¹² Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon,
make the watch strong,
set up the watchmen,
prepare the ambushes:
for the LORD hath both devised and done [this]
that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
¹³ O thou that dwellest upon many waters,
abundant in treasures,
thine end is come,
and the measure of thy covetousness.
¹⁴ The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself [in his soul],
saying,
Surely [Certainly yet] I will fill thee with men,
as with caterpillers;
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 hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
¹⁶ When he uttereth his voice,
there is a multitude of waters in the heavens;
and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth:
he maketh lightnings with rain,
and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
¹⁷ Every 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.
¹⁸ They are vanity,
the work of errors:
in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
¹⁹ The 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.

²⁰ Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war:
for 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;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
²² With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman;
and with thee will I break in pieces old and young;
and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
²³ I will also break in pieces with thee 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 captains and rulers.

²⁵ Behold,
I am against thee,
O destroying mountain,
saith the LORD,
which destroyest [this]
all the earth:
and I will stretch out [this]
mine 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.

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 [this] the nations
with the kings of the Medes,
[this] the captains thereof,
and all the rulers thereof,
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 [this] the land of Babylon
a desolation without an inhabitant.
³⁰ The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight,
they have remained in their 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 shew the king of Babylon
that his city is taken at one end,
³² And that the passages are stopped,
and the reeds they have burned with fire,
and the men of war are affrighted.
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.

³⁴ Nebuchadrezzar 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 delicates,
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.
³⁶ Therefore thus saith the LORD;
Behold,
I will plead [this]
thy cause,
and take vengeance [and I avenge this your vengeance] for thee;
and I will dry up [this]
her sea,
and make [this]
her springs dry.
³⁷ And Babylon shall become heaps,
a dwellingplace for dragons,
an astonishment,
and an hissing,
without an inhabitant.
³⁸ They shall roar together like lions:
they shall yell as lions' whelps.
³⁹ In their heat I will make [this]
their feasts,
and I will make them drunken,
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 he goats.

⁴¹ How is Sheshach taken!
and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised!
how is Babylon become an astonishment 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 a desolation,
a dry land,
and a wilderness,
a land wherein no man dwelleth,
neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
⁴⁴ And I will punish [And I will visit upon] Bel in Babylon,
and I will bring forth out of his mouth [this]
that which he hath swallowed up:
and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him:
yea,
the wall of Babylon shall fall.

⁴⁵ My people, go ye out of the midst of her,
and deliver ye every man [this]
his soul
from the fierce anger of the LORD.
⁴⁶ And lest your heart faint,
and ye 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.

⁴⁷ Therefore, 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.
⁴⁸ Then the heaven and the earth,
and all that is therein,
shall sing for Babylon:
for the spoilers shall come unto 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.

⁵⁰ Ye that have escaped the sword,
go away,
stand not still [stay not]
remember [this]
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 strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house.

⁵² Wherefore, behold,
the days come,
saith the LORD,
that I will do 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 unto 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 spoiled [this] Babylon,
and destroyed out of her the great voice;
when her waves do 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 is broken:
for the LORD God of recompences
shall surely requite [repaying he shall repay].
⁵⁷ And 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,
saith the King,
whose name is the LORD of hosts.

⁵⁸ Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
The broad walls of Babylon
shall be utterly broken [stripped they shall be stripped],
and her high gates shall be burned with fire;
and the people shall labour in vain,
and the folk in the fire,
and they shall be weary.