37
Babylon will become piles of rubble. It will become a dwelling place for jackals, something horrible, and an object of contempt, where no one lives.
38
Its people are like roaring lions and growling lion cubs.
39
When they are excited, I will prepare a feast for them and make them drunk so that they will shout and laugh. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up again, declares the LORD.
40
I will take them to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.
41
"Sheshach has been captured. Babylon, the city that the whole world praised, has been taken captive.
42
What a horrifying sight Babylon will be to the nations! The sea will rise over Babylon, and its roaring waves will cover it.
43
Its cities will be ruined. It will become a desert, a land where no one lives and where no human travels.
44
I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make Bel spit out everything that it has swallowed. Nations will no longer stream to Babylon, and its walls will fall.
45
"Leave it, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the burning anger of the LORD.
46
Don't lose courage or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land. One rumor comes one year; another rumor comes the next year. Rumors of violence are in the land. Rumors that one ruler will fight against another are in the land.
47
That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its soldiers will lie dead.