¹⁶ They will stumble^(A) repeatedly;
    they will fall^(B) over each other.
They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back
    to our own people^(C) and our native lands,
    away from the sword of the oppressor.’^(D)

⁹ “‘We would have healed Babylon,
    but she cannot be healed;
let us leave^(A) her and each go to our own land,
    for her judgment^(B) reaches to the skies,
    it rises as high as the heavens.’

¹⁶ Cut off from Babylon the sower,
    and the reaper with his sickle at harvest.
Because of the sword^(A) of the oppressor
    let everyone return to their own people,^(B)
    let everyone flee to their own land.^(C)

²¹ The mercenaries^(A) in her ranks
    are like fattened calves.^(B)
They too will turn and flee^(C) together,
    they will not stand their ground,
for the day^(D) of disaster is coming upon them,
    the time^(E) for them to be punished.

⁶ “The swift cannot flee^(A)
    nor the strong escape.
In the north by the River Euphrates^(B)
    they stumble and fall.^(C)