¹³ Is it not from the Lord of hosts
    that peoples labor only to feed the flames
    and nations weary themselves for nothing?

⁴⁴ I will punish Bel in Babylon
    and make him disgorge what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer stream to him;
    the wall of Babylon has fallen.^(A)

¹⁵ Raise a shout against her from all sides,
    “She has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
    her walls are thrown down.”
For this is the vengeance of the Lord:
    take vengeance on her;
    do to her as she has done.^(A)

³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
    they have become women;
her buildings are set on fire;
    her bars are broken.^(A)

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.^(A)

45 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
    whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him
    and to strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him—
    and the gates shall not be closed:^(A)
2 I will go before you
    and level the mountains;^[a]
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
    and cut through the bars of iron;^(B)

¹ Unless the Lord builds the house,
    those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
    the guard keeps watch in vain.^(A)