³⁹ Therefore, Babylon will become a ghost town,
    a place for desert animals,
        hyenas, and ravenous birds.^[a]
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.

⁴¹ Look! An army is on the move
    from the northern regions.
A powerful nation and many kings are coming
    from the ends of the earth.