JEREMIAH’S LAST WORD

Jeremiah 51:33-64 / Keywords 51:56

A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.

 

51:33 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor

    at the time it is trampled;

    the time to harvest her will soon come.”

34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,

    he has thrown us into confusion,

    he has made us an empty jar.

Like a serpent he has swallowed us

    and filled his stomach with our delicacies,

    and then has spewed us out.

35 May the violence done to our flesh[f] be on Babylon,”

    say the inhabitants of Zion.

“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”

    says Jerusalem.

36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“See, I will defend your cause

    and avenge you;

I will dry up her sea

    and make her springs dry.

37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,

    a haunt of jackals,

an object of horror and scorn,

    a place where no one lives.

38 Her people all roar like young lions,

    they growl like lion cubs.

39 But while they are aroused,

    I will set out a feast for them

    and make them drunk,

so that they shout with laughter—

    then sleep forever and not awake,”

declares the Lord.

40 “I will bring them down

    like lambs to the slaughter,

    like rams and goats.

41 “How Sheshak[g] will be captured,

    the boast of the whole earth seized!

How desolate Babylon will be

    among the nations!

42 The sea will rise over Babylon;

    its roaring waves will cover her.

43 Her towns will be desolate,

    a dry and desert land,

a land where no one lives,

    through which no one travels.

44 I will punish Bel in Babylon

    and make him spew out what he has swallowed.

The nations will no longer stream to him.

    And the wall of Babylon will fall.

45 “Come out of her, my people!

    Run for your lives!

    Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 Do not lose heart or be afraid

    when rumors are heard in the land;

one rumor comes this year, another the next,

    rumors of violence in the land

    and of ruler against ruler.

47 For the time will surely come

    when I will punish the idols of Babylon;

her whole land will be disgraced

    and her slain will all lie fallen within her.

48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them

    will shout for joy over Babylon,

for out of the north

    destroyers will attack her,”

declares the Lord.

49 “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,

    just as the slain in all the earth

    have fallen because of Babylon.

50 You who have escaped the sword,

    leave and do not linger!

Remember the Lord in a distant land,

    and call to mind Jerusalem.”

51 “We are disgraced,

    for we have been insulted

    and shame covers our faces,

because foreigners have entered

    the holy places of the Lord’s house.”

52 “But days are coming,” declares the Lord,

    “when I will punish her idols,

and throughout her land

    the wounded will groan.

53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens

    and fortifies her lofty stronghold,

    I will send destroyers against her,”

declares the Lord.

54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

    the sound of great destruction

    from the land of the Babylonians.[h]

55 The Lord will destroy Babylon;

    he will silence her noisy din.

Waves of enemies will rage like great waters;

    the roar of their voices will resound.

56 A destroyer will come against Babylon;

    her warriors will be captured,

    and their bows will be broken.

For the Lord is a God of retribution;

    he will repay in full.

57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

    her governors, officers and warriors as well;

they will sleep forever and not awake,”

    declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

58 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled

    and her high gates set on fire;

the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,

    the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”

59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.’”

The words of Jeremiah end here.

Footnotes

f. Jeremiah 51:35 Or done to us and to our children

g. Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.

h. Jeremiah 51:54 Or Chaldeans

 

1. The Babylonians treated Israel with great cruelty. The Lord would defend their cause and bring Babylon down like lambs to the slaughter. He would punish their idols and their nation but would command his people to come out. Though they suffered, the Lord told them not to be afraid. He assured them that the time of Babylon’s destruction would come. The Lord would avenge Israel’s slain and restore them. He would take away their disgrace and punish their captors. The Lord would send the destroyer because he is a God of retribution. He is just; he will repay in full. The Lord’s judgment on Babylon was probably inconceivable to those in exile. But this is what Jeremiah prophesied. He testified to the living God of Israel. The Lord would not forget his own.

 

2. Jeremiah’s final word was a prediction of the fall of Babylon. Babylon would sink like the scroll tied to a stone thrown into the Euphrates River. It would never rise again. The scroll was sent to Babylon with the people as the Lord’s testimony.

 

Prayer Lord, you alone are truly just. Help me to live with trust in your judgments and hope in your salvation.

One Word The Lord will repay in full