.
29 In Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th year[q] as king of Babylon, 832 people were taken from Jerusalem.
30 In Nebuchadnezzar’s 23rd year[r] as king, Nebuzaradan took 745 people of Judah into captivity. Nebuzaradan was the commander of the king’s special guards.
In all, 4600 people were taken captive.
Jehoiachin Is Set Free
31 King Jehoiachin of Judah was in prison in Babylon for 37 years. In the 37th year of his imprisonment,[s] King Evil Merodach of Babylon was very kind to Jehoiachin. He let Jehoiachin out of prison in that year. This was the same year that Evil Merodach became king of Babylon. He set Jehoiachin free from prison on the 25th day of the 12th month. 32 Evil Merodach spoke kindly to Jehoiachin. He gave Jehoiachin a place of honor higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin took his prison clothes off. For the rest of his life, he ate regularly at the king’s table. 34 Every day the king of Babylon paid Jehoiachin enough to take care of his needs until the day Jehoiachin died.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:1 Babylonians Literally, “Leb Kammai.” In Hebrew this was a secret way of writing “Chaldeans.”
- Jeremiah 51:2 winnow To separate grain from the hulls around it. Farmers threw the grain with the hulls into the air. The wind blew the hulls away and left the good grain.
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshach Jeremiah used a special code to create this secret name for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:59 Seraiah Seraiah was a brother of Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary.
- Jeremiah 51:59 the fourth year … Zedekiah That is, 594–593 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:1 Jeremiah This is not the prophet Jeremiah, but a different man with the same name.
- Jeremiah 52:4 ninth year … tenth month That is, January of 588 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:5 the eleventh year … Zedekiah That is, 587 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:12 the 19th year … Nebuchadnezzar That is, 587 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:15 the people … Jerusalem This is from the ancient Greek version. The phrase, “some of the poorest people,” which appears in the standard Hebrew text, seems to have been accidentally copied from the next verse.
- Jeremiah 52:17 bronze columns … tank These verses list the things that the Babylonian army took away from the Lord’s Temple. For a description of the Temple furniture, see 1 Kings 7:13-26.
- Jeremiah 52:21 31 feet Literally, “18 cubits” (9.33 m).
- Jeremiah 52:21 21 feet Literally, “12 cubits” (6.22 m).
- Jeremiah 52:21 3 inches Literally, “4 fingers” (7.4 cm).
- Jeremiah 52:22 5 feet Or “1.63 m.” Literally, “5 cubits” which would be 8' 6" (2.6 m), but see 2 Kings 25:17.
- Jeremiah 52:28 Nebuchadnezzar’s 7th year That is, from the middle of 598 B.C. to the middle of 597 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:29 Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th year That is, from the middle of 588 B.C. to the middle of 587 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:30 Nebuchadnezzar’s 23rd year That is, from the middle of 582 B.C. to the middle of 581 B.C.
- Jeremiah 52:31 37th year of his imprisonment That is, 561 B.C.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
