48
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall shout for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the Lord.
49
Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
50
You survivors of the sword, go, do not linger! Remember the Lord in a distant land, and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51
We are put to shame, for we have heard insults; dishonor has covered our face, for aliens have come into the holy places of the Lord's house.
52
Therefore the time is surely coming, says the Lord, when I will punish her idols, and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, from me destroyers would come upon her, says the Lord.
54
Listen!—a cry from Babylon! A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!
55
For the Lord is laying Babylon waste, and stilling her loud clamor. Their waves roar like mighty waters, the sound of their clamor resounds;
56
for a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon; her warriors are taken, their bows are broken; for the Lord is a God of recompense, he will repay in full.
57
I will make her officials and her sages drunk, also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake, says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58
Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.