² “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
    set up a banner and proclaim,
    conceal it not, and say:
^(C)‘Babylon is taken,
    ^(D)Bel is put to shame,
    Merodach is dismayed.
^(E)Her images are put to shame,
    her idols are dismayed.’

^11 (Z)“Though you rejoice, though you exult,
    O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
    and neigh like stallions,
¹² your mother shall be utterly shamed,
    and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
    ^(AA)a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
^13 (AB)Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited
    but shall be an utter desolation;
^(AC)everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
    ^(AD)and hiss because of all her wounds.
^14 (AE)Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
    ^(AF)all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
    ^(AG)for she has sinned against the Lord.
^15 (AH)Raise a shout against her all around;
    she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
    ^(AI)her walls are thrown down.
For ^(AJ)this is the vengeance of the Lord:
    take vengeance on her;
    ^(AK)do to her as she has done.
¹⁶ Cut off from Babylon the sower,
    and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
^(AL)because of the sword of the oppressor,
    ^(AM)every one shall turn to his own people,
    and every one shall flee to his own land.

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim,^[a]
    and against the inhabitants of Pekod.^[b]
Kill, ^(BC)and devote them to destruction,^[c]
declares the Lord,
    and do all that I have commanded you.
^22 (BD)The noise of battle is in the land,
    and great destruction!
^23 (BE)How the hammer of the whole earth
    is cut down and broken!
^(BF)How Babylon ^(BG)has become
    a horror among the nations!
^24 (BH)I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
    and ^(BI)you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
    because you opposed the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened his armory
    and brought out ^(BJ)the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
    in the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶ Come against her from every quarter;
    open her granaries;
^(BK)pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
    let nothing be left of her.
²⁷ Kill all ^(BL)her bulls;
    let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
    ^(BM)the time of their punishment.

³¹ “Behold, I am against you, O ^(BV)proud one,
    declares the Lord God of hosts,
^(BW)for your day has come,
    the time when I will punish you.
^32 (BX)The proud one shall stumble and fall,
    with none to raise him up,
^(BY)and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
    and it will devour all that is around him.

³⁵ “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
    and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
    and against ^(CE)her officials and her ^(CF)wise men!
³⁶ A sword against the diviners,
    that they may become fools!
A sword against her ^(CG)warriors,
    that they may be destroyed!
³⁷ A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
    and against all ^(CH)the foreign troops in her midst,
    that ^(CI)they may become women!
^(CJ)A sword against all her treasures,
    that they may be plundered!
^38 (CK)A drought against her waters,
    that they may be dried up!
^(CL)For it is a land of images,
    and they are mad over idols.

^41 (CP)“Behold, a people comes from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
⁴² They lay hold of bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
    they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
    against you, O daughter of Babylon!

⁴³ “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
    and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
    pain as of a woman in labor.

^5 (I)Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    O daughter of ^(J)the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
    ^(K)the mistress of kingdoms.
^6 (L)I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
    ^(M)you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
⁷ You said, “I shall be ^(N)mistress forever,”
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.

⁸ Now therefore hear this, ^(O)you lover of pleasures,
    ^(P)who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    ^(Q)“I am, and there is no one besides me;
^(R)I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”:
^9 (S)These two things shall come to you
    in a moment, ^(T)in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
^(U)in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰ You felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
    ^(V)“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
¹¹ But evil shall come upon you,
    which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
    for which you will not be able to atone;
^(W)and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.

^12 (X)Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³ You are wearied with your many counsels;
    let them stand forth and save you,
^(Y)those who divide the heavens,
    who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
    what shall come upon you.

¹⁴ Behold, ^(Z)they are like stubble;
    ^(AA)the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
    who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is no one to save you.

^(C)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
    it comes from the wilderness,
    from a terrible land.
² A stern vision is told to me;
    ^(D)the traitor betrays,
    and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^(E)Elam;
    lay siege, O ^(F)Media;
all the ^(G)sighing she has caused
    I bring to an end.
³ Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
    ^(H)pangs have seized me,
    like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
    I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴ My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
    ^(I)the twilight I longed for
    has been turned for me into trembling.
^5 (J)They prepare the table,
    they spread the rugs,^[a]
    they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
    ^(K)oil the shield!
⁶ For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
    let him announce what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
    very diligently.”
⁸ Then he who saw cried out:^[b]
(L)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    whole nights.
⁹ And behold, here come riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
^(M)And he answered,
    ^(N)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(O)and all the carved images of her gods
    he has shattered to the ground.”
¹⁰ O ^(P)my threshed and winnowed one,
    what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel, I announce to you.