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Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.
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The land trembles and writhes, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand— to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.
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Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.
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One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
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the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
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This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
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“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.
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May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion. “May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem.
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Therefore this is what the LORD says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
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Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.
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Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.
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But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the LORD.
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“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
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“How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!
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The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.
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Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels.
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I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.
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“Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.
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Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.
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For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her.
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Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,” declares the LORD.