27
Set up a flag in the land; sound the alarm among the nations! Prepare them for war against her; summon kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; call up the troops, like swarms of locusts!
28
Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of Media, its governors, all its officials, and all the countries they rule.
29
The earth quakes and trembles because the LORD's plans against Babylon are fulfilled: to reduce Babylon to a wasteland, with no one left in it.
30
Babylon's warriors quit fighting; they hide in their fortifications. Their strength is worn out; their courage is gone! Babylon's houses are burned down, and its gates are smashed.
31
Courier joins courier, messenger joins messenger to relate the news to the king of Babylon that his entire city has fallen.
32
The river crossings are blocked; the marshes are on fire; the soldiers are terrified.
33
The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor ready to be trampled down. In a little while her harvest will come.
34
Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar has eaten us alive; he's drained us of strength; he's left us for dead. He's gobbled us up like a great sea monster; he's filled his belly with our treasures; and he's spit us out.
35
May Babylon be violated as our bodies were, say the inhabitants of Zion. May our blood be on the Babylonians, say those from Jerusalem.
36
Therefore, the LORD proclaims: I'm going to defend your cause; I'll turn the tables on your attacker. I'll dry up her sea; I'll shut up her springs.
37
Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a den of wild dogs, a wasteland with no one left in it.
38
Like lions they will roar together; they will growl like lions' cubs.
39
They are ready to devour, so I'll prepare the feast and mix the drinks! But after their noisy drunkenness, they will fall fast asleep. They will sleep forever, never to get up, declares the LORD.
40
I'll lead them off like lambs for slaughter, like rams and goats.
41
How Sheshach has been defeated, the pride of the whole earth taken captive! How Babylon has become a wasteland among the nations!
42
The sea has risen over Babylon; its pounding waves overwhelm her.
43
Her towns are devastated; her land is scorched and barren, a place where no one lives or dares to pass through.
44
I will punish Bel in Babylon; I will force him to vomit what he's consumed. Then nations will no longer stream to him, and Babylon's walls will collapse!
45
Get out of Babylon, my people! Run for your lives from the LORD's fierce anger.
46
Don't be distracted or frightened by the rumors you hear in the land. Sometimes you hear one thing and another time something else: rumors of violence and uprisings.
47
The time is coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols; the whole land will be disgraced, and her wounded will fall in her midst.