Jeremiah 51:36-44
International Standard Version
36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Look, I’m going to argue your case
and take vengeance for you.
I’ll dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry.[a]
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
a refuge for jackals,
a desolate place
and an object of scorn.[b]
38 They’ll roar together like young lions;
they’ll growl like lion cubs.
39 When they’re excited[c] I’ll serve them their banquet,
and make them drunk until they’re merry.
They’ll sleep forever and won’t wake up,”
declares the Lord.
40 “I’ll bring them down like lambs for the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.
41 “How Sheshak[d] will be captured,
and the prince of all the earth seized!
How Babylon will become an object of horror
among the nations!
42 The sea will come up against Babylon,
and she will be covered by wave upon wave.[e]
43 Her cities will become an object of horror,
a dry land and a desert,
a land in which no one lives,
and through which no human being passes.
44 I’ll punish Bel[f] in Babylon,
and I’ll make what he has swallowed
come out of his mouth.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
Even the wall of Babylon will fall.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:36 I.e. dry up the source of Babylon’s waters
- Jeremiah 51:37 Lit. hissing; i.e. as a sign of mocking and contempt
- Jeremiah 51:39 Lit. hot
- Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:42 Lit. its many waves
- Jeremiah 51:44 Bel was another name for Marduk, the sun god of Babylon.
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