⁹ And behold, here come riders,
    horsemen in pairs!”
^(A)And he answered,
    ^(B)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(C)and all the carved images of her gods
    he has shattered to the ground.”

47 ^(A)Come down and sit in the dust,
    O virgin ^(B)daughter of Babylon;
^(C)sit on the ground without a throne,
    O daughter of ^(D)the Chaldeans!
^(E)For you shall no more be called
    tender and delicate.
² Take the millstones and ^(F)grind flour,
    ^(G)put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
    pass through the rivers.
³ Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
    and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
    and I will spare no one.
^4 (H)Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
    is the Holy One of Israel.
^5 (I)Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    O daughter of ^(J)the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
    ^(K)the mistress of kingdoms.
^6 (L)I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
    ^(M)you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
⁷ You said, “I shall be ^(N)mistress for ever”,
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.
⁸ Now therefore hear this, ^(O)you lover of pleasures,
    ^(P)who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    ^(Q)“I am, and there is no one besides me;
^(R)I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”:
^9 (S)These two things shall come to you
    in a moment, ^(T)in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
^(U)in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.
¹⁰ You felt secure in your wickedness,
    you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
    ^(V)“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
¹¹ But evil shall come upon you,
    which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
    for which you will not be able to atone;
^(W)and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.
^12 (X)Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have laboured from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³ You are wearied with your many counsels;
    let them stand forth and save you,
^(Y)those who divide the heavens,
    who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
    what shall come upon you.
¹⁴ Behold, ^(Z)they are like stubble;
    ^(AA)the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Such to you are those with whom you have laboured,
    who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is no one to save you.

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

^11 (Z)“Though you rejoice, though you exult,
    O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
    and neigh like stallions,
¹² your mother shall be utterly shamed,
    and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
    ^(AA)a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
^13 (AB)Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited
    but shall be an utter desolation;
^(AC)everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
    ^(AD)and hiss because of all her wounds.
^14 (AE)Set yourselves in array against Babylon all round,
    ^(AF)all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows,
    ^(AG)for she has sinned against the Lord.
^15 (AH)Raise a shout against her all round;
    she has surrendered;
her bulwarks have fallen;
    ^(AI)her walls are thrown down.
For ^(AJ)this is the vengeance of the Lord:
    take vengeance on her;
    ^(AK)do to her as she has done.
¹⁶ Cut off from Babylon the sower,
    and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
^(AL)because of the sword of the oppressor,
    ^(AM)every one shall turn to his own people,
    and every one shall flee to his own land.

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim,^[a]
    and against the inhabitants of Pekod.^[b]
Kill, ^(BC)and devote them to destruction,^[c]
declares the Lord,
    and do all that I have commanded you.
^22 (BD)The noise of battle is in the land,
    and great destruction!
^23 (BE)How the hammer of the whole earth
    is cut down and broken!
^(BF)How Babylon ^(BG)has become
    a horror among the nations!
^24 (BH)I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
    and ^(BI)you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
    because you opposed the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened his armoury
    and brought out ^(BJ)the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
    in the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶ Come against her from every quarter;
    open her granaries;
^(BK)pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
    let nothing be left of her.
²⁷ Kill all ^(BL)her bulls;
    let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
    ^(BM)the time of their punishment.

³¹ “Behold, I am against you, O ^(BV)proud one,
    declares the Lord God of hosts,
^(BW)for your day has come,
    the time when I will punish you.
^32 (BX)The proud one shall stumble and fall,
    with none to raise him up,
^(BY)and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
    and it will devour all that is round him.

³⁵ “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
    and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
    and against ^(CE)her officials and her ^(CF)wise men!
³⁶ A sword against the diviners,
    that they may become fools!
A sword against her ^(CG)warriors,
    that they may be destroyed!
³⁷ A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
    and against all ^(CH)the foreign troops in her midst,
    that ^(CI)they may become women!
^(CJ)A sword against all her treasures,
    that they may be plundered!
^38 (CK)A drought against her waters,
    that they may be dried up!
^(CL)For it is a land of images,
    and they are mad over idols.

^41 (CP)“Behold, a people comes from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
⁴² They lay hold of bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
    they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
    against you, O daughter of Babylon!
⁴³ “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
    and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
    pain as of a woman in labour.

51 Thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will stir up ^(A)the spirit of a destroyer
    against Babylon,
    against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,^[a]
2 and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
    and ^(B)they shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
    when they come against her from every side
    ^(C)on the day of trouble.
^3 (D)Let not the archer bend his bow,
    and let him not stand up in his armour.
Spare not her young men;
    ^(E)devote to destruction^[b] all her army.
⁴ They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
    ^(F)and wounded in her streets.
^5 (G)For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
    by their God, the Lord of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeans^[c] is full of guilt
    against the Holy One of Israel.
^6 (H)“Flee from the midst of Babylon;
    let every one save his life!
^(I)Be not cut off in her punishment,
    ^(J)for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance,
    the repayment he is rendering her.
⁷ Babylon was ^(K)a golden cup in the Lord's hand,
    ^(L)making all the earth drunken;
^(M)the nations drank of her wine;
    therefore the nations went mad.
^8 (N)Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
    ^(O)wail for her!
^(P)Take balm for her pain;
    perhaps she may be healed.
⁹ We would have healed Babylon,
    but she was not healed.
^(Q)Forsake her, and ^(R)let us go
    each to his own country,
for ^(S)her judgement has reached up to heaven
    and has been lifted up even to the skies.
^10 (T)The Lord has brought about our vindication;
    ^(U)come, let us declare in Zion
    the work of the Lord our God.
^11 (V)“Sharpen the arrows!
    Take up the shields!

^12 (AB)“Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    ^(AC)make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
    prepare the ambushes;
^(AD)for the Lord has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
^13 (AE)O you who dwell by many waters,
    rich in treasures,
your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.
^14 (AF)The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, ^(AG)as many as locusts,
    ^(AH)and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
^15 (AI)“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.
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 lightning for the rain,
    and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
¹⁷ Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.
¹⁸ They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁹ Not like these is he who 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.
²⁰ “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I ^(AJ)break nations in pieces;
    with you I destroy kingdoms;
²¹ with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
    with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
²² with you I break in pieces man and woman;
    with you I break in pieces ^(AK)the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces ^(AL)the young man and the young woman;
²³     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
    with you I break in pieces ^(AM)governors and commanders.

²⁵ “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
declares the Lord,
    which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
    and roll you down from the crags,
    ^(AO)and make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶ No ^(AP)stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be ^(AQ)a perpetual waste,
    declares the Lord.
^27 (AR)“Set up a standard on the earth;
    ^(AS)blow the trumpet among the nations;
^(AT)prepare ^(AU)the nations for war against her;
    summon against her ^(AV)the kingdoms,
    ^(AW)Ararat, Minni, and ^(AX)Ashkenaz;
appoint a ^(AY)marshal against her;
    ^(AZ)bring up horses like bristling locusts.
^28 (BA)Prepare ^(BB)the nations for war against her,
    the kings of ^(BC)the Medes, ^(BD)with their governors ^(BE)and deputies,
    and every ^(BF)land under their dominion.
^29 (BG)The land trembles and writhes in pain,
    ^(BH)for the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.
³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
    ^(BI)they have become women;
^(BJ)her dwellings are on fire;
    ^(BK)her bars are broken.
³¹ One ^(BL)runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken on every side;
³² the fords have been ^(BM)seized,
    the marshes are burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.
³³ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
^(BN)The daughter of Babylon is like ^(BO)a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
    and ^(BP)the time of her harvest will come.”
³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon ^(BQ)has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
    ^(BR)he has swallowed me like ^(BS)a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.^[d]
35 The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
    let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    let Jerusalem say.
³⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, ^(BT)I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
^(BU)I will dry up her sea
    and ^(BV)make her fountain dry,
³⁷ and Babylon shall become ^(BW)a heap of ruins,
    ^(BX)the haunt of jackals,
^(BY)a horror ^(BZ)and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.
^38 (CA)“They shall roar together ^(CB)like lions;
    they shall growl like lions' cubs.
^39 (CC)While they are inflamed ^(CD)I will prepare them a feast
    and ^(CE)make them drunk, that they may become merry,
^(CF)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 ^(CG)Babylon^[e] is taken,
    ^(CH)the praise of the whole earth ^(CI)seized!
How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
^42 (CJ)The sea has come up on Babylon;
    she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
⁴³ Her cities have become a horror,
    ^(CK)a land of drought and a desert,
^(CL)a land in which no one dwells,
    and through which no son of man passes.
⁴⁴ And I will punish ^(CM)Bel in Babylon,
    and ^(CN)take out of his mouth ^(CO)what he has swallowed.
^(CP)The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    ^(CQ)the wall of Babylon has fallen.
⁴⁵ “Go out of the midst of her, ^(CR)my people!
    Let every one save his life
    from ^(CS)the fierce anger of the Lord!
⁴⁶ Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
    ^(CT)at the report heard in the land,
^(CU)when a report comes in one year
    and afterwards a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
    ^(CV)and ruler is against ruler.
⁴⁷ “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
    when ^(CW)I will punish the images of Babylon;
^(CX)her whole land shall be put to shame,
    and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
^48 (CY)Then the heavens and the earth,
    and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
    ^(CZ)for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the Lord.
⁴⁹ Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    ^(DA)just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
^50 (DB)“You who have escaped from the sword,
    go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
^51 (DC)‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
    ^(DD)dishonour has covered our face,
^(DE)for foreigners have come
    into the holy places of the Lord's house.’
⁵² “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when ^(DF)I will execute judgement upon her images,
^(DG)and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.
⁵³ Though Babylon should ^(DH)mount up to heaven,
    and though she should ^(DI)fortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
    declares the Lord.
^54 (DJ)“A voice! A cry from Babylon!
    The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
⁵⁵ For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her mighty voice.
^(DK)Their waves roar like many waters;
    the noise of their voice is raised,
⁵⁶ for a destroyer has come upon her,
    upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken in pieces,
^(DL)for the Lord is a God of recompense;
    he will surely repay.
^57 (DM)I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
    ^(DN)her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
    declares ^(DO)the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
⁵⁸ “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad ^(DP)wall of Babylon
    shall be levelled to the ground,
^(DQ)and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
^(DR)The peoples labour for nothing,
    and ^(DS)the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

² On a bare hill ^(C)raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for ^(D)them to enter
    the gates of the nobles.
³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
    and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
    my proudly exulting ones.^[a]
4 The sound ^(E)of a tumult is on the mountains
    as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations gathering together!
^(F)The Lord of hosts is mustering
    a host for battle.
^5 (G)They come from a distant land,
    from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
    to destroy the whole land.^[b]
6 (H)Wail, for ^(I)the day of the Lord is near;
    as destruction from the Almighty^[c] it will come!
⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart ^(J)will melt.
⁸ They will be dismayed:
    ^(K)pangs and agony will seize them;
    ^(L)they will be in anguish like a woman in labour.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.
⁹ Behold, ^(M)the day of the Lord comes,
    cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
    and ^(N)to destroy its sinners from it.
^10 (O)For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
    will not give their light;
^(P)the sun will be dark at its rising,
    and the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹ I will punish ^(Q)the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will ^(R)put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    ^(S)and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make ^(T)people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the ^(U)gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore ^(V)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.
¹⁴ And like a hunted gazelle,
    or like sheep with none to gather them,
^(W)each will turn to his own people,
    and each will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
^16 (X)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.
¹⁷ Behold, ^(Y)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.
^18 (Z)Their bows will slaughter^[d] the young men;
    they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
    their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, ^(AA)the glory of kingdoms,
    the splendour and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be ^(AB)like Sodom and Gomorrah
    when God overthrew them.
^20 (AC)It will never be inhabited
    or lived in for all generations;
no ^(AD)Arab will pitch his tent there;
    no ^(AE)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
²¹ But ^(AF)wild animals will lie down there,
    and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ^(AG)ostriches^[e] will dwell,
    and there wild goats will dance.
²² Hyenas^[f] will cry in its towers,
    and ^(AH)jackals in ^(AI)the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
    and its days will not be prolonged.