Jeremiah 51:35–58

³⁵May the violence done to me

and to my flesh

be upon Babylon,”

says the dweller of Zion.

“May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,”

says Jerusalem.

³⁶Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“Behold, I will plead your case

and take vengeance on your behalf;

I will dry up her sea

and make her springs run dry.

³⁷Babylon will become a heap of rubble,

a haunt for jackals,^g

an object of horror and scorn,

without inhabitant.

³⁸They will roar together like young lions;

they will growl like lion cubs.

³⁹While they are flushed with heat,

I will serve them a feast,

and I will make them drunk

so that they may revel;

then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up,

declares the LORD.

⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

like rams with male goats.

⁴¹How Sheshach^h has been captured!

The praise of all the earth has been seized.

What a horror Babylon has become

among the nations!

⁴²The sea has come up over Babylon;

she is covered in turbulent waves.

⁴³Her cities have become a desolation,

a dry and arid land,

a land where no one lives,

where no son of man passes through.

⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon.

I will make him spew out what he swallowed.

The nations will no longer stream to him;

even the wall of Babylon will fall.

⁴⁵Come out of her, My people!ⁱ

Save your lives, each of you,

from the fierce anger of the LORD.

⁴⁶Do not let your heart grow faint,

and do not be afraid

when the rumor is heard in the land;

for a rumor will come one year—

and then another the next year—

of violence in the land

and of ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷Therefore, behold, the days are coming

when I will punish the idols of Babylon.

Her entire land will suffer shame,

and all her slain will lie fallen within her.

⁴⁸Then heaven and earth and all that is in them

will shout for joy over Babylon

because the destroyers from the north

will come against her,”

declares the LORD.

⁴⁹“Babylon must fall

on account of the slain of Israel,

just as the slain of all the earth

have fallen because of Babylon.

⁵⁰You who have escaped the sword,

depart and do not linger!

Remember the LORD from far away,

and let Jerusalem come to mind.”

⁵¹“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach;

disgrace has covered our faces,

because foreigners have entered

the holy places of the LORD’s house.”

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

declares the LORD,

“when I will punish her idols,

and throughout her land the wounded will groan.

⁵³Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens

and fortifies her lofty stronghold,

the destroyers I send will come against her,”

declares the LORD.

⁵⁴“The sound of a cry

comes from Babylon,

the sound of great destruction

from the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵For the LORD will destroy Babylon;

He will silence her mighty voice.

The waves will roar like great waters;

the tumult of their voices will resound.

⁵⁶For a destroyer is coming against her —

against Babylon.

Her warriors will be captured,

and their bows will be broken,

for the LORD is a God of retribution;

He will repay in full.

⁵⁷I will make her princes and wise men drunk,

along with her governors, officials, and warriors.

Then they will fall asleep forever

and not wake up,”

declares the King,

whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

⁵⁸This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled,

and her high gates consumed by fire.

So the labor of the people will be for nothing;

the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”