[1] Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; [2] And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. [3] let the archer his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. [4] Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. [5] For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. [6] Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. [7] Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. [8] Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. [9] We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. [10] hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work our God. [11] Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple. [12] Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. [13] O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. [14] The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. [15] He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. [16] When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. [17] Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. [18] They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. [19] The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name. [20] Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; [21] And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; [22] With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; [23] I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. [24] And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. [25] Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. [26] And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD. [27] Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. [28] Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. [29] And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. [30] The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken. [31] One post to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, [32] And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, of war are affrighted. [33] For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. [34] Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. [35] The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. [36] Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. [37] And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. [38] They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps. [39] In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. [40] I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats. [41] How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! [42] The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves [43] Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. [44] And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. [45] My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. [46] And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler [47] Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst [48] Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD. [49] As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. [50] the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. [51] We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house. [52] Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. [53] Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD. [54] A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: [55] Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: [56] Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely [57] And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. [58] Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.