¹⁰ It will never go out—day or night.
Its smoke will go up forever.
It will be desolate, from generation to generation;
no one will pass through it forever and ever.
¹¹ Eagle owls^[a] and herons^[b] will possess it,
and long-eared owls and ravens will dwell there.
The Lord will stretch out a measuring line
and a plumb line over her
for her destruction and chaos.
¹² No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,
and all her princes will come to nothing.
¹³ Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;
her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.
She will become a dwelling for jackals,
an abode^[c] for ostriches.
¹⁴ The desert creatures will meet hyenas,
and one wild goat will call to another.
Indeed, the night birds will stay there
and will find a resting place.
¹⁵ Sand partridges^[d] will make their nests there;
they will lay and hatch their eggs
and will gather their broods under their shadows.
Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there,
each with its mate.

³⁷ Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,
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 celebrate.^[a]
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.