⁴³ Her towns will be desolate,
    a dry and desert^(A) land,
a land where no one lives,
    through which no one travels.^(B)

⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt^(A)
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts^(B) and ravines,^(C)
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels^(D) and no one lives?’

²⁰ She will never be inhabited^(A)
    or lived in through all generations;
there no nomads^(B) will pitch their tents,
    there no shepherds will rest their flocks.

²⁹ The land trembles^(A) and writhes,
    for the Lord’s purposes^(B) against Babylon stand—
to lay waste^(C) the land of Babylon
    so that no one will live there.^(D)

³⁷ Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
    a haunt^(A) of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,^(B)
    a place where no one lives.^(C)

³⁹ “So desert creatures^(A) and hyenas will live there,
    and there the owl will dwell.
It will never again be inhabited
    or lived in from generation to generation.^(B)
40 As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah^(C)
    along with their neighboring towns,”
declares the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
    no people will dwell in it.^(D)

¹² your mother will be greatly ashamed;
    she who gave you birth will be disgraced.^(A)
She will be the least of the nations—
    a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.^(B)