48
1Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon,
2for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the LORD.
49
Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
3just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50
4"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
5'We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
6dishonor has covered our face,
7for foreigners have come into the holy places of the LORD's house.'
52
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when
8I will execute judgment upon her images,
9and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53
Though Babylon should
10mount up to heaven, and though she should
11fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me against her, declares the LORD.
54
12"A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
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For the LORD is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice.
13Their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is raised,
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for a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon; her warriors are taken; their bows are broken in pieces,
14for the LORD is a God of recompense; he will surely repay.
57
15I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
16her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares
17the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: The broad
18wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground,
19and her high gates shall be burned with fire.
20The peoples labor for nothing, and
21the nations weary themselves only for fire."