Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in {That is, The heart of them that rise up against me.}Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.
And I will send unto Babylon {Or, winnowers}strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
{Or, as otherwise read, Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift}Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; {Hebrew: devote ye all &c.}destroy ye utterly all her host.
And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
For Israel is not {Or, widowed}forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.
Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
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.
Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.
Make {Or, bright}sharp the arrows; {Hebrew: fill.}hold firm the {Or, suits of armor}shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.
Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy {Or, dishonest gain}covetousness.
Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, {Or, Though I have filled}Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm; {Or, yet}and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens.
When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.
Thou art my {Or, maul}battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
and with thee will I break in pieces 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 {Or, lieutenants}governors and deputies.
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 Jehovah.
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
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 Jehovah.
Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.
{Hebrew: sanctify.}Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion.
And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken.
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
and the {Or, fords}passages are seized, and the {Or, marshes}reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured {Another reading is, us.}me, he hath crushed {Another reading is, us.}me, he hath made {Another reading is, us.}me an empty vessel, he hath, like a monster, swallowed {Another reading is, us.}me up, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath cast {Another reading is, us.}me out.
{Hebrew: My wrong and my flesh.}The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps.
When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become {Or, an astonishment}a desolation among the nations!
The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the {Or, tumult}multitude of the waves thereof.
Her cities are become {Or, an astonishment}a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
And I will {Hebrew: visit upon.}execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Jehovah.
And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the tidings that shall be heard in the land; for tidings shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come tidings, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute 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.
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, saith Jehovah.
{Or, Both Babylon is to fall, O ye slain of Israel, and at &c.}As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the {Or, earth}land.
Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house.
Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, saith Jehovah.
The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
For Jehovah layeth Babylon waste, and destroyeth out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:
for the destroyer is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Jehovah is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.
And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: {Or, the walls of broad Babylon}The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly {Or, made bare}overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was {Or, quartermaster}chief chamberlain.
And Jeremiah wrote in {Or, one book}a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, {Or, and shalt see, and read…then shalt thou say &c.}then see that thou read all these words,
and say, O Jehovah, thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
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 the Euphrates:
and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary.
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 51,53 Jer 51,53
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in {That is, The heart of them that rise up against me.}Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.
And I will send unto Babylon {Or, winnowers}strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
{Or, as otherwise read, Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift}Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; {Hebrew: devote ye all &c.}destroy ye utterly all her host.
And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: {Or, the walls of broad Babylon}The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly {Or, made bare}overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
Make {Or, bright}sharp the arrows; {Hebrew: fill.}hold firm the {Or, suits of armor}shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.
As for thy terribleness, the pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of {Or, Sela}the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah.
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, saith Jehovah.
And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of {Or, according to another reading, a mighty man that maketh childless.}an expert mighty man; {Or, that returneth not}none shall return in vain.
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me,And thy right hand shall hold me.
And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations!
And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit.
Go up against the land of {That is, Double rebellion.}Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of {That is, Visitation.}Pekod: slay and {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy after them, saith Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called The mistress of kingdoms.
Jehovah hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
And thou saidst, I shall be mistress for ever; so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end thereof.
Behold, I am against thee, {Hebrew: O Pride.}O thou proud one, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.
And {Hebrew: Pride.}the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round about him.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; and all that took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
I made it fair by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.
Therefore thus {Or, saith}said the Lord Jehovah: Because thou art exalted in stature, and he hath set his top among the {Or, clouds}thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness.
Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.
The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?
I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and {Hebrew: to make them a treading down.}to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of {Or, Sela}the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even {Or, them that exult in my majesty}my proudly exulting ones.
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! the noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the host for the battle.
They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah.
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon {Or, deputies}rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.
Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron;
and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me;