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.