微读圣经

Babylon Judged for Sins against Israel

1This is what the Lord says:

“Behold, I am going to stir up

Or a destroying wind The spirit of a destroyer against Babylon

And against the inhabitants of Cryptic name for Chaldea; or the heart of those who rise up against MeLeb-kamai.

2I will send Some ancient versions winnowersforeigners to Babylon so that they may winnow her

And devastate her land;

For they will be opposed to her on every side

On the day of her disaster.

3Let not I.e., the Chaldean defenderhim who Lit step(s) on; MT in order to stringbends his bow Lit step(s) on; MT in order to stringbend it,

Nor let him rise up in his coat of armor.

Do not spare her young men;

Devote all her army to destruction.

4They will fall down Lit killed; or woundeddead in the land of the Chaldeans,

And pierced through in their streets.”

5For neither Israel nor Judah has been Lit widowedforsaken

By his God, the Lord of armies,

Although their land is full of guilt

Lit From Before the Holy One of Israel.

6Flee from the midst of Babylon,

And each of you save his life!

Do not perish in her Or penalty for wrongdoingpunishment,

For this is the Lord’s time of vengeance;

He is going to repay to her what she deserves.

7Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord,

Intoxicating all the earth.

The nations have drunk of her wine;

Therefore the nations are going insane.

8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;

Wail over her!

Bring Or balsam resinbalm for her pain;

Perhaps she may be healed.

9We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;

Abandon her and let’s each go to his own country,

For her judgment has reached to heaven

And it rises to the clouds.

10The Lord has brought Lit forthabout our vindication;

Come and let’s recount in Zion

The work of the Lord our God!

11Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!

The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,

Because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it;

For it is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for His temple.

12Lift up a signal flag against the walls of Babylon;

Post a strong guard,

Station Or watchmensentries,

Set up an ambush!

For the Lord has both planned and performed

What He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13You who live by many waters,

Abundant in treasures,

Your end has come,

The Lit cubitmeasure of your Lit being cut offend.

14The Lord of armies has sworn by Himself:

“I will certainly fill you with a Or mankindpopulation like locusts,

And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you.”

15 It is He who made the earth by His power,

Who established the world by His wisdom,

And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

16When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,

And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain

And brings out wind from His storehouses.

17Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his Or imagesidols,

For his cast metal images are deceitful,

And there is no breath in them.

18They are worthless, a work of mockery;

At the time of their punishment they will perish.

19The portion of Jacob is not like these;

For He is the Lit FashionerMaker of everything,

And of the Or scepter; cf. Num 24:17tribe of His inheritance;

The Lord of armies is His name.

20 He says, “You are My Lit shattererwar-club, My weapon of war;

And with you I shatter nations,

And with you I destroy kingdoms.

21With you I shatter the horse and his rider,

And with you I shatter the chariot and its rider,

22And with you I shatter man and woman,

And with you I shatter the old man and youth,

And with you I shatter the young man and virgin,

23And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,

And with you I shatter the farmer and his team,

And with you I shatter governors and officials.

24“But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord.

25“Behold, I am against you, mountain of destruction

That destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,

“And I will stretch out My hand against you,

And roll you down from the rocky cliffs,

And I will make you a burnt out mountain.

26They will not take from you even a stone for a corner

Nor a stone for foundations,

But you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.

27Lift up a signal flag in the land,

Blow a trumpet among the nations!

Consecrate the nations against her,

Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;

Appoint an officer against her,

Bring up the horses like bristly locusts.

28Consecrate the nations against her,

The kings of the Medes,

Lit her Their governors and all Lit hertheir officials,

And every land Lit of his dominionunder their control.

29So the land quakes and writhes,

For the plans of the Lord against Babylon stand,

To make the land of Babylon

Or An object of horror A desolation without inhabitants.

30The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,

They stay in the strongholds;

Their strength is Lit dried upexhausted,

They are becoming like women;

Their homes are set on fire,

The bars of her gates are broken.

31One Lit runnercourier runs to meet Lit runneranother,

And one Lit announcermessenger to meet Lit announceranother,

To tell the king of Babylon

That his city has been captured from end to end;

32The river crossing places have been seized,

And they have burned the marshes with fire,

And the men of war are terrified.

33For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says:

“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

At the time that Lit of treading itit is tread down;

In just a little while the time of harvest will come for her.”

34“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me,

He has set me down like an empty vessel;

He has swallowed me like a monster,

He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;

He has washed me away.

35May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”

The Lit inhabitressinhabitant of Zion will say;

And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”

Jerusalem will say.

36Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Behold, I am going to plead your case

And take vengeance for you;

And I will dry up her Or broad riversea

And make her fountain dry.

37Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,

An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.

38They will roar together like young lions,

They will growl like lions’ cubs.

39When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet

And make them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph,

And may sleep a perpetual sleep

And not wake up,” declares the Lord.

40“I will bring them down like Or young ramslambs to the slaughter,

Like rams together with male goats.

41“How Cryptic name for BabylonSheshak has been captured,

And the praise of the whole earth has been seized!

How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

42The Or broad riversea has come up over Babylon;

She has been engulfed by its roaring waves.

43Her cities have become an object of horror,

A dry land and a desert,

A land in which no one lives

And through which no Lit son of manone of mankind passes.

44I will punish Bel in Babylon,

And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth;

And the nations will no longer stream toward him.

Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!

45“Come out from her midst, My people,

And each of you save yourselves

From the fierce anger of the Lord.

46Now, so that your heart does not grow faint,

And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land—

For the report will come in Lit theone year,

And after that Lit theanother report in Lit theanother year,

And violence will be in the land

With ruler against ruler—

47Therefore behold, days are coming

When I will punish the idols of Babylon;

And her whole land will be put to shame.

And all her slain will fall in her midst.

48Then heaven and earth and everything that is in them

Will shout for joy over Babylon,

Because the destroyers will come to her from the north,”

Declares the Lord.

49Indeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,

As the slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon.

50You who have escaped the sword,

Go! Do not stay!

Remember the Lord from far away,

And let Jerusalem Lit come upon your heartcome to your mind.

51We are ashamed because we have heard rebuke;

Disgrace has covered our faces,

Because strangers have entered

The holy places of the Lord’s house.

52“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will punish her idols,

And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.

53Though Babylon ascends to the heavens,

And though she fortifies Lit the height of her strengthher lofty stronghold,

Destroyers will come from Me to her,” declares the Lord.

54The sound of an outcry from Babylon,

And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon,

And He will make her loud Or voicenoise vanish from her.

And their waves will roar like many waters;

The clamor of their voices Lit is givensounds forth.

56For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,

And her warriors will be captured,

Their bows shattered;

For the Lord is a God of retribution,

He will fully repay.

57“I will make her leaders and her wise men drunk,

Her governors, her officials, and her warriors,

So that they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,”

Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of armies.

58This is what the Lord of armies says:

“The broad wall of Babylon will be completely demolished,

And her high gates will be set on fire;

So the peoples will labor for nothing,

And the nations become exhausted only for fire.”

59The Lit wordcommand that Jeremiah the prophet Lit commandedgave Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (And Seraiah was quartermaster.)

60Jeremiah wrote Or in...bookon a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon.

61Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,

62and say, ‘You, Lord, have Lit spokenpromised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there will be nothing living in it, Lit from man even to beastwhether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.’

63And as soon as you finish reading this Or bookscroll, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,

64and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted.’ ” To this point are the words of Jeremiah.