34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon

has devoured me and sucked me dry;

he has made me an empty vessel;

he has swallowed me like the sea monster;

he has filled his belly with my delicacies;

he has rinsed me.

35 “May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,”

the inhabitantsp of Zion will say;

and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”

Jerusalem will say.

36 ⌊Therefore⌋q thus says Yahweh,

“Look, I am going to contend your case,

and I will avenge your vengeance,

and I will cause her sea to dry up,

and I will cause her fountain to dry up.

37 And Babylon will become as a heap of stones,

a lair of jackals,

an object of horror, and an object of hissing,

⌊without⌋r inhabitants.

38 They will roar together like the young lions,

they will growl like the cubs of lions.

39 At their becoming hot I will set their banquets,

and I will make them drunk,

so that they will fall into a swoon,

and they will sleep ⌊an everlasting sleep⌋,s

and they will not wake up,” ⌊declares⌋t Yahweh.

40 “I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter,

like rams and goats.

41 How Sheshach is captured,

and the glory of all the earth is seized!

How Babylon has become as an object of horror

among the nations!

42 The sea has risen over Babylon,

she has been covered by the roar of its waves.

43 Her cities have become as an object of horror,

a dry land and a wilderness,u

a land in which no person lives,

nor does a son of humankind pass through it.

44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon,

and I will wrench out from his mouth ⌊what he has swallowed⌋.v

And the nations will not stream towards him any longer

⌊what’s worse⌋,w the wall of Babylon has fallen.

45 Come out from her midst, my people,

and save each one his life

from ⌊the burning anger of⌋x Yahweh.

46 Now ⌊so that you are not fainthearted⌋,y

and you are afraid at the rumorsz that are heard in the land—

and in the year the rumor comes,

and in the year after it the rumor,

and violence is in the land,

with ruler against ruler—

47 ⌊therefore⌋a look, days are coming,

and I will punish the images of Babylon,

and all her land will be put to shame,

and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.

48 Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them

will shout for joy over Babylon,

for from the north

the destroyers will come to it,” ⌊declares⌋b Yahweh.

49 Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel,

but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.

50 Survivors of the sword, go!

You must not linger!

Remember Yahweh from far away,

and let Jerusalem come to your ⌊mind⌋.c

51 We are ashamed,

for we have heard taunts,d

disgrace covers our faces,

for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.

52 “⌊Therefore⌋e look, days are coming,” ⌊declares⌋f Yahweh,

“and I will punish her images,

and the fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.

53 Though Babylon goes up to the heavens,

and though she fortifies the high place of her strength,

from me destroyers will come to her,” ⌊declares⌋g Yahweh.

54 The sound of a cry for help from Babylon,

and a great collapse from the land of the Chaldeans.

55 For Yahweh is devastating Babylon,

and he obliterates her loud noiseh from her.

Their waves roar like mighty waters,

the roar of their voicesi resounds.

56 For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,

and her warriors are captured.

Their bows are broken;

for Yahweh is a God of recompense,

certainly he will repay.

57 “And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men,

her governors, and her officials, and her warriors,

and they will sleep ⌊an everlasting sleep⌋,j

and they will not wake up,”

⌊declares⌋k the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.

58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished,

and her high gates will burn with fire,

and the peoples will labor ⌊for nothing⌋,l

and the nations ⌊for fire⌋,m

and they will grow weary.”