God Will Destroy Babylon

47 The Lord says, “City of Babylon, go down and sit in the dirt.

People of Babylon, sit on the ground.

You are no longer the ruler.

You will no longer be called

tender or beautiful.

2  You must use large stones to grind grain into flour.

Remove your veil and your nice skirts.

Uncover your legs and cross the rivers.

3  People will see your nakedness;

they will see your shame.

I will punish you;

I will punish every one of you.”

4  Our Savior is named the Lord All-Powerful;

he is the Holy One of Israel.

5  “Babylon, sit in darkness and say nothing.

You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

6  I was angry with my people,

so I rejected those who belonged to me.

I gave them to you,

but you showed them no mercy.

You even made the old people

work very hard.

7  You said, ‘I will live forever

as the queen.’

But you did not think about these things

or consider what would happen.

8  “Now, listen, you lover of pleasure.

You think you are safe.

You tell yourself,

‘I am the only important person.

I will never be a widow

or lose my children.’

9  Two things will happen to you suddenly, in a single day.

You will lose your children and your husband.

These things will truly happen to you,

in spite of all your magic,

in spite of your powerful tricks.

10  You do evil things, but you feel safe

and say, ‘No one sees what I do.’

Your wisdom and knowledge

have fooled you.

You say to yourself,

‘I am God, and no one is equal to me.’

11  But troubles will come to you,

and you will not know how to stop them.

Disaster will fall on you,

and you will not be able to keep it away.

You will be destroyed quickly;

you will not even see it coming.

12  “Keep on using your tricks

and doing all your magic

that you have used since you were young.

Maybe they will help you;

maybe you will be able to scare someone.

13  You are tired of the advice you have received.

So let those who study the sky—

those who tell the future by looking at the stars and the new moons—

let them save you from what is about to happen to you.

14  But they are like straw;

fire will quickly burn them up.

They cannot save themselves

from the power of the fire.

They are not like coals that give warmth

nor like a fire that you may sit beside.

15  You have worked with these people,

and they have been with you since you were young,

but they will not be able to help you.

Everyone will go his own way,

and there will be no one left to save you.”