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37 and Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
    haunted by jackals.
She will be an object of horror and contempt,
    a place where no one lives.

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He gave a mighty shout:

“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
    She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul[a] spirit,
    a hideout for every foul vulture
    and every foul and dreadful animal.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 18:2a Greek unclean; also in each of the two following phrases.
  2. 18:2b Some manuscripts condense the last two lines to read a hideout for every foul [unclean] and dreadful vulture.

I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy[a] you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.

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Footnotes

  1. 25:9 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.

16 Therefore, their land will become desolate,
    a monument to their stupidity.
All who pass by will be astonished
    and will shake their heads in amazement.

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21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted,

“Just like this, the great city Babylon
    will be thrown down with violence
    and will never be found again.
22 The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets
    will never be heard in you again.
No craftsmen and no trades
    will ever be found in you again.
The sound of the mill
    will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp
    will never shine in you again.
The happy voices of brides and grooms
    will never be heard in you again.
For your merchants were the greatest in the world,
    and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.

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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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16 You keep only the laws of evil King Omri;
    you follow only the example of wicked King Ahab!
Therefore, I will make an example of you,
    bringing you to complete ruin.
You will be treated with contempt,
    mocked by all who see you.”

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15 All who pass by jeer at you.
    They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem,[a] saying,
“Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’
    and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”

16 All your enemies mock you.
    They scoff and snarl and say,
“We have destroyed her at last!
    We have long waited for this day,
    and it is finally here!”

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Footnotes

  1. 2:15 Hebrew the daughter of Jerusalem.

29 The earth trembles and writhes in pain,
    for everything the Lord has planned against Babylon stands unchanged.
Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant.

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25 “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth!
    I am your enemy,” says the Lord.
“I will raise my fist against you,
    to knock you down from the heights.
When I am finished,
    you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble.
26 You will be desolate forever.
    Even your stones will never again be used for building.
You will be completely wiped out,”
    says the Lord.

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38 A drought[a] will strike her water supply,
    causing it to dry up.
And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols,
    and the people are madly in love with them.

39 “Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas.
    It will be a home for owls.
Never again will people live there;
    it will lie desolate forever.
40 I will destroy it as I[b] destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
    and their neighboring towns,” says the Lord.
“No one will live there;
    no one will inhabit it.

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Footnotes

  1. 50:38 Or sword; the Hebrew words for drought and sword are very similar.
  2. 50:40 Hebrew as God.

23 Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth,
    lies broken and shattered.
    Babylon is desolate among the nations!
24 Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you.
    You are caught, for you have fought against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his armory
    and brought out weapons to vent his fury.
The terror that falls upon the Babylonians
    will be the work of the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
26 Yes, come against her from distant lands.
    Break open her granaries.
Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble.
    Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!

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12 But your homeland[a] will be overwhelmed
    with shame and disgrace.
You will become the least of nations—
    a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.
13 Because of the Lord’s anger,
    Babylon will become a deserted wasteland.
All who pass by will be horrified
    and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

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Footnotes

  1. 50:12 Hebrew your mother.

18 Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery.

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18 I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.

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12 “Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the Lord. “I will make the country of the Babylonians[a] a wasteland forever.

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Footnotes

  1. 25:12 Or Chaldeans.

I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

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For it is the day of the Lord’s revenge,
    the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.[a]
The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch,
    and the ground will be covered with fire.
10 This judgment on Edom will never end;
    the smoke of its burning will rise forever.
The land will lie deserted from generation to generation.
    No one will live there anymore.
11 It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl,
    the great owl and the raven.[b]
For God will measure that land carefully;
    he will measure it for chaos and destruction.
12 It will be called the Land of Nothing,
    and all its nobles will soon be gone.[c]
13 Thorns will overrun its palaces;
    nettles and thistles will grow in its forts.
The ruins will become a haunt for jackals
    and a home for owls.
14 Desert animals will mingle there with hyenas,
    their howls filling the night.
Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins,
    and night creatures[d] will come there to rest.
15 There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs.
    She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings.
And the buzzards will come,
    each one with its mate.

16 Search the book of the Lord,
    and see what he will do.
Not one of these birds and animals will be missing,
    and none will lack a mate,
for the Lord has promised this.
    His Spirit will make it all come true.
17 He has surveyed and divided the land
    and deeded it over to those creatures.
They will possess it forever,
    from generation to generation.

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Footnotes

  1. 34:8 Hebrew to Zion.
  2. 34:11 The identification of some of these birds is uncertain.
  3. 34:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  4. 34:14 Hebrew Lilith, possibly a reference to a mythical demon of the night.

23 “I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls,
    filled with swamps and marshes.
I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction.
    I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

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19 Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms,
    the flower of Chaldean pride,
will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God destroyed them.
20 Babylon will never be inhabited again.
    It will remain empty for generation after generation.
Nomads will refuse to camp there,
    and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.
21 Desert animals will move into the ruined city,
    and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures.
Owls will live among the ruins,
    and wild goats will go there to dance.
22 Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
    and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s days are numbered;
    its time of destruction will soon arrive.

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“That is why the Lord’s anger has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes.

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