Jeremiah 51

This is what the LORD says: "Look, I am going to stir up a destroying wind against Babylon, and against the people who live in the land of those who rise up against me.

1Thus 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;

NoteThe Hebrew behind "those who rise up against me" is *Leb-kamai*, which is not a real place name but a code: it spells "Kasdim" (Chaldea, i.e. Babylonia) by a scribal cipher that swaps the first letter of the alphabet for the last, the second for the second-to-last, and so on. See also "Sheshach" in verse 41. The phrase translated "a destroying wind" can equally mean "the spirit of a destroyer"; the Hebrew word *ruach* covers both "wind" and "spirit," and the ambiguity is in the original.

2I will send outsiders to Babylon to winnow her, tossing her out like grain thrown into the wind, until her land is empty. On the day of trouble they will come at her from every side.

2And 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.

NoteWinnowing is the last stage of harvesting grain: after the stalks are crushed on a threshing floor, workers toss the mixture into the air with forks or shovels so the wind carries off the light husks and straw and the heavy grain falls back down. KJV "fanners" means winnowers, not admirers. The Hebrew for "outsiders/strangers" sounds nearly identical to the word for "winnowers," and the line plays on both.

3Let the archer bend his bow against the archer who bends his, and against the man who puts on his coat of armor. Do not spare her young men; wipe out her whole army.

3Against 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.

Note"Brigandine" was a medieval coat of armor made of metal plates sewn into cloth; the Hebrew simply means body armor. The Hebrew of this verse is difficult and can be read either as a command to the attackers ("let the archer bend his bow") or as a warning that Babylon's own archer must not bother, translations differ. "Destroy ye utterly" renders a technical term for placing an enemy under total, irreversible destruction, with nothing taken as plunder.

4So the dead will lie fallen in the land of the Chaldeans, run through with weapons in her streets.

4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

NoteThe Chaldeans were a people of southern Mesopotamia whose dynasty ruled Babylon in Jeremiah's day; "Chaldea" and "Babylonia" are used interchangeably through this chapter.

5For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Armies, even though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

5For 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.

Note"The LORD of hosts" (Hebrew *YHWH tseva'ot*) means the LORD who commands armies, both human armies and the heavenly ones. It is a title, not a description of one particular event.

6Run out of Babylon! Each of you, save your own life! Do not be wiped out because of her guilt. This is the time when the LORD pays back; he will give her what she has earned.

6Flee 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.

7Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand, and she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, and that is why the nations have gone crazy.

7Babylon 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.

NoteA cup handed to someone is a standard image in Hebrew poetry for the fate assigned to them; a nation "drinks" what it has been given. Here Babylon is both the cup and the wine, the instrument that staggered everyone else.

8All at once Babylon has fallen and been broken to pieces. Cry out loud for her! Bring healing ointment for her pain; maybe she can be made well.

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

NoteBalm was a fragrant resin tapped from trees, best known as an export of Gilead east of the Jordan, and used as a wound dressing and painkiller. It was the standard emergency medicine of the region, which is why Jeremiah repeatedly asks whether balm can help.

9"We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Leave her, and let each of us go home to his own country, because the judgment against her reaches to the sky and rises to the clouds."

9We 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.

NoteThe speakers appear to be the foreigners living and working in Babylon (traders, mercenaries, deported peoples) who give up on the city and head home. "Her judgment reacheth unto heaven" describes the size of the case against her, piled up like a heap tall enough to be seen from anywhere.

10"The LORD has shown that we were in the right. Come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done."

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

NoteZion was originally the ridge Jerusalem was built on; by Jeremiah's time it stands for Jerusalem generally, and especially the temple hill. "Brought forth our righteousness" is courtroom language: the LORD has produced the verdict that clears them, not a statement about their moral character.

11Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his plan is aimed at Babylon, to destroy her. This is the LORD paying back, paying back for his temple.

11Make 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.

NoteThe Medes were an Iranian people north-east of Babylonia. They joined the coalition that eventually took Babylon in 539 BC, by which time they were partners in the Persian empire under Cyrus. "Gather the shields" is uncertain: the same Hebrew is often read "fill the quivers," and "make bright the arrows" means to polish or sharpen them for use.

12Raise a signal flag against the walls of Babylon. Strengthen the guard, post the watchmen, set the ambushes. For the LORD has both planned and carried out what he said against the people of Babylon.

12Set 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.

13You who live beside many waters, rich in treasure, your end has come; the measure of your greed is full.

13O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

NoteBabylon sat on the Euphrates and was threaded with canals and moats, so "dwelling upon many waters" is literal geography as well as a picture of wealth. The last phrase is genuinely obscure in Hebrew: it can be read as "the measure of your greed" or as "the cubit of your cutting off", the point at which the thread of your life is snipped, as on a loom.

14The LORD of Armies has sworn by himself: "I will surely fill you with enemy soldiers, as thick as locusts, and they will raise a shout of victory over you."

14The 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.

NoteKJV "caterpillers" means locusts, not caterpillars. Swarming locusts were the standard image for an army too numerous to count and stripping everything as it moves.

15He made the earth by his power. He set the world in place by his wisdom, and he spread out the heavens by his understanding.

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

16When he speaks with a roar, the waters in the sky thunder. He makes clouds rise from the far ends of the earth. He makes lightning flash with the rain, and he brings the wind out of his storehouses.

16When 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.

17Every person is stupid and knows nothing. Every metalworker is put to shame by the image he carved, because the image he poured out of metal is a lie, and there is no breath in any of them.

17Every 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.

NoteA "founder" is a metalworker who casts metal in a mold. Ancient images were made two ways, and the Hebrew keeps them distinct: carved from wood or stone, or cast from molten metal. "Brutish" in 1611 English meant stupid or animal-like, not cruel. "No breath in them" is the plain observation that they do not breathe.

18They are worthless, a piece of work that is only good for mocking. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

18They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

19The One who is Jacob's share is not like these, for he is the one who formed everything, and Israel is the tribe he claims as his own. The LORD of Armies is his name.

19The 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.

NoteA "portion" was the share of land or inheritance allotted to a family; the priestly tribe of Levi was given no land and told that the LORD himself was their portion. Calling the LORD "the portion of Jacob" reverses that image. "Rod of his inheritance" uses a word meaning both a measuring rod or staff and, by extension, a tribe, the share marked out as his own.

20"You are my war club, my weapon for battle. With you I smash nations to pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms.

20Thou 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;

NoteThe weapon is a mace or war club, not an axe. Who "you" is here is left open: the same words can be addressed to Babylon, describing what she has already done as God's instrument, or to the army now coming against her. Hebrew poetry of this kind often keeps the addressee unnamed on purpose.

21With you I smash the horse and its rider; with you I smash the chariot and its driver.

21And 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;

22With you I smash man and woman; with you I smash old and young; with you I smash the young man and the young woman.

22With 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;

23With you I smash the shepherd and his flock; with you I smash the farmer and his team of oxen; with you I smash governors and officials.

23I 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.

Note"Husbandman" is old English for farmer. A "yoke of oxen" is a matched pair harnessed together for plowing, a farmer's most valuable working asset.

24"Right in front of your eyes I will pay back Babylon and everyone living in Chaldea for all the evil they did in Zion," says the LORD.

24And 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"Look, I am against you, mountain of destruction, you who destroy the whole earth," says the LORD. "I will reach out my hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.

25Behold, 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.

NoteBabylon stood on a flat river plain, so "mountain" is figurative: a bulk that dominates everything around it. A "burnt mountain" is one gutted by fire and collapsed into rubble, its stone cracked and useless, which sets up the next verse.

26No one will take a cornerstone from you, or a stone for a foundation, because you will be empty ruins forever," says the LORD.

26And 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.

NoteRuined cities were normally quarried by later builders, who hauled away the dressed cornerstones and foundation blocks for new work. To say no usable stone will be taken from Babylon is to say the ruin will be so complete that nobody even bothers to scavenge it.

27Raise a signal flag in the land! Blow the ram's horn among the nations! Get the nations ready to fight her. Call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz against her. Appoint a commander against her. Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.

27Set 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.

NoteArarat, Minni and Ashchenaz were kingdoms north of Babylonia: Ararat is Urartu around Lake Van in eastern Turkey, Minni is Mannea in north-west Iran, and Ashchenaz is usually identified with the Scythians. All three were known for cavalry. "Rough caterpillers" again means locusts, here the bristly-looking stage just before they can fly, which swarms on the ground in dense masses.

28Get the nations ready to fight her: the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and every land they rule.

28Prepare 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.

29The land shakes and twists in pain, because the LORD's plans against Babylon stand firm: to make the land of Babylon an empty ruin with no one living in it.

29And 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.

30Babylon's fighting men have stopped fighting; they stay inside their strongholds. Their strength is gone; they have become like women. Her houses have been set on fire, and the bars of her gates are broken.

30The 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.

Note"They became as women" is a fixed ancient Near Eastern taunt for soldiers who will not fight; comparable curses in Assyrian treaties use the same insult. "Her bars are broken" refers to the heavy timber beams that barred a city gate from the inside.

31One runner races to meet another, one messenger after another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end,

31One 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,

32that the river crossings have been seized, the marshes have been set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.

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

NoteThe "passages" are the fords and river crossings of the Euphrates and its canals. Babylon's outskirts included wide reed marshes, which both hid defenders and could be burned to flush them out; taking the crossings and firing the marshes means the city's water defenses have failed.

33For this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time the grain is trampled on it. In just a little while, her harvest time will come."

33For 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.

NoteA threshing floor was a flat, hard-packed open area where harvested grain was spread and then crushed under sledges or the hooves of oxen to break the kernels loose. "Daughter of Babylon" is a standard Hebrew way of personifying a city and its people.

34"Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has eaten me up; he has crushed me. He has left me like an empty jar. He swallowed me like a sea monster; he filled his belly with my best food, and then he threw me out.

34Nebuchadrezzar 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.

Note"Nebuchadrezzar" is the spelling closer to the Babylonian original, Nabu-kudurri-usur; "Nebuchadnezzar" is the more familiar variant, and both appear in the Hebrew Bible. KJV "dragon" translates *tannin*, a term for a large sea creature or chaos monster rather than a fire-breathing dragon. "My delicates" means the choicest things belonging to the speaker.

35May the violence done to me and to my body fall back on Babylon," says the one who lives in Zion. "May my blood be on the people of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.

35The 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.

36So this is what the LORD says: "Look, I will argue your case for you and pay back your enemies for you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.

36Therefore 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.

Note"I will plead thy cause" is legal language: to act as someone's advocate and prosecute the case on their behalf. "Her sea" means Babylon's water system (the Euphrates, the canals and the surrounding marshes) on which the city's defense and farming both depended.

37Babylon will become piles of rubble, a home for jackals, a thing that horrifies people and makes them hiss, with no one living there.

37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

NoteKJV "dragons" here translates a word for jackals, wild scavengers whose presence marked a place as abandoned. "An hissing" refers to the sharp intake of breath or hiss that passers-by made at a ruin: a gesture of shock and contempt, not a theatrical boo.

38Her people roar together like young lions; they growl like lion cubs.

38They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.

39While they are hot with drink, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so they will laugh and celebrate. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up," says the LORD.

39In 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.

Note"In their heat" means while they are already flushed with drinking. Making an enemy drunk and then striking is a recognisable image of a city taken during a festival, which is how later Greek writers described Babylon's fall.

40"I will bring them down like lambs to be killed, like rams along with male goats.

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

41See how Sheshach has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been seized! See how Babylon has become a horror among the nations!

41How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

Note"Sheshach" is a coded spelling of "Babel" (Babylon), using the same letter-reversal cipher as Leb-kamai in verse 1. The Hebrew word rendered "praise" means the thing everyone boasts about or praises, Babylon's reputation, not its worship.

42The sea has risen over Babylon; she is covered by its crashing waves.

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

43Her cities have become empty ruins, a dry and barren land, a land where no one lives and no human being even passes through.

43Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

44I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spit out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon will fall.

44And 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.

NoteBel means "lord" and was the standard title of Marduk, Babylon's chief god, whose temple dominated the city. "Bringing forth out of his mouth what he swallowed" pictures the god disgorging the tribute, plunder and temple treasures brought to his shrine from conquered nations. "The nations shall not flow together unto him" refers to the pilgrim crowds streaming to his festivals.

45My people, come out of her! Each of you, save your own life from the burning anger of the LORD.

45My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.

46Do not lose heart or be afraid when a rumor is heard in the land. One rumor will come in one year, and another rumor the year after, telling of violence in the land and of ruler fighting ruler.

46And 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.

47So look, the days are coming when I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her dead will lie fallen inside her.

47Therefore, 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.

Note"Confounded" in 1611 English means put to shame or publicly disgraced, not confused. "Graven images" are idols carved from wood or stone.

48Then the heavens and the earth and everything in them will shout for joy over Babylon, because the destroyers will come against her from the north," says the LORD.

48Then 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.

NoteInvading armies reaching Israel or Babylonia normally arrived "from the north" because they followed the arc of the Fertile Crescent rather than crossing the Arabian desert directly, so "the north" is the standard direction of danger in Jeremiah regardless of where the enemy's homeland lay.

49"Just as Babylon made the people of Israel fall dead, so at Babylon the dead of all the earth will fall.

49As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is compressed and can be read in either direction, Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain, or Babylon's slain will fall as the slain of all the earth fell because of her. Translations differ, and the ambiguity is in the original.

50You who escaped the sword, get away and do not stand still! Remember the LORD from far away, and keep Jerusalem in your mind."

50Ye 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 ashamed, because we have heard insults; disgrace covers our faces, because foreigners have gone into the holy places of the LORD's house."

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

NoteThe "sanctuaries of the LORD's house" are the restricted holy areas of the temple in Jerusalem, which only priests could enter. Babylonian troops looting them in 587 BC is the disgrace being described; "reproach" means the taunting of outsiders.

52"So look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will bring judgment on her carved images, and all through her land the wounded will groan.

52Wherefore, 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.

53Even if Babylon should climb up to the sky and make her high fortress strong, I will still send destroyers against her," says the LORD.

53Though 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"The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of terrible ruin from the land of the Chaldeans,

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

55because the LORD is destroying Babylon and silencing her loud voice. The enemy waves roar like great waters; the noise of their voices rings out.

55Because 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:

56A destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her fighting men are captured, and every one of their bows is broken, for the LORD is a God who pays people back, and he will pay in full.

56Because 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.

57I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, along with her governors, her officials, and her fighting men. They will fall asleep forever and never wake up," says the King, whose name is the LORD of Armies.

57And 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.

Note"Wise men" here is an occupational term for Babylon's professional scholars (astrologers, diviners and interpreters of omens) who advised the court. "Princes" means high officials of the royal administration rather than the king's sons.

58This is what the LORD of Armies says: "Babylon's thick walls will be leveled to the ground, and her high gates will be burned with fire. The people's work will come to nothing; the nations will wear themselves out only to feed the flames."

58Thus 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.

NoteBabylon's defenses were famous in the ancient world; Greek writers reported walls broad enough to drive a chariot along the top. The last lines echo a saying also found in Habakkuk 2:13: the labor poured into building the city ends up as nothing but fuel for the fire that burns it.

59This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when Seraiah went to Babylon with Zedekiah the king of Judah, in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. Seraiah was the officer in charge of the king's camp.

59The 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.

NoteSeraiah was the brother of Baruch, Jeremiah's secretary (see Jeremiah 32:12). KJV "a quiet prince" translates *sar menuchah*, literally "officer of the resting place", most likely the official responsible for arranging the royal party's stopping places on a journey, a quartermaster. The meaning is disputed; some read it as "chief chamberlain." The fourth year of Zedekiah is roughly 594–593 BC, about seven years before Jerusalem fell.

60Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the disaster that would come on Babylon, all these words written against Babylon.

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

61Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, be sure to read all these words out loud.

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

62Then say, 'LORD, you have said you would destroy this place, so that no one would be left in it, no person and no animal, and it would be empty ruins forever.'

62Then 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.

63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.

63And 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:

NoteProphets regularly performed acted signs as well as speaking: the physical act was understood to set the thing in motion, not merely to illustrate it. Sinking a written scroll weighted with a stone in the Euphrates, Babylon's own river, is such an act.

64Then say, 'In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I am bringing on her. And her people will wear themselves out.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.

64And 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.

Note"And they shall be weary" repeats the closing words of verse 58 and may be a copyist's duplication; the Greek Septuagint version of Jeremiah does not have it here. "Thus far are the words of Jeremiah" is an editor's note marking the end of the prophet's collected sayings. The following chapter is a historical appendix drawn largely from 2 Kings.