The Utter Destruction of Babylon

1Thus says the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against Me, a destroying wind;

2And will send to Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.   scatterers, winnowers; scatter, disperse

3Against him that bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifts himself up in his brigandine: and spare you^p not her young men; destroy you^p utterly all her host.   armor

4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

5For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.   Jehovah^s.f. Tsebaoth^p.f.

6Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render to her a recompense.   appropriate return for wrongdoing

7Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.   REV 14:8; REV 14:10–11; REV 17:4

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

9We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.   REV 18:5

10The Lord has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

11Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for His device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple.   sharp; purpose

12Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord has both devised and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.   signal flag

13O you that dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness.

14The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

15He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by His understanding.

16When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.

17Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.   stupid; metal worker; carved idol; cast metal idol

18They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.   judgment, punishment, suffering

19The portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: the Lord of hosts is His name.   tribe

20You are My battle ax and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;

21And with you will I break in pieces the horse and its rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and its rider;

22With you also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces old and young; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

23I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

24And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your^p sight, says the Lord.

25Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the Lord, which destroys all the earth: and I will stretch out My hand upon you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.

26And they shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says the Lord.   barren, empty

27Set you^p 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 Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.

28Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

29And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.   ruin

30The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.   refused; strongholds

31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,   runner; from end to end

32And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.   seized; soldiers

33For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

34Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my delicates, he has cast me out.   monstrous beast

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

36Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.   ruins; object of scorn; a horror

38They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.

39In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the Lord.

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

41How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

42The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.   figurative for a flood

43Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.

44And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

45My people, go you^p out of the midst of her, and deliver you^p every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46And lest your^p heart faint, and you^p fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

47Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

48Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come to her from the north, says the Lord.   destroyers

49As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.   REV 18:24

50You^p that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your^p mind.

51We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.   holy places

52Wherefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me shall spoilers come to her, says the Lord.

54A sound of a cry come from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

55Because the Lord has spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:   plundered

56Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the Lord God of recompenses shall surely repay.   compensations

57And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58Thus says the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.