³⁵ A sword against Babylon and its people,
    declares the Lord,
        along with its officials and sages.
³⁶ A sword against its diviners
    so that they become fools.
A sword against its warriors
    so that they are terrified.
³⁷ A sword against its horses and chariots,
    and the mercenaries^[a] in its midst
        so that they lose courage.^[b]
A sword against its treasures
    so that they are looted.
³⁸ A sword^[c] against the water supplies
    so that they dry up.
It is truly the land of idols,
    idols about which they have gone utterly mad!
³⁹ Therefore, Babylon will become a ghost town,
    a place for desert animals,
        hyenas, and ravenous birds.^[d]
No one will live there again;
    no one will make it their home.
⁴⁰ Just as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
        declares the Lord,
    so no one will live in Babylon
        or settle there again.