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“·Run away [Flee] from Babylon
    and ·save your lives [rescue yourselves]!
    Don’t stay and be killed because of Babylon’s sins.
It is time for the Lord to ·punish Babylon [L avenge himself];
    he will give Babylon the punishment she deserves.
Babylon was like a gold cup in the Lord’s hand
    that made the whole earth drunk [C God used Babylon to administer his cup of wrath].
The nations drank Babylon’s wine,
    so they went ·crazy [mad].
Babylon has suddenly fallen and been broken.
    ·Cry [Wail] for her!
Get balm [8:22; 46:11] for her pain,
    and maybe she can be healed.

“Foreigners in Babylon say, ‘We tried to heal Babylon,
    but she cannot be healed.
So let us leave her and each go to his own country [C after the fall of Babylon, the Persians allowed the exiled people to return to their own lands; Ezra 1].
    Babylon’s ·punishment [judgment] ·is as high as [reaches; touches] the ·sky [heavens];
it ·reaches [L lifts up] to the ·clouds [or skies].’

10 “The people of Judah say, ‘The Lord has ·shown us to be right [brought about/forth our vindication].
    Come, let us ·tell [recount] in ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple]
what the Lord our God has done.’

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Flee out of Babylon,
Let every one of you save his life!
Do not be destroyed in her punishment,
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
He is going to pay her what she has earned.(A)

Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
Intoxicating all the earth.
The nations drank her wine;
Therefore the nations have gone mad.(B)

Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered!
Wail for her [if you care to]!
Get balm for her [incurable] pain;
Perhaps she may be healed.(C)

We would have healed Babylon, but she was not to be healed.
Abandon her and let each [captive] return to his own country,
For her guilt and judgment have reached to heaven
And are lifted up to the very skies.(D)
10 
The Lord has brought about our vindication and has revealed the righteousness of our cause;
Come and let us proclaim in Zion
The work of the Lord our God!

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