Jeremiah 51 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - Jeremiah) Free Bible Online

Jeremiah 51

1 - The LORD says:"Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

2 - I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her.They will empty her land;for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.

3 - Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow,also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail.Don't spare her young men!Utterly destroy all her army!

4 - They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,and thrust through in her streets.

5 - For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God,by the LORD of Hosts;though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

6 - "Flee out of the middle of Babylon!Everyone save his own life!Don't be cut off in her iniquity;for it is the time of The LORD's vengeance.He will render to her a recompense.

7 - Babylon has been a golden cup in The LORD's hand,who made all the earth drunk.The nations have drunk of her wine;therefore the nations have gone mad.

8 - Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed!Wail for her!Take balm for her pain.Perhaps she may be healed.

9 - "We would have healed Babylon,but she is not healed.Forsake her,and let us each go into his own country;for her judgment reaches to heaven,and is lifted up even to the skies.

10 - 'The LORD has produced our righteousness:come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.'

11 - "Make the arrows sharp!Hold the shields firmly!The LORD has 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 The LORD,the vengeance of his temple.

12 - Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon!Make the watch strong!Set the watchmen,and prepare the ambushes;for the LORD has both purposed and donethat which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13 - You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures,your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.

14 - The LORD of Armies has sworn by himself, saying,'Surely I will fill you with men,as with the canker worm;and they will lift up a shout against you.'

15 - "He has made the earth by his power.He has established the world by his wisdom.By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

16 - When he utters his voice,there is a roar of waters in the heavens,and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.He makes lightning for the rain,and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

17 - "Every man has become brutish without knowledge.Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image;for his molten image is falsehood,and there is no breath in them.

18 - They are vanity,a work of delusion.In the time of their visitation, they will perish.

19 - The portion of Jacob is not like these,for he is the former of all things;including the tribe of his inheritance:The LORD of Armies is his name.

20 - "You are my battle ax and weapons of war.With you I will break the nations into pieces.With you I will destroy kingdoms.

21 - With you I will break in piecesthe horse and his rider.

22 - With you I will break in piecesthe chariot and him who rides therein.With you I will break in piecesman and woman.With you I will break in piecesthe old man and the youth.With you I will break in piecesthe young man and the virgin.

23 - With you I will break in piecesthe shepherd and his flock.With you I will break in piecesthe farmer and his yoke.With you will I break in piecesgovernors and deputies.

24 - "I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight," says The LORD.

25 - "Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain," says The LORD,"which destroys all the earth.I will stretch out my hand on you,roll you down from the rocks,and will make you a burned mountain.

26 - They won't take a cornerstone from you,nor a stone for foundations;but you will be desolate for ever," says The LORD.

27 - "Set 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 Ashkenaz!Appoint a marshal against her!Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm!

28 - Prepare against her the nations,the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!

29 - The land trembles and is in pain;for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand,to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

30 - The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting,they remain in their strongholds.Their might has failed.They have become as women.Her dwelling places are set on fire.Her bars are broken.

31 - One runner will run to meet another,and one messenger to meet another,to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.

32 - So the passages are seized.They have burned the reeds with fire.The men of war are frightened."

33 - For the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel says:"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 comes for her."

34 - "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me.He has crushed me.He has made me an empty vessel.He has, like a monster, swallowed me up.He has filled his mouth with my delicacies.He has cast me out.

35 - May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!"the inhabitant of Zion will say; and,"May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!"will Jerusalem say.

36 - Therefore the LORD says:"Behold, I will plead your cause,and take vengeance for you.I will dry up her sea,and make her fountain dry.

37 - Babylon will become heaps,a dwelling place for jackals,an astonishment, and a hissing,without inhabitant.

38 - They will roar together like young lions.They will growl as lions' cubs.

39 - When they are heated, I will make their feast,and I will make them drunk,that they may rejoice,and sleep a perpetual sleep,and not wake up," says The LORD.

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

41 - "How Sheshach is taken!How the praise of the whole earth seized!How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

42 - The sea has come up on Babylon.She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

43 - Her cities have become a desolation,a dry land, and a desert,a land in which no man dwells.No son of man passes by it.

44 - I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon,and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up.The nations will not flow any more to him.Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.

45 - "My people, go away from the middle of her,and each of you save yourselves from The LORD's fierce anger.

46 - Don't let your heart faint.Don't fear for the news that will be heard in the land.For news will come one year,and after that in another year news will come,and violence in the land,ruler against ruler.

47 - Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon;and her whole land will be confounded.All her slain will fall in the middle of her.

48 - Then the heavens and the earth,and all that is therein,will sing for joy over Babylon;for the destroyers will come to her from the north," says The LORD.

49 - "As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,so the slain of all the land will fall at Babylon.

50 - You who have escaped the sword, go!Don't stand still!Remember the LORD from afar,and let Jerusalem come into your mind."

51 - "We are confounded,because we have heard reproach.Confusion has covered our faces,for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of The LORD's house."

52 - "Therefore behold, the days come," says The LORD,"that I will execute judgment on her engraved images;and through all her land the wounded will groan.

53 - Though Babylon should mount up to the sky,and though she should fortify the height of her strength,yet destroyers will come to her from me," says The LORD.

54 - "The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55 - For the LORD lays Babylon waste,and destroys out of her the great voice!Their waves roar like many waters.The noise of their voice is uttered.

56 - For the destroyer has come on her,even on Babylon.Her mighty men are taken.Their bows are broken in pieces,for the LORD is a God of retribution.He will surely repay.

57 - I will make her princes, her wise men,her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk.They will sleep a perpetual sleep,and not wake up,"says the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

58 - The LORD of Armies says:"The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown.Her high gates will be burned with fire.The peoples will labor for vanity,and the nations for the fire;and they will be weary."

59 - 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 chief quartermaster.

60 - Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

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61 - Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,

62 - and say, 'The LORD, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.'

63 - It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates.

64 - Then you shall say, 'Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.'"Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

The Book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:17-19 - Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Jeremiah 3:16 - And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit [it]; neither shall [that] be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

Jeremiah 23:5-6- Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Bible Survey - Jeremiah
Hebrew Name - Yirmiyahu "Yah is my appointer"
Greek Name - Ieremias (Greek form of the Hebrew)
Author - Jeremiah (According to Tradition)
Date - 629 BC Approximately
Theme - The destruction of Judah
Types and Shadows - In Jeremiah Jesus is the Lord our righteousness

The Black Obelisk

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. Discovered at Calah now in the British Museum. The Obelisk stands nearly 7 feet tall and is about 2 feet thick. On each of the 4 sides there are 5 panels with carvings of various kings bringing tribute to king Shalmaneser III. The second panel from the top of the obelisk reveals king Jehu of Israel bowing at the feet of Shalmaneser of Assyria. This is the same Jehu who is mentioned in Scripture, and this carved relief is the only image in all history of one of the Hebrew kings. On the panel Shalmaneser is offering a libation to his god. The cuneiform text around the panel reads:

"The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears."

The Jehu Panel on the Black Obelisk

Summary of The Book of Jeremiah

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judah about 50 years before Jerusalem would  fall and be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jeremiah continually preached against the folly of idolatry and pleaded with the people the Word of God, "what injustice have you found in me?" he cried, "why have you gone far from me and followed idols, and have become idolaters?", "I brought you into a beautiful country to eat of its fruit and its goodness, but you have defiled my land and made my heritage and abomination." Jeremiah warned that Jerusalem would be destroyed and the Jews would be  taken away as captives to the land of Babylon. The words of Jeremiah were violently rejected and he was continually persecuted, but God warned them at the beginning of his ministry not to be "afraid of their faces". While Jeremiah was in prison grieving over the sins of his people the Lord came to him and said "behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant" (Jeremiah 31). Soon afterwards Jerusalem was indeed destroyed in 586 BC as Jeremiah prophesied. But he claimed that their captivity would only last 70 years and then they would return to their land. Jeremiah also prophesied against the pagan nations around Israel. Later he was forced to go and live in the land of Egypt and there is no record of what happened to him. - The above text is © Rusty Russell - Bible History Online and must be sourced for use on a website.

The prophet Jeremiah began his ministry during the reign of King Josiah, and he prophesied the Word of the Lord until the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and destroyed the city and her Temple (Jeremiah 1), and he continued to prophesy even after this event. Jeremiah began ministering in 627 BC during the reign of King Josiah, he was the "son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth" which was a city near Jerusalem. When the Lord called him he was very young (Jeremiah 1:6), and the Lord revealed to him that his word would be rejected and yet he was not to be afraid of their faces. They also learned that an enemy from the North would come and bring about the destruction of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 1:11-16), and this time it would not be the Assyrians as with the northern kingdom of Israel, but it would be the Babylonians. All the kings who reigned during the time of Jeremiah were: Josiah, Jehoa-haz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah and Jerusalem was destroyed in the 11th year of the reign of king Zedekiah in 586 BC. The event of the burning of the city of Jerusalem and of the Temple of Solomon is found in 2 Kings 25:8,9 and Jeremiah 52:12-13.

Jeremiah was quick to obey God and to reveal to the children of Israel in Judah their sins, and as God had warned him he was hated with much hostility both in his hometown of Anathoth and in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 11:18-23). It even indicates that his own family "dealt treacherously" with him (Jeremiah 12:6), but this was a calm before the storm for Jeremiah who was known as the weeping prophet. Because of his fearless prophesying during the reigns of the next four kings of Judah, and the fact that he predicted the destruction of Jerusalem because of the people's sins he was hated all the more. He went into hiding because of the wrath of Jehoiakim who had cut up his book of prophecies and burned them. Judah finally went into a first wave of captivity by the Babylonians under Jehoiachin, and they placed Zedekiah in his stead as a puppet king. Eventually Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon but was warned by Jeremiah not to do so (Jeremiah 27:12). Finally the inevitable happened, on the terrifying day of Av 9 in the Jewish calendar Nebuchadnezzar's forces destroyedthe Temple of Solomon and the city of Jerusalem making true all of Jeremiah's prophecies about the Babylonian invasion.

Jeremiah stayed in Jerusalem but finally was forced to go to Egypt and his companion and secretary, Baruch came with him. They are in Egypt, in the city of Tahpanhes we have the last mention of Jeremiah's life, and after this there is no information and nothing is certain. His book was completed and he lived a very long life. According to Christian tradition the Jews at Tahpanhes, hating him for his prophecies stoned him to death. There is also a Jewish tradition that when Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Egypt, Jeremiah and Baruch had escaped to the land of Judea where they were allowed to die in peace.

The book of Jeremiah is recognized as his own writings and a complete book just like the book of Isaiah. In Jeremiah 36:1-2, 4, 8, 32 it is written that Jeremiah collected his own writings and prophecies, some speculate that he put the book together with Baruch in the land of Egypt but there is no way to know for certain.

Jeremiah's prophecies consisted of these primary messages:

1 ) The impending destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon;
2 ) the possibility of averting this destruction by repentance;
3 ) the submitting to Babylonian rule after it becomes apparent that domination is inevitable;
4 ) Babylon herself will be destroyed, never to rise again; and
5 ) Judah will return from captivity and eventually achieve an unsurpassed glory.

Outline of the Book of Jeremiah

The prophecies contained in the book are not in chronological order, a factor which makes logical analysis somewhat difficult; however, the following general divisions of the material is outlined here:

1) The call of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1).
2) The depravity of Judah and the inevitability of destruction from the north (Jeremiah 2-6).
3) The illusions of temple security (Jeremiah 7-10). In this section Jeremiah weeps over the attitude of the people that their formal observance of the temple services will save them from destruction. He warns them that genuine repentance is their only hope.
4) Jeremiah's complaint over his own miserable estate and the infidelity of the Jews of the covenant (Jeremiah 11-12).
5) Further preaching and signs of the impending doom (Jeremiah 13-25). In Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah predicted that the length of the captivity would be 70 years.
6) Prophecies and events during the reigns of the last kings of Judah (Jeremiah 26-39 ).
7) Prophecies and events in Judah after the captivity (Jeremiah 40-41).
8) Jeremiah's activity after he is forced to flee to Egypt (Jeremiah 42-51). After a final exhortation to abandon idolatry (Jeremiah 44), the bulk of this section consists of prophecies against foreign nations, including a prediction of the eventual fall and desolation of Babylon.
9) A summary chapter on the captivity of Judah (Jeremiah 52).

Quick Reference Map

Map of Judah and the Chaldean Empire (Click to Enlarge)

Quick Reference Maps - Jeremiah

Judah During the Time of Hezekiah

The New Babylonian Empire and Isaiah

Sites and Events in 2 Kings

Israel and Judah - The kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the period of the kings can be seen on this map. After Solomon had died there was a civil war and 10 tribes took to the north and were called the northern kingdom of Israel, and every king was evil and forsook the LORD. The remaining 2 tribes stayed in the south and were called the southern kingdom of Judah, several of those kings trusted in the LORD.

Mesha's Kingdom - The Bible reveals that Mesha, the king of Moab rebelled against Jehoram the king of Israel (2 Kings 3:4-5). Jehoram requested the help of Judah and Jehoshaphat allied with him, he sought Elisha the prophet and victory was predicted, only because of the faith of Jehoshaphat. Mesha sought the god Chemosh and sacrificed his own son (2 Kings 3:27).

Israel and Syria Naaman the leper, captain of the Syrian army was healed by a miracle at the command of Elisha the prophet (2 Kings 5). At that time Aram (Syria) was a dominant fighting machine in the north under the leadership of Ben-Hadad, who was later murdered by Hazael (2 Kings 8:15).

Syria at Its Height - 2 Kings 10 reveals that Hazael of Syria smote all the coasts of Israel and the east Jordan territory expanding the kingdom of Damascus. Jehu knew that he would need to rely on a foreign power for help and he turned to Shalmanessar IV, King of Assyria.

The Kingdom of Jeroboam II - 2 Kings 14:25 indicates that Jeroboam II, fourth king from the line of Jehu, brought the northern kingdom of Israel to its greatest extent in the north. This was just after Syria was severely crushed by the Assyrians who had recently returned home to regroup.

Habor, the River of Gozan - In 2 Kings 17:6 the Bible says that the King of Assyria (Sargon II) conquered Samaria and took away the remaining inhabitants of Israel as prisoners to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gorzan, and in the cities of the Medes. The river of Gorzan is identified as the river Khabur, a tributary of the Euphrates river which flows into it from the north from southern Turkey.

The Cities of Samaria and the Surrounding Lands - The Bible records in second Kings 17:24 that the King of Assyria (Sargon II) brought colonists from many of the cities within the Assyrian Empire: Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed the inhabitants within the cities of Samaria to replace the children of Israel who would been taken into captivity.

The Assyrian Empire When Sennacherib Came to Power - Israel was destroyed, Judah was left and Hezekiah a man who sought the LORD had come to power in 720 BC. He offered tribute to Sennacherib but Jerusalem was was still a target for the Assyrian ruler.

The Assyrian Empire During the Reign of Esarhaddon - Esarhaddon marches into Egypt and extends the Assyrian Empire. 2 Kings 19

Necho Battles Josiah - Pharaoh Necho on his way to the Euphrates slays King Josiah at Megiddo. 2 Kings 23

The Captivity of the Ten Tribes - The ten tribes in the northern kingdom of Israel were conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC and taken to the land of Assyria as captives.

Judah Captives in Babylon - The remaining remnant of Judah were taken as prisoners to Babylon as predicted by Jeremiah the prophet.

The Babylonian, Mede and Persian Empires - Pharaoh Necho is defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon who also destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Later the Mede and Persian Empires defeated Babylon and governed the world in the sixth century BC until Alexander the Great.

Jeremiah Resources

The Divided Kingdom
The Northern Kingdom of Israel
The Southern Kingdom of Judah
The Assyrian Captivity
The Babylonian Captivity
The Return From Babylon
The Prophets
The Messiah

The Book of Jeremiah

More About the Book of Jeremiah
Jeremiah in the Picture Study Bible
Timeline of the Ancient World
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