The Winnowing of Babylon
Babylon was a golden cup that made the earth drunk; now she is winnowed, her river crossings seized, her warriors asleep. Our Father calls his own children out of her before the anger falls. Seraiah reads the scroll aloud, then sinks it in the Euphrates.
51 1This is what our Father says: I am stirring up a destroyer's spirit against Babylon and against the people living in Leb-kamai. a a v1 Leb-kamai is a hidden code-name for Chaldea (Babylon), formed by reversing its letters — a veiled way of naming the empire under judgment. 2I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her and empty her land, for they will come against her from every side on the day of disaster. 3Let the archer not bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote her whole army to destruction. 4They will fall slain in the land of the Babylonians, pierced through in her streets.
5For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by the Father of heaven's armies—though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6Flee from the midst of Babylon; let each one save his life! Do not be destroyed in her guilt, for this is the time of our Father's justice; he is repaying her what she has done. 7Babylon was a golden cup in our Father's hand, making all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations went mad. 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. 9We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her, and let us go, each to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the heavens and rises to the skies. 10Our Father has vindicated us; come, let us declare in Zion the work of our Father. 11Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! Our Father has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose against Babylon is to destroy her, for this is our Father's justice—justice for his temple. 12Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon; strengthen the watch, post the sentries, set the ambushes—for our Father has both planned and carried out what he declared against the people of Babylon. 13You who live by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the thread of your life is cut.
14The Father of heaven's armies has sworn by himself: "Surely I will fill you with men as numerous as locusts, and they will raise the battle shout over you."
15He made the earth by his power; he established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. 16When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes the mists rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 17Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idol, for his cast images are a lie—there is no breath in them. 18They are worthless, a mockery; at the time of their reckoning they will perish. 19Jacob's portion is not like these, for he is the maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Father of heaven's armies is his name.
20"You are my war-club, my weapon for battle: with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms, 21with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver, 22with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old and young, with you I shatter young man and young woman, 23with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and plow team, with you I shatter governors and officials.
24"But I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia, before your eyes, for all the evil they did in Zion," declares our Father. 25"Look, I am against you, destroying mountain," declares our Father, "you who destroy the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain. 26No stone will be taken from you for a cornerstone, no stone for a foundation, for you will be a desolation forever," declares our Father.
27Raise a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Mobilize the nations against her; summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts. 28Mobilize the nations against her—the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and every land under their rule. 29The land trembles and writhes, for our Father's purposes against Babylon stand firm—to make the land of Babylon a wasteland, with no one living there. 30Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they huddle in their strongholds. Their strength is gone; they have become like women. Her houses are set ablaze; the bars of her gates are broken. 31Runner races to meet runner, messenger to meet messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from end to end, 32the river crossings are seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.
33For this is what the Father of heaven's armies says: The daughter of Babylon is a threshing floor at trampling time; soon her harvest comes.
34"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has left me an empty vessel. He swallowed me like a monster, filled his belly with my precious things, then spat me out. 35Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon," says the inhabitant of Zion. "Let my blood be upon those who live in Babylonia," says Jerusalem.
36Therefore our Father says: Look, I will plead your cause and avenge you. I will dry up her sea and dry her spring. 37Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, with no one living there. 38Together they roar like young lions, growling like lion cubs. 39While they are flushed with wine, I will set before them a feast and make them drunk, so they revel—then sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake, declares our Father.
40"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats. 41How Sheshach is captured, the praise of all the earth seized! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations! b b v41 Sheshach is a coded name for Babylon, explaining why both names appear in this chapter. 42The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered by its roaring waves. 43Her cities have become a horror, a parched and desert land, a land where no one lives and no one passes through.
44"I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him, and the wall of Babylon will fall. c c v44 Bel was the chief god of Babylon. Our Father strips this idol of everything it claimed to hold. 45Come out of her, my children! Let each one save his life from the fierce anger of our Father! 46Do not lose heart or be afraid at the rumor heard in the land—a rumor comes one year, and another the next, with violence in the land and ruler against ruler. 47Therefore, look, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her slain will lie dead within her. 48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers will come against her from the north," declares our Father.
49Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth fell for Babylon. 50You who have escaped the sword, go, do not linger! Remember our Father from far away, and let Jerusalem rise in your hearts. 51"We are ashamed, for we have heard reproach; disgrace covers our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of our Father's house.
52Therefore, look, the days are coming," declares our Father, "when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan. 53Even if Babylon climbs to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, destroyers will come from me against her," declares our Father.
54Listen—a cry from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians! 55For our Father is laying Babylon waste and silencing her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters; the din of their voice rings out. 56For a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon; her warriors are captured, their bows are shattered, for our Father repays—he will surely repay in full.
57"I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, commanders, and warriors; they will sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake," declares the King, whose name is the Father of heaven's armies.
58This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: Babylon's broad wall will be leveled and her high gates burned with fire. The peoples toil for nothing, the nations wear themselves out only for the fire.
59Jeremiah the prophet gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in his fourth year. Seraiah was quartermaster. 60Jeremiah had written on a single scroll all the disaster coming on Babylon—all these words written about Babylon. 61Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you reach Babylon, see that you read aloud all these words, 62and say, 'O our Father, you have spoken about this place—to cut it off so nothing will live in it, neither man nor beast, but a wasteland forever.' 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64and say, 'So Babylon will sink to rise no more, because of the disaster I am bringing on her; and her people will grow tired.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.
