Jeremiah — Chapter 51

📖 Jeremiah — Chapter 51 (KJV)

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Scripture source: Project Gutenberg KJV, ebook 10.

Jeremiah 51:1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, ^RI will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the ^Tmidst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;

Jeremiah 51:2 And will send unto Babylon ^Rfanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Jeremiah 51:3 Against him that bendeth ^Rlet the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

Jeremiah 51:4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are ^Rthrust through in her streets.

Jeremiah 51:5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, ^Rnor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 51:6 ^RFlee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon hath been ^Ra golden cup in the LORD’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Jeremiah 51:8 Babylon is ^Rsuddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Jeremiah 51:9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: ^Rforsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

Jeremiah 51:10 The LORD hath ^Rbrought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 51:11 ^RMake ^Tbright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

Jeremiah 51:12 Set up ^Rthe standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ^Tambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:13 O thou that ^Rdwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

Jeremiah 51:14 The LORD of hosts hath ^Rsworn ^Tby himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall ^Tlift up a shout against thee.

Jeremiah 51:15 He ^Rhath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.

Jeremiah 51:16 When ^Rhe uttereth his voice, there is a ^Tmultitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

Jeremiah 51:17 Every man ^Tis brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: ^Rfor his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

Jeremiah 51:18 They are ^Rvanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

Jeremiah 51:19 The ^Rportion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

Jeremiah 51:20 Thou ^Rart my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

Jeremiah 51:21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;

Jeremiah 51:22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

Jeremiah 51:23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

Jeremiah 51:24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:25 Behold, ^RI am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

Jeremiah 51:26 And they ^Rshall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be ^Tdesolate for ever, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:27 Set ^Rye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.

Jeremiah 51:28 Prepare against her the nations with ^Rthe kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

Jeremiah 51:29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for ^Revery purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

Jeremiah 51:30 ^RThe mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.

Jeremiah 51:31 One ^Rpost shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,

Jeremiah 51:32 And that ^Rthe passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

Jeremiah 51:33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon ^Ris like a threshingfloor, ^Tit is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

Jeremiah 51:34 Nebuchadrezzar ^Rthe king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

Jeremiah 51:35 ^RTThe violence done to me and to my ^Tflesh be upon Babylon, shall the ^Tinhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

Jeremiah 51:36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, ^RI will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

Jeremiah 51:37 And Babylon shall ^Rbecome heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

Jeremiah 51:38 They shall ^Rroar together like lions: they shall ^Tyell as lions’ whelps.

Jeremiah 51:39 In ^Rtheir heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.

Jeremiah 51:41 How is ^RSheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

Jeremiah 51:42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

Jeremiah 51:43 Her ^Rcities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

Jeremiah 51:44 And ^RI will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

Jeremiah 51:45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and ^Rdeliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:46 And ^RTlest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

Jeremiah 51:47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that ^RI will ^Tdo judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

Jeremiah 51:48 Then ^Rthe heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:49 ^TAs Babylon ^Rhath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all ^Tthe earth.

Jeremiah 51:50 Ye that have ^Rescaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

Jeremiah 51:51 We ^Rare confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house.

Jeremiah 51:52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, ^Rthat I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Jeremiah 51:53 Though Babylon should ^Rmount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

Jeremiah 51:55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and ^Rdestroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:

Jeremiah 51:56 Because ^Rthe spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.

Jeremiah 51:57 And ^RI will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

Jeremiah 51:58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; ^RTThe broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly ^Tbroken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

Jeremiah 51:59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of ^RNeriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went ^Twith Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a ^Tquiet prince.

Jeremiah 51:60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, ^Rand shalt see, and shalt read all these words;

Jeremiah 51:62 Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, ^Rto cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be ^Tdesolate for ever.

Jeremiah 51:63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that ^Rthou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:

Jeremiah 51:64 And thou shalt say, ^RThus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

📚 Study This Chapter

📖 What We’re Reading

Jeremiah 51:1–22 — Leave Babylon and acknowledge the Creator

🌱 What These Verses Teach Us

A destroying wind and the raised spirit of the Medes announce judgment. The people are called to flee Babylon’s sins and trust the Creator rather than false images; the Lord’s battle-axe imagery introduces sweeping overthrow.

Key Truth: Do not share an oppressor’s wrongdoing.

Check What You Remember

📖 What We’re Reading

Jeremiah 51:23–43 — Babylon’s violence is repaid

🌱 What These Verses Teach Us

The prophecy names Babylon’s harm to Zion and portrays its fall through mountain and threshing-floor images. Jerusalem’s appeal is answered as the Lord pleads her cause and makes the oppressor desolate.

Key Truth: Bring injustice before God’s righteous judgment.

Check What You Remember

📖 What We’re Reading

Jeremiah 51:44–64 — A scroll sinks as a sign of Babylon’s end

🌱 What These Verses Teach Us

The Lord calls his people out and announces judgment on Bel and Babylon’s walls. Seraiah is instructed to read the written words, tie the scroll to a stone, and cast it into the Euphrates as a sign of the city’s sinking.

Key Truth: Hear the warning and separate from destructive loyalties.

Check What You Remember

Related Scripture (KJV)

Jeremiah 50:34 — The preceding chapter names the strong Redeemer who pleads the cause.

Jeremiah 50:34 (KJV) Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

This related passage is selected for its connection with this chapter. It is separate from the chapter text.

Reflect and Apply

Which harmful loyalty should you leave rather than defend?

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