Jeremiah 51

God announces through Jeremiah that proud Babylon, which God used to punish the nations, will itself be judged. His people are told to flee the doomed city and to remember Zion. The chapter ends with a scroll of these words being read in Babylon and sunk in the Euphrates, a sign that the fall is certain.

Jeremiah 51:1-2

The LORD himself rouses a destroying spirit against Babylon. Foreign armies will come as winnowers, tossing the people like grain and leaving the land empty. “Leb-kamai” is a coded name for Chaldea, the land of Babylon’s rulers. No empire stands outside God’s rule.

BSA: winnow (“to scatter, fan”): Like wind blowing chaff from grain, the invaders will scatter Babylon’s people.

Hebrew: לֵב קָמָי (lēb qāmāy, H3820) — “heart of those rising against me.” This is a code name, made by swapping Hebrew letters, that stands for Chaldea. It shows Jeremiah hiding the target in plain sight.

See also: Isaiah 13:19.

Jeremiah 51:3-4

The call goes out to attack without mercy. Babylon’s archers and armor will not save her, and her young men will fall in her own streets. The verdict is total because Babylon’s cruelty to others was total.

BSA: devote (“set apart, utterly destroy”): The city is placed under a ban, handed over to God for complete destruction.

Jeremiah 51:5

Even while Judah lay under judgment, God had not divorced his people. Their land was full of guilt, yet the LORD of Hosts remained their God. His discipline is not abandonment, and that is the ground for hope in everything that follows.

BSA: abandoned (“forsaken, left without help”): Though they were punished, God had not left his people helpless or cast them off.

See also: Romans 11:1-2.

Jeremiah 51:6

God’s people living in Babylon are told to run for their lives. Staying would mean sharing in her punishment. This is the time of God’s justice, and he will repay Babylon exactly what she deserves.

BSA: vengeance (“recompense, punishment, justice”): This is God’s just repayment, not a loss of temper.

See also: Revelation 18:4; Romans 12:19.

Jeremiah 51:7

Babylon was like a golden cup in God’s hand, pouring out the wine of his judgment to the nations. They drank her wine and went mad. Yet the cup is only an instrument, and the hand that held it is now ready to set it down and break it.

Hebrew: כּוֹס (kôs, H3563) — “cup.” A cup in Scripture often stands for the portion God hands out, whether blessing or judgment. Here Babylon is both the cup and the intoxicating wine.

See also: Jeremiah 25:15-17; Revelation 14:8.

Jeremiah 51:8-9

Babylon falls suddenly, and there is mock pity: bring balm for her wound. But those who tried to treat her have given up. Her sin has piled as high as the sky, so they abandon her and go home.

BSA: balm (“fragrant resin, medicinal ointment”): This is the costly healing resin of the ancient world, used here to show how hopeless her wound is.

Hebrew: רָפָא (rāpā’, H7495) — “to heal.” This is the same word God uses of himself as healer. Babylon is beyond even the best remedy, because she refused the real one.

Jeremiah 51:10

The rescued exiles speak. Babylon’s fall is God’s verdict in their favor, and they will carry the news to Zion. What looked like defeat for God’s people is shown to be his faithfulness.

BSA: vindication (“righteousness, justice”): God puts his people in the right by acting justly on their behalf.

Jeremiah 51:11

The call to arms comes to the Medes, whom God stirs up. Babylon’s destruction is his plan, and it is also payback for what was done to his temple. Even a conqueror’s ambition serves a purpose he did not know.

BSA: aroused (“stirred up, roused”): God moves the Medes’ hearts to act, though they think they act on their own.

See also: Isaiah 13:17.

Jeremiah 51:12

The commands are sharp: raise the banner, post the watchmen, set the ambush. Babylon is a walled city, so the attack must be planned carefully. But the real plan is God’s. He has spoken it, and he will carry it out.

BSA: devised (“planned, purposed”): The fall of Babylon is God’s deliberate design, not an accident of war.

Jeremiah 51:13-14

Babylon sat by canals and rivers and was rich in treasure. Now her life is cut off like a thread snipped from a loom. God swears by himself, the strongest oath possible, that enemy soldiers will swarm over her like locusts.

BSA: sworn (“to make a promise or vow, using His own name”): God puts his own being behind the promise, so it cannot fail.

See also: Hebrews 6:13.

Jeremiah 51:15-16

The prophet turns to the power behind it all. The God who made the earth, the world and the heavens also commands thunder, clouds, lightning, rain and wind. A God who rules the weather can certainly bring down an empire.

BSA: wisdom (“skill, prudence”): Creation is not brute force but skilled work, which is why God’s plans for history are reliable too.

See also: Jeremiah 10:12-13; Psalm 104:2-4.

Jeremiah 51:17-18

By contrast, idol-making is foolish. The goldsmith is shamed by his own creation, because it has no life or breath. Idols are a fraud, a joke, and they will perish when God visits in judgment.

BSA: breath (“spirit, life”): A statue may look impressive, but it has no living spirit and cannot hear or help.

Hebrew: רוּחַ (rûaḥ, H7307) — “breath, wind, spirit.” The same word is used for the breath of God that gives life. Idols are dead because they have none of it.

See also: Isaiah 44:9-20.

Jeremiah 51:19

Israel’s God is nothing like these idols. He is Maker of everything, and Jacob’s people are his own inheritance. For his people, the true God is their “portion”, the share that is truly theirs.

BSA: Portion (“inheritance, heritage”): God himself is what his people inherit, so they have far more than any idol could give.

Hebrew: חֵלֶק (ḥēleq, H2506) — “portion, share.” The word recalls the land shares given to each tribe, but here the share is God himself.

See also: Psalm 16:5.

Jeremiah 51:20-23

God addresses an instrument he has used to shatter nations. Most likely this is Babylon herself, though some think it means another conqueror. The repeated “with you I shatter” lists everyone swept up in war, from soldier to farmer, from child to ruler. It shows how much suffering Babylon had caused.

BSA: war club (“a battle-axe”): This is a heavy smashing weapon, a tool in God’s hand rather than a power of its own.

Hebrew: מַפֵּץ (mappēṣ, H4661) — “club, hammer.” It comes from a verb meaning to smash to pieces, and the verb is repeated again and again through the passage like hammer blows.

Jeremiah 51:24

Now the tool itself is accountable. God will repay Babylon and the Chaldeans for the evil done in Zion, and Israel’s survivors will see it with their own eyes. God uses powers without excusing them.

BSA: repay (“render, give back, recompense”): Justice means Babylon receives exactly what she gave.

Jeremiah 51:25-26

God calls Babylon a “destroying mountain”, huge and proud, and says he is against her. He will roll her off the cliffs and leave her a burnt-out heap. Her stones will not even be reused, which marks a final desolation.

Hebrew: הַר הַמַּשְׁחִית (har hammashḥît, H2022) — “mountain of the destroyer.” Babylon is the great ruin-maker, and her own name becomes what she did to others.

See also: Daniel 2:34-35.

Jeremiah 51:27-28

God summons distant peoples from the north, including Ararat, Minni, Ashkenaz and the Medes, with their governors. Horses come like young locusts, a mass without number. The nations are mustered at God’s signal.

BSA: banner (“standard, signal flag”): A banner raised on a hill called the troops together, and here God himself gives the signal.

Jeremiah 51:29

The earth itself trembles when God’s purposes move forward. His intentions against Babylon do not weaken or change. They stand until the land is a desolation with no one living there.

See also: Isaiah 46:10.

Jeremiah 51:30-32

Babylon’s famous warriors give up and sit in their forts. Their strength is gone, they have become like frightened women, and the city burns. Messengers run one after another with the news that the city is taken from end to end, and the river crossings are seized.

BSA: captured (“seized, taken”): The city that seized others is itself seized.

See also: Daniel 5:30-31.

Jeremiah 51:33

Babylon is like a threshing floor, where grain was trampled flat to separate it. Her time as the one who tramples is over. Soon she will be the one stripped bare for harvest.

BSA: threshing floor (“an open area where grain is separated from chaff”): It pictures a hard, flattened place where grain is beaten out.

See also: Isaiah 21:10.

Jeremiah 51:34-35

Zion speaks as one who was devoured. Nebuchadnezzar swallowed her like a sea monster, took her treasures, and threw her out like an empty jar. She asks that the violence be turned back on Babylon. This is a cry for justice, laid before God rather than taken into human hands.

BSA: monster (“dragon, sea-serpent”): Babylon is portrayed as a chaos-beast that gulps down helpless victims.

Hebrew: תַּנִּין (tannîn, H8577) — “great serpent, sea monster.” This is the creature of chaos found elsewhere in Scripture, which shows how fearful Babylon seemed to those she swallowed.

See also: Psalm 137:8.

Jeremiah 51:36-37

God hears the cry and takes up Israel’s case as her defender. He will dry up Babylon’s waters, which were the source of her wealth and defense. The city becomes ruins, a home for jackals and a sight people hiss at.

BSA: plead (“argue, contend for”): God acts like an advocate in court, arguing his people’s cause.

Hebrew: רִיב (rîb, H7378) — “lawsuit, dispute.” The word is a courtroom term. God does not merely rescue his people, he argues their case and wins it.

See also: Proverbs 23:10-11.

Jeremiah 51:38-40

Babylon’s leaders roar like lions in the middle of their feasting. But God serves the feast that finishes them, with a drink that puts them into a sleep they never wake from. Like lambs and rams being led off, the strong are led to slaughter.

BSA: drunk (“intoxicated, in a state of revelry”): The banquet of confidence becomes a banquet of judgment.

Hebrew: שְׁנַת עוֹלָם (shenat ʿôlām, H8142) — “a lasting sleep.” It is a phrase for death. The party ends in a sleep that does not end.

See also: Daniel 5:1-4.

Jeremiah 51:41-42

“Sheshach” is another code name for Babylon. She was once the praise of the whole earth. Now she is a horror to nations, as if the sea had risen and buried her. Human greatness can vanish quickly.

Hebrew: שֵׁשַׁךְ (Sheshakh, H8347) — “Sheshach (code for Babylon).” Swapping Hebrew letters from the end of the alphabet for those at the beginning turns Babel into Sheshach. It is the same cipher as in verse 1.

Jeremiah 51:43

Her cities become dry, barren land where no one lives or even passes through. The once crowded centre of the world turns into an empty wasteland that people avoid.

BSA: desolation (“horror, ruin”): What is left is so empty that it shocks anyone who sees it.

See also: Isaiah 13:20-22.

Jeremiah 51:44

God will deal with Bel, Babylon’s chief god. The nations used to stream to his temple, but the idol will be made to give up what he swallowed. Even the great wall will fall. A false god cannot protect his city or keep his plunder.

BSA: Bel (“the major Babylonian God, equivalent to Baal”): Bel means “lord” and was another name for Marduk, the city’s patron god.

See also: Isaiah 46:1-2.

Jeremiah 51:45

God calls his own people out of Babylon to save their lives from the fierce anger that is coming. It is both a literal summons to the exiles and a pattern of calling believers to separate from what is under judgment.

BSA: Come out (“go forth, depart”): It is a call to leave at once and not look back.

Hebrew: צְאוּ (ṣe’û, H3318) — “go out!.” It is a plural command, said to a whole people. The same word is used of Israel leaving Egypt, which gives the call the feel of a second exodus.

See also: Revelation 18:4; Isaiah 48:20.

Jeremiah 51:46

In the unsettled years ahead there will be rumors of wars and rulers fighting rulers. God tells his people not to lose heart. Troubled news is not a sign that God has lost control.

BSA: faint (“become soft or weak”): The heart can melt like wax under bad news, but God asks it to stay firm.

See also: Mark 13:7.

Jeremiah 51:47-48

Babylon’s idols are judged, her land is shamed, and her dead lie in her own streets. Then heaven and earth celebrate, because the destroyers from the north have done God’s work. Creation rejoices when oppression ends.

BSA: destroyers (“spoilers, those who bring ruin”): These are the raiders God sends to do what Babylon did to others.

See also: Revelation 18:20.

Jeremiah 51:49

Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel, as she herself caused the slaughter of people everywhere. Judgment follows what she did, no more and no less.

BSA: slain (“those killed, martyred”): God does not forget those who died, and their blood is remembered.

See also: Revelation 18:24.

Jeremiah 51:50

Survivors of the sword are told to leave without delay. Far from home, they are to remember the LORD and let Jerusalem come to mind. Their hearts are to point toward Zion, the place of God’s presence.

BSA: Remember (“recall, mark”): To remember here means to turn the heart back toward God and act on it.

Hebrew: זִכְרוּ (zikhrû, H2142) — “remember!.” In Hebrew thought, to remember is not just to recall but to turn the heart toward and act on what one recalls.

Jeremiah 51:51

The exiles confess their shame. They have heard the mockery, and foreigners have entered the holy places of God’s house. Their grief shows that the desecration of God’s temple was no small matter.

BSA: ashamed (“confounded, embarrassed”): The shame is deep enough to show on the face.

See also: Psalm 79:1.

Jeremiah 51:52-53

God answers their shame with a promise. The days are coming when he will punish Babylon’s idols, and her wounded will groan. Even if Babylon climbed to heaven and fortified her height, God would send destroyers. No height is high enough to keep him out.

BSA: stronghold (“high and elevated place”): It pictures a fortress set on a height, which still cannot stop God.

See also: Genesis 11:4.

Jeremiah 51:54-55

The cry of destruction rises from Babylon. The LORD silences her mighty voice, once loud with boasting. The noise of the invading armies rolls in like the roar of the sea.

BSA: silence (“put an end to, still”): The loud and confident city is brought to a stop.

Jeremiah 51:56

A destroyer comes, Babylon’s warriors are taken, and their bows are snapped. The reason is that the LORD is a God of retribution who repays in full. His justice is thorough and nothing is left unpaid.

BSA: retribution (“recompenses, rewarding justice”): God gives back what is due, measured out fairly.

Hebrew: אֵל גְּמֻלוֹת (ʾēl gemulôt, H413) — “God of repayments.” The word is plural, suggesting many acts of just repayment. It is the same family as the word for “deal” or “wean”, meaning to give back what has been earned.

See also: Deuteronomy 32:35.

Jeremiah 51:57

The princes, wise men, governors and warriors are made drunk and sleep a sleep without waking. The speaker is the King, the LORD of Hosts, and his title shows that he is greater than any king of Babylon.

BSA: King (“the supreme Ruler, Sovereign”): The real ruler of history is the LORD, whatever any throne in Babylon says.

See also: Jeremiah 46:18.

Jeremiah 51:58

Babylon’s thick walls and high gates will be flattened and burned. The nations that built and maintained them have worked for nothing, as if they had only gathered fuel for the fire. Human achievement without God ends in ashes.

BSA: nothing (“in vain, empty”): Great effort ends in emptiness when it opposes God.

See also: Habakkuk 2:13.

Jeremiah 51:59-60

In the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign, Seraiah went to Babylon with the king. Seraiah was probably in charge of arranging the royal journey. Jeremiah entrusted him with one scroll of all the words against Babylon. The prophecy was written down and handed to a trusted man.

BSA: scroll (“book, written document”): A written scroll gave the message a fixed form that could be read, carried and checked.

Hebrew: שַׂר מְנוּחָה (sar menûḥâ, H8269) — “prince of rest, or quartermaster.” The wording is literally “prince of resting place”. It is often understood as the official who arranged the lodging for the king’s travelling party.

Jeremiah 51:61-62

Seraiah is to read the words aloud in Babylon and pray them back to God. The LORD has promised to cut off the place so that nothing living remains. By speaking it publicly, he declares in the very city what God will do.

BSA: aloud (“clearly, for all to hear”): The words are not to be kept private but spoken openly in Babylon.

See also: Jeremiah 25:12.

Jeremiah 51:63-64

When Seraiah finishes, he is to tie a stone to the scroll and throw it into the Euphrates, saying Babylon will sink and never rise. The act is a picture of the promise. The words of Jeremiah end here, and God’s word about Babylon is sure.

BSA: sink (“be overwhelmed, go down”): Like a weighted scroll, Babylon goes under and does not come back up.

See also: Revelation 18:21.