² On a bare hill raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.^(B)
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
    to execute my anger.^[a](C)

⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
    an army for battle.^(D)
5 They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole earth.^(E)

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty!^[b](F)
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart will melt,^(G)
8     and they will be terrified.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
    they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.^(H)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
    and to destroy its sinners from it.^(I)
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.^(J)
11 I will punish the world for its evil
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
    and lay low the insolence of tyrants.^(K)
12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold
    and humans than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
    and the earth will be shaken out of its place
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    in the day of his fierce anger.^(L)
14 Like a gazelle on the run
    or like sheep with no one to gather them,
all will turn back to their own people,
    and all will flee to their own lands.^(M)
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives raped.^(N)
17 See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.^(O)
18 Their bows will slaughter the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.^(P)
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.^(Q)
20 It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
Arabs will not pitch their tents there;
    shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.^(R)
21 But wild animals will lie down there,
    and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will live,
    and there goat-demons will dance.^(S)
22 Hyenas will cry in its towers
    and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand;
    and its days will not be prolonged.^(T)

² Declare among the nations and proclaim;
    set up a banner and proclaim;
    do not conceal it, say:
“Babylon is taken;
    Bel is put to shame;
    Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame;
    her idols are dismayed.”^(B)

¹¹ Though you rejoice, though you exult,
    O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass
    and neigh like stallions,^(I)
12 your mother shall be utterly shamed,
    and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
She shall be the last of the nations,
    a wilderness, dry land, and a desert.^(J)
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord, she shall not be inhabited
    but shall be an utter desolation;
everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled
    and hiss because of all her wounds.^(K)
14 Take up your positions around Babylon,
    all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her; spare no arrows,
    for she has sinned against the Lord.^(L)
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.^(M)
16 Cut off from Babylon the sower
    and the wielder of the sickle in time of harvest;
because of the destroying sword,
    all of them shall return to their own people,
    and all of them shall flee to their own land.^(N)

²¹ Go up to the land of Merathaim;^[a]
    go up against her,
and attack the inhabitants of Pekod^[b]
    and utterly destroy the last of them,^[c]
            says the Lord;
    do all that I have commanded you.^(R)
22 The noise of battle is in the land
    and great destruction!^(S)
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
    is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!^(T)
24 I set a snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon,
    but you did not know it;
you were discovered and seized
    because you challenged the Lord.^(U)
25 The Lord has opened his armory
    and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a task
    in the land of the Chaldeans.^(V)
26 Come against her from every quarter;
    open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly;
    let nothing be left of her.^(W)
27 Kill all her bulls;
    let them go down to the slaughter.
Alas for them, their day has come,
    the time of their punishment!^(X)

³¹ I am against you, O arrogant one,
    says the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
    the time when I will punish you.^(AB)
32 The arrogant one shall stumble and fall,
    with no one to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
    and it will devour everything around him.^(AC)

³⁵ A sword against the Chaldeans, says the Lord,
    and against the inhabitants of Babylon
    and against her officials and her sages!^(AF)
36 A sword against the diviners,
    so that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
    so that they may be dismayed!^(AG)
37 A sword against her^[d] horses and against her^[e] chariots
    and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
    so that they may become women!
A sword against her treasures,
    that they may be plundered!^(AH)
38 A drought against her waters,
    that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
    and they go mad over idols.^(AI)

⁴¹ Look, a people is coming from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.^(AL)
42 They wield bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring sea;
    they ride upon horses,
set in array as a warrior for battle,
    against you, O daughter Babylon!^(AM)

⁴³ The king of Babylon heard news of them,
    and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.^(AN)

51 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to stir up a destructive wind^[h]
    against Babylon
    and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai,^[i](AQ)
2 and I will send winnowers to Babylon,
    and they shall winnow her.
They shall empty her land
    when they come against her from every side
    on the day of trouble.^(AR)
3 Let not the archer bend his bow,
    and let him not array himself in his coat of mail.
Do not spare her young men;
    utterly destroy her entire army.^(AS)
4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
    and wounded in her streets.
⁵ Indeed, Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
    by their God, the Lord of hosts,
though their land is full of guilt
    before the Holy One of Israel.^(AT)

⁶ Flee from the midst of Babylon;
    save your lives, each of you!
Do not perish because of her guilt,
    for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
    he is repaying her what is due.^(AU)
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
    making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
    and so the nations went mad.^(AV)
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
    wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
    perhaps she may be healed.^(AW)
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.^(AX)
10 The Lord has brought forth our vindication;
    come, let us declare in Zion
    the work of the Lord our God.^(AY)

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows!
    Fill the quivers!

¹² Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    make the watch strong;
post sentinels;
    prepare the ambushes,
for the Lord has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.^(BA)
13 You who live by mighty waters,
    rich in treasures,
your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.^(BB)
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with troops like a swarm of locusts,
    and they shall raise a shout of victory over you.^(BC)

¹⁵ It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.^(BD)
16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
    and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(BE)
17 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
    goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.^(BF)
18 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.^(BG)
19 Not like these is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the Lord of hosts is his name.^(BH)

²⁵ I am against you, O destroying mountain,
            says the Lord,
    that destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you
    and roll you down from the crags
    and make you a burned-out mountain.^(BL)
26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
    says the Lord.^(BM)

²⁷ Raise a standard in the land;
    blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
    summon against her the kingdoms,
    Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
    bring up horses like bristling locusts.^(BN)
28 Prepare the nations for war against her,
    the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
    and every land under their dominion.
²⁹ The land trembles and writhes,
    for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.^(BO)
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.^(BP)
31 One runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken from end to end:^(BQ)
32 the fords have been seized,
    the marshes have been burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.^(BR)
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
    and the time of her harvest will come.^(BS)

³⁴ “King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
    he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his belly with my delicacies;
    he has spewed me out.^(BT)
35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”
    the inhabitants of Zion shall say.
“May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    Jerusalem shall say.^(BU)
36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
I am going to defend your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
    and make her fountain dry,^(BV)
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
    a den of jackals,
an object of horror and of hissing,
    without inhabitant.^(BW)

³⁸ Like lions they shall roar together;
    they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
³⁹ When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink
    and make them drunk, until they become merry
and then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and never wake, says the Lord.^(BX)
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and goats.^(BY)

⁴¹ How Sheshach^[j] is taken;
    the pride of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
    an object of horror among the nations!^(BZ)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
    she has been covered by its tumultuous waves.^(CA)
43 Her cities have become an object of horror,
    a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one lives
    and through which no mortal passes.^(CB)
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.^(CC)

⁴⁵ Come out of her, my people!
    Save your lives, each of you,
    from the fierce anger of the Lord!^(CD)
46 Do not be fainthearted or fearful
    at the rumors heard in the land—
one year one rumor comes,
    the next year another,
rumors of violence in the land
    and of ruler against ruler.^(CE)

⁴⁷ Assuredly, the days are coming
    when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
    and all her slain shall fall in her midst.^(CF)
48 Then the heavens and the earth
    and all that is in them
shall shout for joy over Babylon,
    for the destroyers shall come against her out of the north,
            says the Lord.^(CG)
49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.^(CH)

⁵⁰ You survivors of the sword,
    go; do not linger!
Remember the Lord in a distant land,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:^(CI)
51 We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;
    dishonor has covered our faces,
for aliens have come
    into the holy places of the Lord’s house.^(CJ)

⁵² Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord,
    when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.^(CK)
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
    and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
    says the Lord.^(CL)

⁵⁴ Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
    A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!^(CM)
55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters;
    the sound of their clamor resounds,^(CN)
56 for a destroyer has come against her,
    against Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
    he will repay in full.^(CO)
57 I will make her officials and her sages drunk,
    also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,
    says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.^(CP)

⁵⁸ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
    the nations only for fire,
    and they have become weary.^(CQ)