51 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to stir up a destructive wind^[a]
    against Babylon
    and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai,^[b](A)
2 and I will send winnowers to Babylon,
    and they shall winnow her.
They shall empty her land
    when they come against her from every side
    on the day of trouble.^(B)
3 Let not the archer bend his bow,
    and let him not array himself in his coat of mail.
Do not spare her young men;
    utterly destroy her entire army.^(C)
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
    and wounded in her streets.
⁵ Indeed, Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
    by their God, the Lord of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
    before the Holy One of Israel.^(D)

⁶ Flee from the midst of Babylon;
    save your lives, each of you!
Do not perish because of her guilt,
    for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
    he is repaying her what is due.^(E)
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
    making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
    and so the nations went mad.^(F)
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
    wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
    perhaps she may be healed.^(G)
9 We tried to heal Babylon,
    but she could not be healed.
Forsake her, and let each of us go
    to our own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
    and has been lifted up even to the skies.^(H)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
    come, let us declare in Zion
    the work of the Lord our God.^(I)

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows!
    Fill the quivers!

¹² Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    make the watch strong;
post sentinels;
    prepare the ambushes,
for the Lord has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.^(K)
13 You who live by mighty waters,
    rich in treasures,
your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.^(L)
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with troops like a swarm of locusts,
    and they shall raise a shout of victory over you.^(M)

² On a bare hill raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.^(B)
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
    to execute my anger.^[a](C)

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
    It has become a dwelling place of demons,
a haunt of every foul spirit,
    a haunt of every foul bird,
    a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.^[a](B)
3 For all the nations have fallen^[b]
    from the wine of the wrath of her prostitution,
and the kings of the earth have engaged in sexual immorality^[c] with her,
    and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power^[d] of her luxury.”^(C)

“Come out of her, my people,
    so that you do not take part in her sins
and so that you do not share in her plagues,^(D)
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
    and God has remembered her iniquities.^(E)
6 Render to her as she herself has rendered,
    and repay her double for her deeds;
    mix a double dose for her in the cup she mixed.^(F)
7 As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
    so give her a like measure of torment and grief.
Since in her heart she says,
    ‘I rule as a queen;
I am no widow,
    and I will never see grief,’^(G)
8 therefore her plagues will come in a single day—
    pestilence and mourning and famine—
and she will be burned with fire,
    for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”^(H)