Jeremiah Chapter 51

At a Glance

  • Jeremiah 51 is a prophetic oracle focused on the downfall of Babylon and the vindication of Israel’s God.
  • The chapter shifts to practical response: make ready for battle, set watchmen, and acknowledge that the LORD has stirred the spirit of the Medes to execute vengeance.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Jeremiah 51 belongs to the book of Jeremiah, a prophetic collection from the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE.
  • - God’s Sovereignty over Empires: Babylon’s rise and fall are under the LORD’s control; history bends to divine purposes.

Chapter Overview

Jeremiah 51 is a prophetic oracle focused on the downfall of Babylon and the vindication of Israel’s God. The chapter opens with a divine declaration of judgment: a destroying wind will rise against Babylon and those who rise against the speaker. God will fan the land, targeting the city’s hosts—an image of total, decisive defeat. The prophecy escalates from military destruction to moral reckoning: Israel has not been forsaken by the LORD, despite its own sins against the Holy One of Israel. The call to flee Babylon—“deliver every man his soul”—frames the coming judgment as a time of reckoning and separation. Babylon is personified as a luxurious, intoxicating power—“a golden cup in the LORD’s hand”—whose intoxication has deceived the nations. Yet the cup will be drained, the wrath of the LORD poured out, and Babylon’s pride toppled “suddenly.”

The chapter shifts to practical response: make ready for battle, set watchmen, and acknowledge that the LORD has stirred the spirit of the Medes to execute vengeance. This is not mere political maneuvering; it is divine retribution aligning political action with cosmic justice. The prophet’s language blends warfare imagery with temple theology: the fall of Babylon is also the fall of a rival temple that had stolen worship and resources from the LORD’s own people. The closing verses exhort Zion to witness, rejoice in the LORD’s righteous act, and declare His work among the nations. The chapter thus moves from destruction to righteousness acknowledged, from punitive action to communal praise.

Historical & Literary Context

Jeremiah 51 belongs to the book of Jeremiah, a prophetic collection from the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. This oracle comes in a late-section cluster in which the prophet speaks against mighty nations—especially Babylon—and affirms God’s control over empires. The genre is prophetic-judicial oracle, interwoven with vivid apocalyptic imagery and exhortations to trust in the LORD’s sovereignty even amid geopolitical upheaval. In the Jeremiah corpus, chapters 50–51 form a sustained verdict against Babylon, functioning as a surrogate audience for Judah’s exile, clarifying that Babylon’s destruction serves God’s justice and Zion’s restoration. The chapter fits within the broader Deutero-Deuteronomistic frame: covenant faithfulness, punishment for sin, and eventual return to the land under God’s kingship. The dramatic, almost liturgical tone—arrows, watchers, ambushes, the Medes’ spirit—serves to heighten the sense that human history is under divine oversight.

Key Themes

- God’s Sovereignty over Empires: Babylon’s rise and fall are under the LORD’s control; history bends to divine purposes.

- Judgment as Deliverance: Babylon’s destruction is not mere chaos but a necessary act to rescue Israel from oppression and to vindicate God’s holiness.

- Covenant Faithfulness amid Sin: Israel’s sin did not negate God’s fidelity; He remains the God of justice who acts for His people.

- The Call to Witness and Worship: The fall prompts a communal confession of the LORD’s righteous acts among Zion and the nations.

- Cosmic Perspective on National Power: The imagery of a “golden cup” and the Medes’ devices reframes political power within divine economy; nations are instruments in God’s plan.

Modern Application

Jeremiah 51 invites readers to trust that God can judge powers that oppress the vulnerable and distort truth. For contemporary life, the chapter speaks to:

- Trusting God’s justice in a complex world: when nations rise and fall, believers can lean on the sovereignty of the God who judges with righteousness.

- The danger of luxury and idolatry: Babylon’s “golden cup” warns against wealth, prestige, and seductive cultural powers that intoxicate societies and distort worship.

- Moral responsibility in political engagement: the call to “set up the standard” and “watch” invites responsible, principled action aligned with God’s purposes, not merely national interest.

- Hope amid exile and injustice: even when the land is captive by others, the LORD remains faithful and will enact restoration and vindication.

- Proclamation and praise: the chapter culminates in a renewed call to witness to God’s work among the nations, encouraging humility before God’s judgment and confident testimony to His salvation.

Cross-References (3-5 related passages)

- Isaiah 13 (oracle against Babylon; divine judgment)

- Psalm 2 (God’s sovereignty over nations)

- Jeremiah 50–51 (comprehensive oracles against Babylon)

- Revelation 14–18 (New Testament imagery of Babylon’s fall and divine judgment)

Recommended Personas (Biblical personas for insight)

- Jeremiah (the prophet’s own perspective on judgment and hope)

- Moses (leadership under divine sovereignty and pleading for the people)

- Jesus (revealing the reign of God that redefines power and justice)

- David (confidence in God’s deliverance amid threat)

- Esther (seeing how God uses perilous moments to accomplish rescue)

Chapter Text

1

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;

2

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

3

Against him that bendeth let 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.

4

Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

5

For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

6

Flee 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.

7

Babylon hath been a 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.

8

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

9

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake 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.

10

The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

11

Make bright 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.

12

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

13

O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

14

The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

15

He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.

16

When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude 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.

17

Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

18

They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

19

The portion 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.

20

Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

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;

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;

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.

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.

25

Behold, I 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.

26

And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

27

Set ye 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.

28

Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

29

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

30

The 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.

31

One post 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,

32

And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

33

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

34

Nebuchadrezzar the 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.

35

The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

36

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

37

And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

38

They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.

39

In their 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.

40

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

41

How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

42

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

43

Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

44

And I 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.

45

My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.

46

And lest 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.

47

Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do 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.

48

Then the 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.

49

As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

50

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

51

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

52

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

53

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

54

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

55

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

56

Because the 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.

57

And I 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.

58

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, 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.

59

The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.

60

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

61

And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;

62

Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

63

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

64

And thou shalt say, Thus 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.

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