바빌론의 폐허 가운데서 들리는 위로

Thus says the LORD: "I will stir up a destructive wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai. I will send strangers against Babylon, and they shall winnow her; they shall empty her land and strip her bare when they surround her on the day of disaster. Let the archer bend his bow, and let him rise up in his coat of mail! Do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army! Let them fall slain in the land of Chaldea, and pierced through in her streets. For Israel and Judah were not widowed of their God, the LORD of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each one save his own life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; He shall give her what she deserves. Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunk; the nations drank of her wine, and therefore the nations are mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed; forsake her, and let us go, each one to his own country, for her judgment reaches up to heaven and is lifted up to the skies. The LORD has revealed our righteousness; come and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. Polish the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for His plan against Babylon is to destroy her; this is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for His holy temple. Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon! Set up a siege, post the guards, prepare the ambushes! For the LORD has both purposed and done what He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. O you who dwell by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your unrighteousness. The LORD of hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, "Surely I will fill you with men, as with a swarm of locusts, and they shall raise a shout of triumph over you." He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; 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. Every man is made dull with knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by the carved image; for his molded image is a lie, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of delusions; in the time of their punishment they shall perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the LORD of hosts is His name. You are My battle-ax and weapon of war, for with you I will break the nations in pieces, and with you I will destroy kingdoms; with you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider, and with you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider; with you I will also break in pieces man and woman, and with you I will break in pieces old and young, and with you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden; with you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen, and with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers. But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion before your eyes, says the LORD. Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth, says the LORD; I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain. They shall not take from you a stone for a cornerstone, nor a stone for a foundation; but you shall be a desolation forever, says the LORD. Set up a banner in the land; blow a trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her; call together the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts! Prepare the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its rulers, and all the lands of their dominion. Then the earth shall tremble and writhe, for the purposes of the LORD shall be carried out against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, they have remained in their strongholds; their might has failed, they have become like women. Her dwelling places are set on fire, her bars are broken. One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken from every side. The river crossings are seized, the marshlands are burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come." "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a monster, he has filled his stomach with my delicacies, and spit me out. Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon," says the inhabitant of Zion. "And let my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem. Therefore thus says the LORD: "I will plead your case and take vengeance for you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and hissing, without inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions, and growl like lion cubs."

예레미야 51장은 바벨론을 조롱하는 노래입니다. 이 장은 가차 없는 심판(화살, 메뚜기 떼, 무너진 성벽)과 놀라운 위로, 즉 '너희는 바벨론 가운데서 도피하여 각자의 생명을 구원하라'(6절)를 동시에 말합니다. 열방을 취하게 만든 잔이 스스로 깨졌으며, 하나님의 백성은 '시온에서 여호와의 행하심을 선포하라'고 초대받습니다. 고난과 위로는 하나님의 공의로운 심판이 십자가에서 만납니다.