58
Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "The wide walls of Bavel will be razed to the ground, her lofty gates will be set on fire. The peoples are toiling for nothing, the nation's labor goes up in flames, and everyone is exhausted."
59
This is the order which Yirmeyahu the prophet gave to S'rayah the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, when he went to Bavel with Tzidkiyahu the king of Y'hudah in the fourth year of his reign. S'rayah was quartermaster.
60
Yirmeyahu had written on a separate scroll all the above words describing the disaster that was to befall Bavel.
61
Yirmeyahu said to S'rayah, "See to it that when you arrive in Bavel you read all these words aloud. Then say,
62
'ADONAI, you have promised to destroy this place, that no one will live here, neither human nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.'
63
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock to it, throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,
64
and say, 'Like this, Bavel will sink, never to rise again, because of the disaster I am bringing on her; and they will grow weary.'" (Up to here, these have been the words of Yirmeyahu.)