¹ Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.

² And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

³ Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

⁴ And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

⁵ For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Jehovah’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.

⁷ Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

⁸ Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

⁹ We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

¹⁰ Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.

¹¹ Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.

¹² Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³ O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy covetousness.

¹⁴ Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the canker-worm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

¹⁵ He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens.

¹⁶ When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.

¹⁷ Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸ They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁹ The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.

²⁰ Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

²¹ and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

²² and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

²³ and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

²⁴ And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith Jehovah.

²⁵ Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

²⁶ And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith Jehovah.

²⁷ Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.

²⁸ Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion.

²⁹ And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

³⁰ The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken.

³¹ One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:

³² and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

³³ For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.

³⁴ Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath, like a monster, swallowed me up, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath cast me out.

³⁵ The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

³⁶ Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

³⁷ And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.

³⁸ They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions’ whelps.

³⁹ When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.

⁴⁰ I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

⁴¹ How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

⁴² The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

⁴³ Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

⁴⁴ And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵ My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Jehovah.

⁴⁶ And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the tidings that shall be heard in the land; for tidings shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come tidings, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.