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“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
    living at ease and feeling secure.
You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.
    I will never be a widow or lose my children.’

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15 This is the boisterous city,
    once so secure.
“I am the greatest!” it boasted.
    “No other city can compare with me!”
But now, look how it has become an utter ruin,
    a haven for wild animals.
Everyone passing by will laugh in derision
    and shake a defiant fist.

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Listen, you women who lie around in ease.
    Listen to me, you who are so smug.

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Babylon’s Sure Fall

11 “You rejoice and are glad,
    you who plundered my chosen people.
You frisk about like a calf in a meadow
    and neigh like a stallion.

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10 “You felt secure in your wickedness.
    ‘No one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray,
    and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’

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so all the world from east to west
    will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.

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For all the nations have fallen[a]
    because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
    have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
    the merchants of the world have grown rich.”

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven,

“Come away from her, my people.
    Do not take part in her sins,
    or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
    and God remembers her evil deeds.
Do to her as she has done to others.
    Double her penalty[b] for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others,
    so brew twice as much[c] for her.
She glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart,
    ‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow,
    and I have no reason to mourn.’
Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—
    death and mourning and famine.
She will be completely consumed by fire,
    for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”

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Footnotes

  1. 18:3 Some manuscripts read have drunk.
  2. 18:6a Or Give her an equal penalty.
  3. 18:6b Or brew just as much.

He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

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27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— 29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

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18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

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Wealth[a] is treacherous,
    and the arrogant are never at rest.
They open their mouths as wide as the grave,[b]
    and like death, they are never satisfied.
In their greed they have gathered up many nations
    and swallowed many peoples.

“But soon their captives will taunt them.
    They will mock them, saying,
‘What sorrow awaits you thieves!
    Now you will get what you deserve!
You’ve become rich by extortion,
    but how much longer can this go on?’
Suddenly, your debtors will take action.
    They will turn on you and take all you have,
    while you stand trembling and helpless.
Because you have plundered many nations,
    now all the survivors will plunder you.
You committed murder throughout the countryside
    and filled the towns with violence.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:5a As in Dead Sea Scroll 1QpHab; other Hebrew manuscripts read Wine.
  2. 2:5b Hebrew as Sheol.

10 His enemies, tangled like thornbushes
    and staggering like drunks,
    will be burned up like dry stubble in a field.

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36 “The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every god, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed, but only until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place.

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30 That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian[a] king, was killed.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 5:30a Or Chaldean.
  2. 5:30b The Persians and Medes conquered Babylon in October 539 B.c.

23 For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!

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The Writing on the Wall

Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor,[a] Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. While they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:2 Aramaic father; also in 5:11, 13, 18.

30 As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’

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22 That tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.

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53 Though Babylon reaches as high as the heavens
    and makes her fortifications incredibly strong,
I will still send enemies to plunder her.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

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31 “See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,”
    says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“Your day of reckoning has arrived—
    the day when I will punish you.
32 O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall,
    and no one will raise you up.
For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylon
    that will burn up everything around them.”

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18 For the Lord is God,
    and he created the heavens and earth
    and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
    not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says,
    “and there is no other.

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12 At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    called you to weep and mourn.
He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
    and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
13 But instead, you dance and play;
    you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.
    You feast on meat and drink wine.
You say, “Let’s feast and drink,
    for tomorrow we die!”

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My mind reels and my heart races.
    I longed for evening to come,
    but now I am terrified of the dark.

Look! They are preparing a great feast.
    They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.
    Everyone is eating and drinking.
But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.
    You are being attacked!

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Yet they succeed in everything they do.
    They do not see your punishment awaiting them.
    They sneer at all their enemies.
They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us!
    We will be free of trouble forever!”

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27 Then, with Micah’s idols and his priest, the men of Dan came to the town of Laish, whose people were peaceful and secure. They attacked with swords and burned the town to the ground.

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