Jeremiah 51:37–58

37 fBabylon shall become a heap,

A dwelling place for jackals,

gAn astonishment and a hissing,

Without an inhabitant.

38 They shall roar together like lions,

They shall growl like lions’ whelps.

39 In their excitement I will prepare their feasts;

hI will make them drunk,

That they may rejoice,

And sleep a perpetual sleep

And not awake,” says the Lord.

40 “I will bring them down

Like lambs to the slaughter,

Like rams with male goats.

41 “Oh, how iSheshach 3is taken!

Oh, how jthe praise of the whole earth is seized!

How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!

42 kThe sea has come up over Babylon;

She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

43 lHer cities are a desolation,

A dry land and a wilderness,

A land where mno one dwells,

Through which no son of man passes.

44 I will punish nBel 4in Babylon,

And I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed;

And the nations shall not stream to him anymore.

Yes, othe wall of Babylon shall fall.

45 “My ppeople, go out of the midst of her!

And let everyone deliver 5himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 And lest your heart faint,

And you fear qfor the rumor that will be heard in the land

(A rumor will come one year,

And after that, in another year

A rumor will come,

And violence in the land,

Ruler against ruler),

47 Therefore behold, the days are coming

That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon;

Her whole land shall be ashamed,

And all her slain shall fall in her midst.

48 Then rthe heavens and the earth and all that is in them

Shall sing joyously over Babylon;

sFor the plunderers shall come to her from the north,” says the Lord.

49 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,

So at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.

50 tYou who have escaped the sword,

Get away! Do not stand still!

uRemember the Lord afar off,

And let Jerusalem come to your mind.

51 vWe are ashamed because we have heard reproach.

Shame has covered our faces,

For strangers whave come into the 6sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will bring judgment on her carved images,

And throughout all her land the wounded shall groan.

53 xThough Babylon were to 7mount up to heaven,

And though she were to fortify the height of her strength,

Yet from Me plunderers would come to her,” says the Lord.

54 yThe sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

And great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,

55 Because the Lord is plundering Babylon

And silencing her loud voice,

Though her waves roar like great waters,

And the noise of their voice is uttered,

56 Because the plunderer comes against her, against Babylon,

And her mighty men are taken.

Every one of their bows is broken;

zFor the Lord is the God of recompense,

He will surely repay.

57 “And I will make drunk

Her princes and awise men,

Her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men.

And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep

And not awake,” says bthe King,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly cbroken, 8

And her high gates shall be burned with fire;

dThe people will labor in vain,

And the nations, because of the fire;

And they shall be weary.”