“Behold, I will raise up against ^(A)Babylon,
Against those who dwell in ^[a]Leb Kamai,
^(B)A destroying wind.
² And I will send ^(C)winnowers to Babylon,
Who shall winnow her and empty her land.
^(D)For in the day of doom
They shall be against her all around.
³ Against her ^(E)let the archer bend his bow,
And lift himself up against her in his armor.
Do not spare her young men;
^(F)Utterly destroy all her army.
⁴ Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
^(G)And those thrust through in her streets.
⁵ For Israel is ^(H)not forsaken, nor Judah,
By his God, the Lord of hosts,
Though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

^6 (I)Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And every one save his life!
Do not be cut off in her iniquity,
For ^(J)this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
^(K)He shall recompense her.
^7 (L)Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
That made all the earth drunk.
^(M)The nations drank her wine;
Therefore the nations ^(N)are deranged.
⁸ Babylon has suddenly ^(O)fallen and been destroyed.
^(P)Wail for her!
^(Q)Take balm for her pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.

⁹ We would have healed Babylon,
But she is not healed.
Forsake her, and ^(R)let us go everyone to his own country;
^(S)For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.
¹⁰ The Lord has ^(T)revealed our righteousness.
Come and let us ^(U)declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

^11 (V)Make^[b] the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
^(W)The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
^(X)For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is ^(Y)the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple.
^12 (Z)Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon;
Make the guard strong,
Set up the watchmen,
Prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
^13 (AA)O you who dwell by many waters,
Abundant in treasures,
Your end has come,
The measure of your covetousness.
^14 (AB)The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:
“Surely I will fill you with men, ^(AC)as with locusts,
And they shall lift ^(AD)up a shout against you.”

^15 (AE)He has made the earth by His power;
He has established the world by His wisdom,
And ^(AF)stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
¹⁶ When He utters His voice—
There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:
^(AG)“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightnings for the rain;
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

^17 (AH)Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;
Every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image;
^(AI)For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
¹⁸ They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁹ The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things;
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance.
The Lord of hosts is His name.

²⁰ “You^(AJ) are My battle-ax and weapons of war:
For with you I will break the nation in pieces;
With you I will destroy kingdoms;
²¹ With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider;
With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;
²² With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;
With you I will break in pieces ^(AK)old and young;
With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;
²³ With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;
And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.

²⁴ “And^(AL) I will repay Babylon
And all the inhabitants of Chaldea
For all the evil they have done
In Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.

²⁵ “Behold, I am against you, ^(AM)O destroying mountain,
Who destroys all the earth,” says the Lord.
“And I will stretch out My hand against you,
Roll you down from the rocks,
^(AN)And make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶ They shall not take from you a stone for a corner
Nor a stone for a foundation,
^(AO)But you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.

^27 (AP)Set up a banner in the land,
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
^(AQ)Prepare the nations against her,
Call ^(AR)the kingdoms together against her:
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a general against her;
Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.
²⁸ Prepare against her the nations,
With the kings of the Medes,
Its governors and all its rulers,
All the land of his dominion.
²⁹ And the land will tremble and sorrow;
For every ^(AS)purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,
^(AT)To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
³⁰ The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They have remained in their strongholds;
Their might has failed,
^(AU)They became like women;
They have burned her dwelling places,
^(AV)The bars of her gate are broken.
^31 (AW)One runner will run to meet another,
And one messenger to meet another,
To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;
^32 (AX)The passages are blocked,
The reeds they have burned with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.

“The daughter of Babylon is ^(AY)like a threshing floor
When ^(AZ)it is time to thresh her;
Yet a little while
^(BA)And the time of her harvest will come.”

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
Has ^(BB)devoured me, he has crushed me;
He has made me an ^(BC)empty vessel,
He has swallowed me up like a monster;
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies,
He has spit me out.
³⁵ Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The inhabitant of Zion will say;
“And my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!”
Jerusalem will say.

“Behold, ^(BD)I will plead your case and take vengeance for you.
^(BE)I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
^37 (BF)Babylon shall become a heap,
A dwelling place for jackals,
^(BG)An astonishment and a hissing,
Without an inhabitant.
³⁸ They shall roar together like lions,
They shall growl like lions’ whelps.
³⁹ In their excitement I will prepare their feasts;
^(BH)I will make them drunk,
That they may rejoice,
And sleep a perpetual sleep
And not awake,” says the Lord.
⁴⁰ “I will bring them down
Like lambs to the slaughter,
Like rams with male goats.

⁴¹ “Oh, how ^(BI)Sheshach^[c] is taken!
Oh, how ^(BJ)the praise of the whole earth is seized!
How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!
^42 (BK)The sea has come up over Babylon;
She is covered with the multitude of its waves.
^43 (BL)Her cities are a desolation,
A dry land and a wilderness,
A land where ^(BM)no one dwells,
Through which no son of man passes.
⁴⁴ I will punish ^(BN)Bel^[d] in Babylon,
And I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed;
And the nations shall not stream to him anymore.
Yes, ^(BO)the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵ “My^(BP) people, go out of the midst of her!
And let everyone deliver ^[e]himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.
⁴⁶ And lest your heart faint,
And you fear ^(BQ)for the rumor that will be heard in the land
(A rumor will come one year,
And after that, in another year
A rumor will come,
And violence in the land,
Ruler against ruler),
⁴⁷ Therefore behold, the days are coming
That I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon;
Her whole land shall be ashamed,
And all her slain shall fall in her midst.
⁴⁸ Then ^(BR)the heavens and the earth and all that is in them
Shall sing joyously over Babylon;
^(BS)For the plunderers shall come to her from the north,” says the Lord.

⁴⁹ As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,
So at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.
^50 (BT)You who have escaped the sword,
Get away! Do not stand still!
^(BU)Remember the Lord afar off,
And let Jerusalem come to your mind.

^51 (BV)We are ashamed because we have heard reproach.
Shame has covered our faces,
For strangers ^(BW)have come into the ^[f]sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.

⁵² “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will bring judgment on her carved images,
And throughout all her land the wounded shall groan.
^53 (BX)Though Babylon were to ^[g]mount up to heaven,
And though she were to fortify the height of her strength,
Yet from Me plunderers would come to her,” says the Lord.

⁴ The King’s strength also loves justice;
You have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
⁵ Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at His footstool—
He is holy.

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
And Samuel was among those who ^(B)called upon His name;
They called upon the Lord, and He answered them.
⁷ He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar;
They kept His testimonies and the ^[c]ordinance He gave them.

⁸ You answered them, O Lord our God;
You were to them God-Who-Forgives,
Though You took vengeance on their deeds.
⁹ Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at His holy hill;
For the Lord our God is holy.

¹⁷ He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own
Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.