¹ Thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.

² And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will lay waste her land, for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.

³ Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow, and let him not rise high in his body armor. And you must not spare her young men; destroy her whole army.

⁴ And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.

⁵ For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God, from Yahweh of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.”

⁶ Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life. You must not perish because of her guilt. For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh, he will repay her what is deserved.

⁷ Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh, making drunk all the earth. The nations drank of her wine. ⌞Therefore⌟¹ the nations acted like madmen.

1. Literally “Unto thus”

⁸ Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her wounds, perhaps she may be healed.

⁹ We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens, and it has been lifted up to the skies.

¹⁰ Yahweh has brought forth our vindication. Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance for his temple.

¹² Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; ⌞post a strong watch⌟,¹ post watchmen, prepare the ambushes, for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

1. Literally “make strong the guard”

¹³ O you who live by mighty waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, ⌞the measure of your life⌟.¹

1. Literally “the cubit of your severing”

¹⁴ Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, “Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts,¹ and they will sing over you a war cry.”

1. Hebrew “locust”

¹⁵ He is the one who made the earth by his power, the one who created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.

¹⁶ At the giving of his voice there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the patches of mist to go up from the end of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.

¹⁷ All humankind turns out to be stupid, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by the divine image. For his cast image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸ They are worthless, a work of mockery. At the time of their punishment, they will perish.

¹⁹ The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the creator of ⌞everything⌟,¹ and the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of hosts is his name.

1. Literally “the all”

²⁰ He says, “You are a war club for me, a weapon of battle, and I smash nations with you, and I destroy kingdoms with you.

²¹ And I smash the horse with you, and its rider, and I smash the chariot with you, and its rider.

²² And I smash man and woman with you, and I smash the old man and the boy with you, and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.

²³ And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you, and I smash the farmer and his team with you, and I smash the governors and the officials with you.

²⁴ And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their wickedness that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh.

1. Literally “a declaration of”

²⁵ “Look, I am against you, O mountain of the destruction,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, “the one that destroys the whole earth. And I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will roll you down from the cliffs, and I will make you as a mountain burned away.

1. Literally “a declaration of”

²⁶ They will not take from you a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, for you will be ⌞an everlasting desolation⌟,”¹ ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh.

1. Literally “a desolation of everlasting”
2. Literally “a declaration of”

²⁷ Raise a banner in the land; blow a horn among the nations; prepare for holy war against her; summon the nations against her, the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; summon against her an official; bring up horses¹ like bristling creeping locusts.²

1. Hebrew “horse”
2. Hebrew “locust”

²⁸ Prepare the nations for holy war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and all their officials, and every land of their dominion.

²⁹ And the land quakes and writhes, for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon as a horror, ⌞without⌟¹ inhabitant.

1. Literally “from there is not”

³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they remain in the strongholds, their power has dried up, they have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire, her bars are broken.

³¹ one runner runs to meet another runner, and one messenger to meet another messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, ⌞from end to end⌟.¹

1. Literally “from end”

³² And the fords have been seized, and the reed marshes have been burned with fire, and ⌞the soldiers⌟¹ are horrified.

1. Literally “the men of the war”

³³ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden down, ⌞just a little while⌟¹ and the time of the harvest will come for her.”

1. Literally “still a little”

³⁴ Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me and sucked me dry; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like the sea monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies; he has rinsed me.

³⁵ “May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,” the inhabitants¹ of Zion will say; and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say.

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”

³⁶ ⌞Therefore⌟¹ thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am going to contend your case, and I will avenge your vengeance, and I will cause her sea to dry up, and I will cause her fountain to dry up.

1. Literally “To thus”

³⁷ And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, an object of horror, and an object of hissing, ⌞without⌟¹ inhabitants.

1. Literally “from there is not”

³⁸ They will roar together like the young lions, they will growl like the cubs of lions.

³⁹ At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep ⌞an everlasting sleep⌟,¹ and they will not wake up,” ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh.

1. Literally “a sleep of eternity”
2. Literally “a declaration of”

⁴⁰ “I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter, like rams and goats.

⁴¹ How Sheshach is captured, and the glory of all the earth is seized! How Babylon has become as an object of horror among the nations!

⁴² The sea has risen over Babylon, she has been covered by the roar of its waves.

⁴³ Her cities have become as an object of horror, a dry land and a wilderness,¹ a land in which no person lives, nor does a son of humankind pass through it.

1. Or “Arabah”

⁴⁴ And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will wrench out from his mouth ⌞what he has swallowed⌟.¹ And the nations will not stream towards him any longer ⌞what’s worse⌟,² the wall of Babylon has fallen.

1. Literally “what has been swallowed by him”
2. Literally “also”

⁴⁵ Come out from her midst, my people, and save each one his life from ⌞the burning anger of⌟¹ Yahweh.

1. Literally “the blazing of the nose of”

⁴⁶ Now ⌞so that you are not fainthearted⌟,¹ and you are afraid at the rumors² that are heard in the land— and in the year the rumor comes, and in the year after it the rumor, and violence is in the land, with ruler against ruler—