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Chapter 51

The Second Oracle Against Babylon

    Thus says the Lord:
See! I rouse against Babylon,
    and the inhabitants of Chaldea,
    a destroyer wind.[a]
To Babylon I will send winnowers
    to winnow and lay waste the land;
They shall besiege it on every side
    on the day of affliction.(A)
How can the archers draw back their bows,
    lift their armor?
Do not spare her young men,
    put the entire army under the ban.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 51:1 The destroyer wind is the fierce dry wind from the east (cf. 4:11).

51 This is what the Lord says:

“See, I will stir(A) up the spirit of a destroyer
    against Babylon(B) and the people of Leb Kamai.[a]
I will send foreigners(C) to Babylon
    to winnow(D) her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
    in the day(E) of her disaster.
Let not the archer string his bow,(F)
    nor let him put on his armor.(G)
Do not spare her young men;
    completely destroy[b] her army.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:1 Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia.
  2. Jeremiah 51:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.