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Jeremiah 51: What the Passage Says

248 claims across 64 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Jeremiah 51 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD announces the fall of Babylon: he will stir up the Medes and other nations against her, empty her land, punish her idols and her god Bel, and repay her for what she did to Zion. Songs of judgment on the city are mixed with calls for God's people to flee Babylon and with lines about the LORD as maker of the earth, unlike the lifeless images Babylon trusts. The chapter closes with a narrative: Jeremiah gives the written scroll of these words to Seraiah, who is going to Babylon with King Zedekiah, and tells him to read it aloud there, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the Euphrates as a sign that Babylon will sink and not rise. The last line marks the end of Jeremiah's words.

Claim by Claim

  1. 51:1
    • The LORD speaks.
    • The LORD says he is stirring up a destroying wind against Babylon.
    • The thing stirred up is a wind or spirit that destroys.
    • The LORD is also stirring it up against those who dwell in the heart of those who rise up against him.
  2. 51:2
    • The LORD says he will send strangers, who are also winnowers, to Babylon.
    • The LORD says they will winnow Babylon.
    • The LORD says they will empty her land.
    • The LORD says they will be against her from every side.
    • This will happen in the day of trouble.
  3. 51:3
    • A word is spoken about the archer bending his bow, ambiguous between urging him to bend it and forbidding him to bend it.
    • A word is likewise spoken about the man who lifts himself up in his coat of armor.
    • A command is given not to spare her young men.
    • A command is given to devote her whole army to destruction.
  4. 51:4
    • The slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans.
    • Those pierced through will fall in her streets.
  5. 51:5
    • Israel has not been widowed of his God.
    • Judah has not been widowed of his God.
    • Their God is the LORD of hosts.
    • Their land was full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
  6. 51:6
    • A command is given to flee out of the midst of Babylon.
    • A command is given that each man save his own life.
    • A command is given not to be destroyed in her iniquity.
    • This is the time of the LORD's vengeance.
    • The LORD is repaying Babylon what she deserves.
  7. 51:7
    • Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand.
    • Babylon made all the earth drunk.
    • The nations drank of her wine.
    • Therefore the nations have gone mad.
  8. 51:8
    • Babylon has fallen suddenly.
    • Babylon has been shattered.
    • A command is given to wail for her.
    • A command is given to get balm for her pain.
    • Perhaps she may be healed.
  9. 51:9
    • Speakers say they tried to heal Babylon.
    • Babylon was not healed.
    • The speakers call for her to be abandoned.
    • The speakers say each of them should go to his own land.
    • Her judgment reaches to the heavens.
    • Her judgment is lifted up to the clouds.
  10. 51:10
    • The LORD has brought forth our vindication.
    • A call is given to come and declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
  11. 51:11
    • A command is given to sharpen the arrows.
    • A command is given to fill the shields, which may mean the quivers.
    • The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
    • The LORD's plan is against Babylon, to destroy her.
    • It is the vengeance of the LORD.
    • It is the vengeance for his temple.
  12. 51:12
    • A command is given to raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.
    • A command is given to strengthen the guard.
    • A command is given to station watchmen.
    • A command is given to prepare the ambushes.
    • The LORD has both devised and carried out what he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
  13. 51:13
    • Babylon is addressed as one dwelling by many waters.
    • Babylon is addressed as abundant in treasures.
    • Babylon's end has come.
    • The measure of her unjust gain has come.
  14. 51:14
    • The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself.
    • The LORD says he will fill Babylon with men as with locusts.
    • The LORD says they will raise a shout over her.
  15. 51:15
    • He made the earth by his power.
    • He established the world by his wisdom.
    • He stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
  16. 51:16
    • When he gives forth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens.
    • He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth.
    • He makes lightning for the rain.
    • He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
  17. 51:17
    • Every man is stupid and without knowledge.
    • Every metalworker is put to shame by his carved image.
    • His cast image is a falsehood.
    • There is no breath in them.
  18. 51:18
    • They are worthless.
    • They are a work of mockery.
    • They will perish at the time of their punishment.
  19. 51:19
    • The portion of Jacob is not like these.
    • He is the one who formed all things.
    • Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.
    • The LORD of hosts is his name.
  20. 51:20
    • The LORD says the one addressed is his war club and weapon of battle.
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters nations.
    • The LORD says with this one he destroys kingdoms.
  21. 51:21
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters the horse and its rider.
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters the chariot and its rider.
  22. 51:22
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters man and woman.
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters old man and boy.
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters young man and maiden.
  23. 51:23
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters the shepherd and his flock.
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters the farmer and his team of oxen.
    • The LORD says with this one he shatters governors and officials.
  24. 51:24
    • The LORD says he will repay Babylon for all their evil.
    • The LORD says he will repay all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil.
    • The evil was what they did in Zion.
    • The repayment will happen before the eyes of those addressed.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
  25. 51:25
    • The LORD says he is against the destroying mountain.
    • The destroying mountain destroys the whole earth.
    • The LORD says he will stretch out his hand against it.
    • The LORD says he will roll it down from the rocks.
    • The LORD says he will make it a burnt mountain.
  26. 51:26
    • No one will take from it a stone for a corner.
    • No one will take from it a stone for foundations.
    • It will be desolate forever.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
  27. 51:27
    • A command is given to raise a banner in the land.
    • A command is given to blow the horn among the nations.
    • A command is given to consecrate the nations against her.
    • A command is given to summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
    • A command is given to appoint a marshal against her.
    • A command is given to bring up horses like bristling locusts.
  28. 51:28
    • A command is given to consecrate the nations against her.
    • Those consecrated include the kings of the Medes.
    • Those consecrated include her governors and all her officials.
    • Those consecrated include all the land of his dominion.
  29. 51:29
    • The earth quakes.
    • The earth writhes.
    • The LORD's plans against Babylon stand.
    • The plan is to make the land of Babylon a desolation.
    • The land of Babylon will be without inhabitant.
  30. 51:30
    • The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
    • They have remained in their strongholds.
    • Their strength has dried up.
    • They have become like women.
    • Her dwellings have been set on fire.
    • Her bars are broken.
  31. 51:31
    • One runner runs to meet another runner.
    • One messenger runs to meet another messenger.
    • They run to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end.
  32. 51:32
    • The fords have been seized.
    • The marshes have been burned with fire.
    • The men of war are terrified.
  33. 51:33
    • The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, speaks.
    • The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden.
    • In a little while the time of her harvest will come.
  34. 51:34
    • A speaker says Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has devoured her.
    • The speaker says he has crushed her.
    • The speaker says he has set her down as an empty vessel.
    • The speaker says he has swallowed her like a sea monster.
    • The speaker says he filled his belly with her delicacies.
    • The speaker says he has rinsed her out or driven her away.
  35. 51:35
    • The inhabitant of Zion says the violence done to her and to her flesh be upon Babylon.
    • Jerusalem says her blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea.
  36. 51:36
    • The LORD speaks.
    • The LORD says he will plead her case.
    • The LORD says he will take vengeance for her.
    • The LORD says he will dry up Babylon's sea.
    • The LORD says he will make Babylon's spring dry.
  37. 51:37
    • Babylon will become heaps of rubble.
    • Babylon will become a lair of jackals.
    • Babylon will become an object of horror and hissing.
    • Babylon will be without inhabitant.
  38. 51:38
    • They will roar together like young lions.
    • They will growl like lion cubs.
  39. 51:39
    • The LORD says that while they are heated he will set out their feast.
    • The LORD says he will make them drunk so that they exult.
    • The LORD says they will sleep a perpetual sleep.
    • The LORD says they will not wake.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
  40. 51:40
    • The LORD says he will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter.
    • The LORD says he will bring them down like rams with male goats.
  41. 51:41
    • Sheshach has been captured.
    • The praise of the whole earth has been seized.
    • Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations.
    • These things are said with astonishment at how they happened.
  42. 51:42
    • The sea has come up over Babylon.
    • She is covered by the multitude of its waves.
  43. 51:43
    • Her cities have become a desolation.
    • Her land is a dry land and a desert plain.
    • No man dwells in those cities.
    • No son of man passes through them.
  44. 51:44
    • The LORD says he will punish Bel in Babylon.
    • The LORD says he will bring out of Bel's mouth what he swallowed.
    • The nations will no longer stream to Bel.
    • The wall of Babylon has fallen.
  45. 51:45
    • The LORD calls his people to go out of the midst of her.
    • The LORD calls each man to save his own life.
    • They are to be saved from the fierce anger of the LORD.
  46. 51:46
    • A warning is given lest your heart grow faint.
    • A warning is given lest you fear at the rumor heard in the land.
    • A rumor will come in one year.
    • Another rumor will come the following year.
    • There will be violence in the land.
    • There will be ruler against ruler.
  47. 51:47
    • Therefore days are coming.
    • The LORD says he will punish the carved images of Babylon.
    • Her whole land will be put to shame.
    • All her slain will fall in her midst.
  48. 51:48
    • Heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon.
    • The destroyers will come to her from the north.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
  49. 51:49
    • Babylon is to fall because of the slain of Israel.
    • The slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
  50. 51:50
    • Those who have escaped the sword are told to go.
    • They are told not to stand still.
    • They are told to remember the LORD from far away.
    • They are told to let Jerusalem come into their mind.
  51. 51:51
    • We are ashamed because we have heard reproach.
    • Disgrace has covered our faces.
    • Strangers have come into the holy places of the LORD's house.
  52. 51:52
    • Therefore days are coming.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
    • The LORD says he will punish her carved images.
    • Throughout all her land the wounded will groan.
  53. 51:53
    • Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens, destroyers will come to her.
    • Even if she should fortify her lofty stronghold, destroyers will come to her.
    • The destroyers come from the LORD.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
  54. 51:54
    • A sound of a cry comes from Babylon.
    • A sound of great destruction comes from the land of the Chaldeans.
  55. 51:55
    • The LORD is destroying Babylon.
    • The LORD is silencing her great voice.
    • Their waves roar like many waters.
    • The noise of their voice is sounded out.
  56. 51:56
    • A destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon.
    • Her warriors have been captured.
    • Their bows are shattered.
    • The LORD is a God of recompense.
    • The LORD will surely repay.
  57. 51:57
    • The LORD says he will make drunk her princes and her wise men.
    • The LORD says he will make drunk her governors and her officials and her warriors.
    • They will sleep a perpetual sleep.
    • They will not wake.
    • This is the declaration of the King.
    • The King's name is the LORD of hosts.
  58. 51:58
    • The LORD of hosts speaks.
    • The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished.
    • Her high gates will be burned with fire.
    • The peoples labor for nothing.
    • The nations labor only for the fire.
    • They will grow weary.
  59. 51:59
    • This is the word Jeremiah the prophet commanded to Seraiah.
    • Seraiah was the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah.
    • Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon.
    • This was in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign.
    • Seraiah was the quartermaster.
  60. 51:60
    • Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon.
    • What he wrote was all these words written concerning Babylon.
  61. 51:61
    • Jeremiah said this to Seraiah.
    • Jeremiah told him that when he came to Babylon he was to look.
    • Jeremiah told him to read aloud all these words.
  62. 51:62
    • Jeremiah told Seraiah to say that the LORD had spoken against this place to cut it off.
    • Seraiah was to say that no one would remain in it, neither man nor beast.
    • Seraiah was to say that it would be desolate forever.
  63. 51:63
    • When Seraiah finished reading this scroll he was to tie a stone to it.
    • He was to throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.
  64. 51:64
    • Seraiah was to say that in this way Babylon will sink.
    • Seraiah was to say that Babylon will not rise.
    • The sinking is because of the disaster the LORD is bringing upon her.
    • Seraiah was to say that they will grow weary.
    • The words of Jeremiah end here.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

51:1
The 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.
51:2
Winnowing 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.
51:3
"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.
51:4
The Chaldeans were a people of southern Mesopotamia whose dynasty ruled Babylon in Jeremiah's day; "Chaldea" and "Babylonia" are used interchangeably through this chapter.
51:5
"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.
51:7
A 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.
51:8
Balm 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.
51:9
The 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.
51:10
Zion 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.
51:11
The 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.
51:12
A "standard" was a banner or signal flag raised on a pole so troops knew where to gather and which unit was which. Raising one was the visible announcement that an attack was on.
51:13
Babylon 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.
51:14
KJV "caterpillers" means locusts, not caterpillars. Swarming locusts were the standard image for an army too numerous to count and stripping everything as it moves.
51:16
"Treasures" in 1611 could mean treasuries, meaning storerooms. The picture is of wind, rain and lightning kept in warehouses and issued when needed.
51:17
A "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.
51:18
"Vanity" in the King James means emptiness or worthlessness, not conceit. "The time of their visitation" means the time when God comes to deal with them, which here means to punish.
51:19
A "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.
51:20
The 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.
51:21
A chariot is a small cart pulled by horses. Soldiers rode in it to fight.
51:23
"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.
51:25
Babylon 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.
51:26
Ruined 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.
51:27
Ararat, 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.
51:30
"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.
51:31
A "post" was a courier, a runner carrying dispatches by relay. Babylon was enormous by ancient standards, and the point of the image is that one end of the city has already fallen before the king at the center has even been told.
51:32
The "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.
51:33
A 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.
51:34
"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.
51:35
"My flesh" means my body. Jerusalem is speaking as a woman who has been assaulted, and the language is meant to be uncomfortable. "My blood upon" is legal language: let the guilt for this killing be charged to them.
51:36
"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.
51:37
KJV "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.
51:39
"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.
51:41
"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.
51:42
Babylon lay hundreds of miles from any sea, so this is openly a figure of speech: the invading army arrives over the city like a flood tide.
51:44
Bel 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.
51:46
News traveled slowly and unreliably in the ancient world, and exiles in Babylon would hear one report of upheaval one year and a contradictory one the next. "Ruler against ruler" describes an empire fighting itself.
51:47
"Confounded" in 1611 English means put to shame or publicly disgraced, not confused. "Graven images" are idols carved from wood or stone.
51:48
Invading 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.
51:49
The 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.
51:50
"The sword" means the killing in war. These are people who lived through it.
51:51
The "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.
51:53
Babylon was famous across the ancient world for the height of its walls and its stepped temple tower, so "mount up to heaven" plays on the city's own boasts about itself.
51:55
"The great voice" is the constant roar of a huge, crowded city; silencing it means emptying it of people. The waves are the attacking army again, as in verse 42.
51:56
"The LORD God of recompences shall surely requite" is accounting language: he settles the debt, and he pays the full amount owed.
51:57
"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.
51:58
Babylon'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.
51:59
Seraiah 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.
51:60
"In a book" means on a scroll, a long strip of leather or papyrus rolled up. Books with bound pages did not exist yet.
51:61
Reading aloud was simply how people read at all in this period. The instruction matters because the words had to be spoken inside Babylon itself, delivered on the spot rather than sent.
51:63
Prophets 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.
51:64
"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.

Read Jeremiah 51