¹⁹ And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.^(A)

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging^[a] has become quiet!

⁵ “Daughter Chaldea,
sit in silence^(F) and go into darkness.
For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.
⁶ I was angry with My people;
I profaned My possession,
and I placed them under your control.
You showed them no mercy;
you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.
⁷ You said, ‘I will be the mistress forever.’
You did not take these things to heart
or think about their outcome.

⁸ “So now hear this, lover of luxury,
who sits securely,^(G)
who says to herself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’^(H)
9 These two things will happen to you
suddenly, in one day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will happen to you in their entirety,
in spite of your many sorceries^(I)
and the potency of your spells.
¹⁰ You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’^(J)
Your wisdom and knowledge
led you astray.
You said to yourself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.’
¹¹ But disaster will happen to you;
you will not know how to avert it.
And it will fall on you,
but you will be unable to ward it off.^[b]
Devastation will happen to you suddenly
and unexpectedly.^(K)
12 So take your stand with your spells
and your many sorceries,
which you have wearied yourself with from your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
¹³ You are worn out with your many consultations.
So let them stand and save you—
the astrologers,^[c] who observe the stars,^(L)
who predict monthly
what will happen to you.
¹⁴ Look, they are like stubble;^(M)
fire burns them up.^(N)
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power^[d] of the flame.
This is not a coal for warming themselves,
or a fire to sit beside!
¹⁵ This is what they are to you—
those who have wearied you
and have traded with you from your youth—
each wanders on his own way;
no one can save you.

² Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;^(B)
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say: Babylon is captured;
Bel^(C) is put to shame;
Marduk is devastated;
her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
³ For a nation from the north will come against her;^(D)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it—
both man and beast will escape.^[a]
4 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.^(E)
5 They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves^[b] to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant^(F) that will never be forgotten.

⁶ My people are lost sheep;^(G)
their shepherds have led them astray,
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.^(H)
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
⁷ All who found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,^(I)
the hope of their ancestors,^(J) the Lord.”

⁸ Escape from Babylon;^(K)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
⁹ For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled^[c] warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
¹⁰ The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹¹ Because you rejoice,
because you sing in triumph—
you who plundered My inheritance—
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,^(L)
12 your mother will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all^[d] the nations—
a dry land, a wilderness,^(M) an Arabah.
¹³ Because of the Lord’s wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be horrified
and scoff because of all her wounds.^(N)
14 Line up in battle formation around Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵ Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.^(O)
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,^(P)
take out your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor’s sword,^(Q)
each will turn to his own people,^(R)
each will flee to his own land.

¹⁹ I will return Israel to his grazing land,
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.^(V)
20 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
one will search for Israel’s guilt,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive^(W) those I leave as a remnant.^(X)

Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;^(AJ)
they refuse to release them.
³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case^(AK)
so that He might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.^(AL)
35 A sword is over the Chaldeans—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her sages.
³⁶ A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
³⁷ A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them,^(AM)
and they will be like women.^(AN)
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
³⁸ A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things.^[f](AO)

³⁹ Therefore, desert creatures^[g] will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.^(AP)
40 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns^(AQ)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
so no one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it
as a temporary resident.^(AR)

I am about to stir up a destructive wind^[j] against Babylon^(AX)
and against the population of Leb-qamai.^[k][l]
2 I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,^(AY)
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
³ Don’t let the archer string his bow;
don’t let him put on^[m] his armor.^(AZ)
Don’t spare her young men;
completely destroy her entire army!
⁴ Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
those who were pierced through, in her streets.^(BA)
5 For Israel and Judah are not left widowed
by their God, the Lord of Hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.^(BB)

⁶ Leave Babylon;^(BC)
save your lives, each of you!^(BD)
Don’t perish because of her guilt.
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance—
He will pay her what she deserves.^(BE)
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand,^(BF)
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;^(BG)
therefore, the nations go mad.^(BH)
8 Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.
Wail for her;
get balm^(BI) for her wound—
perhaps she can be healed.

⁹ We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,^(BJ)
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.^(BK)

¹⁰ The Lord has brought about our vindication;^(BL)
come, let’s tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has accomplished.^(BM)

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows!
Fill the quivers!
The Lord has put it into the mind
of the kings of the Medes
because His plan is aimed at Babylon
to destroy her,
for it is the Lord’s vengeance,
vengeance for His temple.^(BN)
12 Raise up a signal flag^(BO)
against the walls of Babylon;
fortify the watch post;
set the watchmen in place;
prepare the ambush.
For the Lord has both planned and accomplished
what He has threatened
against those who live in Babylon.
¹³ You who reside by many waters,^(BP)
rich in treasures,
your end has come,
your life thread is cut.

I will fill you up with men as with locusts,
and they will sing the victory song over you.

¹⁵ He made the earth by His power,
established the world^(BQ) by His wisdom,^(BR)
and spread out the heavens by His understanding.^(BS)
16 When He thunders,^[n]
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,^(BT)
and He causes the clouds
to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from His storehouses.^(BU)

¹⁷ Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,^(BV)
for his cast images are a lie;^(BW)
there is no breath in them.^(BX)
18 They are worthless,^(BY) a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.^(BZ)
19 Jacob’s Portion^[o] is not like these
because He is the One who formed all things.^(CA)
Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;^(CB)
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.^(CC)

²⁰ You are My battle club,
My weapons of war.
With you I will smash nations;
with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
²¹ With you I will smash the horse and its rider;
with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
²² With you I will smash man and woman;^(CD)
with you I will smash the old man and the youth;
with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
²³ With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock;
with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team.^[p]
With you I will smash governors and officials.

²⁵ Look, I am against you, devastating mountain—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you devastate the whole earth.
I will stretch out My hand against you,^(CF)
roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain.
²⁶ No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone
or a foundation stone from you,
because you will become desolate forever.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

²⁷ Raise a signal flag^(CG) in the land;
blow a ram’s horn among the nations;
set apart the nations against her.^(CH)
Summon kingdoms against her—
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like a swarm^[q] of locusts.
²⁸ Set apart the nations for battle against her—
the kings of Media,
her governors and all her officials,
and all the lands they rule.
²⁹ The earth quakes^(CI) and trembles
because the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.
³⁰ Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;^(CJ)
they sit in their strongholds.
Their might is exhausted;
they have become like women.
Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,
her gate bars are shattered.^(CK)
31 Messenger races to meet messenger,^(CL)
and herald to meet herald,
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his city has been captured
from end to end.
³² The fords have been seized,^(CM)
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers are terrified.

Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time it is trampled.^(CN)
In just a little while her harvest time will come.^(CO)

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me.
He has set me aside like an empty dish;
he has swallowed me like a sea monster;^(CP)
he filled his belly with my delicacies;
he has vomited me out,”^[r]
35 says the inhabitant of Zion;
“Let the violence done to me and my family be done to Babylon.
Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
says Jerusalem.

I am about to plead your case^(CQ)
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea^(CR)
and make her fountain run dry.
³⁷ Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,^(CS)
without inhabitant.
³⁸ They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
³⁹ While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk so that they revel.^[s](CT)
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
⁴⁰ I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams together with male goats.^(CU)

⁴¹ How Sheshach has been captured,
the praise^(CV) of the whole earth seized.
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!^(CW)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;^(CX)
she is covered with its turbulent waves.
⁴³ Her cities have become a desolation,^(CY)
a dry and arid land,
a land where no one lives,
where no human being passes through.
⁴⁴ I will punish Bel^(CZ) in Babylon.
I will make him vomit what he swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him;
even Babylon’s wall will fall.

⁴⁵ Come out from among her, My people!^(DA)
Save your lives, each of you,
from the Lord’s burning anger.
⁴⁶ May you not become cowardly and fearful
when the report is proclaimed in the land,
for the report will come one year,
and then another the next year.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler against ruler.
⁴⁷ Therefore, look, the days are coming
when I will punish Babylon’s carved images.^(DB)
Her entire land will suffer shame,
and all her slain will lie fallen within her.^(DC)
48 Heaven and earth and everything in them
will shout for joy^(DD) over Babylon
because the destroyers from the north
will come against her.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁴⁹ Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel,
even as the slain of all the earth fell
because of Babylon.
⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword,^(DE)
go and do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
and let Jerusalem come to your mind.

⁵¹ We are ashamed
because we have heard insults.^(DF)
Humiliation covers our faces
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s temple.^(DG)

⁵² Therefore, look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will punish her carved images,
and the wounded will groan
throughout her land.
⁵³ Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens^(DH)
and fortify her tall fortresses,
destroyers will come against her from Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁵⁴ The sound of a cry from Babylon!^(DI)
The sound of great destruction
from the land of the Chaldeans!
⁵⁵ For the Lord is going to devastate Babylon;
He will silence her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like abundant waters;
the tumult of their voice resounds,
⁵⁶ for a destroyer is coming against her,
against Babylon.
Her warriors will be captured,
their bows shattered,
for the Lord is a God of retribution;
He will certainly repay.
⁵⁷ I will make her princes and sages drunk,
along with her governors, officials, and warriors.
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.^(DJ)
This is the King’s declaration;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.^(DK)

Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished,
and her high gates consumed by fire.
The peoples will have labored for nothing;^(DL)
the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire.