36 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

I am about to champion your cause(A)
and take vengeance on your behalf;
I will dry up her sea(B)
and make her fountain run dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,(C)
without inhabitant.(D)
38 They will roar together like young lions;
they will growl like lion cubs.
39 While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast,
and I will make them drunk so that they celebrate.[a](E)
Then they will fall asleep forever
and never wake up.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams together with male goats.(F)

41 How Sheshak[b](G) has been captured,(H)
the praise(I) of the whole earth seized.
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(J)
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;(K)
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43 Her cities have become a desolation,(L)
an arid desert,
a land where no one lives,
where no human being even passes through.
44 I will punish Bel(M) in Babylon.
I will make him vomit what he swallowed.(N)
The nations will no longer stream to him;(O)
even Babylon’s wall will fall.

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Footnotes

  1. 51:39 LXX reads pass out
  2. 51:41 = Babylon

36 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, (A)I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
(B)I will dry up her sea
    and (C)make her fountain dry,
37 and Babylon shall become (D)a heap of ruins,
    (E)the haunt of jackals,
(F)a horror (G)and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.

38 (H)“They shall roar together (I)like lions;
    they shall growl like lions' cubs.
39 (J)While they are inflamed (K)I will prepare them a feast
    and (L)make them drunk, that they may become merry,
(M)then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and not wake, declares the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and male goats.

41 “How (N)Babylon[a] is taken,
    (O)the praise of the whole earth (P)seized!
How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
42 (Q)The sea has come up on Babylon;
    she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43 Her cities have become a horror,
    (R)a land of drought and a desert,
(S)a land in which no one dwells,
    and through which no son of man passes.
44 And I will punish (T)Bel in Babylon,
    and (U)take out of his mouth (V)what he has swallowed.
(W)The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    (X)the wall of Babylon has fallen.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:41 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon