23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. 24 And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. 25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, 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 the LORD. [1] 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 Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. 28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of Media, their captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of his dominion. 29 And 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. 30 The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they have remained in their strong holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; 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 at one end, 32 And that the fords are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified. 33 For thus saith 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. [2] 34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly 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 upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. [3] [4] [5] 36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. 37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an horror, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. 38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps. [6] 39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. 41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an horror among the nations! 42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of its waves. 43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass by it. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: even the wall of Babylon shall fall. 45 My people, depart from the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. 46 And lest your heart should faint, and ye should fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. [7] 47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute 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. [8] 48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come to her from the north, saith the LORD. 49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. [9] [10] 50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for foreigners are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house. 52 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come to her, saith the LORD. 54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: 55 Because the LORD hath laid waste Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: 56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows
- ↑ desolate...: Heb. everlasting desolations
- ↑ it is...: or, in the time that he thresheth her
- ↑ The violence...: Heb. My violence
- ↑ flesh: or, remainder
- ↑ inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress
- ↑ yell: or, shake themselves
- ↑ lest: or, let not
- ↑ do...: Heb. visit upon
- ↑ As...: or, Both Babylon is to fall, O ye slain of Israel, and with Babylon, etc
- ↑ the earth: or, the country
