⁶ Who can stand before his indignation?
    Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
    and by him the rocks are broken in pieces.^(A)

³⁸ Like lions they shall roar together;
    they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
³⁹ When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink
    and make them drunk, until they become merry
and then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and never wake, says the Lord.^(D)
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and goats.^(E)

⁴¹ How Sheshach^[a] is taken;
    the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
    an object of horror among the nations!^(F)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
    she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.^(G)
43 Her cities have become an object of horror,
    a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one lives
    and through which no mortal passes.^(H)
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon
    and make him disgorge what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer stream to him;
    the wall of Babylon has fallen.^(I)

⁴⁵ Come out of her, my people!
    Save your lives, each of you,
    from the fierce anger of the Lord!^(J)
46 Do not be fainthearted or fearful
    at the rumors heard in the land—
one year one rumor comes,
    the next year another,
rumors of violence in the land
    and of ruler against ruler.^(K)

⁴⁷ Assuredly, the days are coming
    when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
    and all her slain shall fall in her midst.^(L)
48 Then the heavens and the earth
    and all that is in them
shall shout for joy over Babylon,
    for the destroyers shall come against her out of the north,
            says the Lord.^(M)
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.^(N)

⁵⁰ You survivors of the sword,
    go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:^(O)
51 We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;
    dishonor has covered our faces,
for aliens have come
    into the holy places of the Lord’s house.^(P)

⁵² Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
    when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.^(Q)
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
    and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
    says the Lord.^(R)

⁵⁴ Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
    A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!^(S)
55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters;
    the sound of their clamor resounds,^(T)
56 for a destroyer has come against her,
    against Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
    he will repay in full.^(U)
57 I will make her officials and her sages drunk,
    also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,
    says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.^(V)

⁵⁸ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
    the nations only for fire,
    and they have become weary.^(W)

⁴¹ Look, a people is coming from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.^(B)
42 They wield bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring sea;
    they ride upon horses,
set in array as a warrior for battle,
    against you, O daughter Babylon!^(C)

²² Thus says the Lord:
See, a people is coming from the land of the north;
    a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.^(A)
23 They grasp the bow and the javelin;
    they are cruel and have no mercy;
    their sound is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    equipped like a warrior for battle,
    against you, O daughter Zion!^(B)