1 Thus says the Lord; Look, I stir up against Babylon, and against the Chaldeans dwelling in it, a deadly burning wind. 2 And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall plunder her, and shall ravage her land. Woe to Babylon all around her in the day of her affliction. 3 Against her let the archer bend his bow, and him that has armor put it on: and do not spare her young men, but destroy all her host. 4 And men will fall dead in the land of the Chaldeans, and men pierced through shall fall without it. 5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken of their God, of the Lord Almighty; whereas their land was filled with iniquity against the holy things of Israel. 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every one his soul: and do not be overthrown in her iniquity; for it is the time of her retribution from the Lord; he is rendering to her a recompense. 7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, causing all the earth to be drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore they were shaken. 8 And Babylon has fallen suddenly, and is broken to pieces: lament for her; take balm for her deadly wound, if by any means she may be healed. 9 We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed: let us forsake her, and depart every one to his own country: for her judgment has reached to the heaven, it has mounted up to the stars. 10 The Lord has brought forth his judgment: come, and let us declare in Zion the works of the Lord our God. 11 Prepare the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes: for his fierce anger is against Babylon, to destroy it utterly; for it is the Lord's vengeance, it is the vengeance of his people. 12 Lift up a standard on the walls of Babylon, prepare the quivers, rouse the guards, prepare the weapons: for the Lord has taken the work in hand, and will execute what he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon, 13 dwelling on many waters, and amidst the abundance of her treasures; your end has truly come into your inward parts. 14 For the Lord has sworn by his arm, saying, I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they that come down shall cry against you. 15 He that made the earth by his power, preparing the world by his wisdom, by his understanding stretched out the heaven. 16 At his voice he makes a sound of water in the heaven, and brings up clouds from the extremity of the earth; he makes lightnings for rain, and brings light out of his treasures.⁠a 17 Every man has completely lost understanding; every goldsmith is confounded because of his carved images: for they have cast false gods, there is no breath in them. 18 They are vain works, objects of scorn; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 19 Not such is Jacob's portion; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name. 20 You scatter for me the weapons of war: and I will scatter nations by you, and will destroy kings by means of you. 21 And by you I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by you I will scatter chariots and those who ride in them. 22 And by you I will scatter youth and maid; and by you I will scatter man and woman. 23 And by you I will scatter the shepherd and his flock; and by you I will scatter the farmer and his farm; and by you I will scatter leaders and your captains. 24 And I will repay Babylon and all the Chaldeans that dwell there for all their mischiefs that they have done to Zion before your eyes, says the Lord. 25 Look, I am against you, the ruined mountain, that destroys the whole earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon you, and will roll you down upon the rocks, and will make you as a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation: for you shall be a desolation for ever, says the Lord. 27 Lift up a standard in the land, sound the trumpet among the nations, consecrate the nations against her, summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat by me, and the Ashkenazites; set against her engines of war; bring up against her horses as a multitude of locusts. 28 Consecrate nations against her, even the king of the Medes and of the whole earth, his rulers, and all his captains. 29 The earth has quaked and been troubled, because the purpose of the Lord has risen up against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, and uninhabitable. 30 The warrior of Babylon has failed to fight; they shall sit there in the siege; their power is broken; they have become like women; her tabernacles have been set on fire; her bars are broken. 31 One shall rush, running to meet another runner, and one shall go with news to meet another with news, to bring news to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken. 32 At the end of his passages they were taken, and his cisterns they have burnt with fire, and his warriors are going forth. 33 For thus says the Lord, The houses of the king of Babylon shall be threshed as a floor in the season; yet a little while, and her harvest shall come. 34 He has devoured me, he has torn me apart, he has seized me as a fine vessel; Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has swallowed me up, he has filled his belly like a dragon with my delicacies; he has thrust me out. 35 My troubles and my distresses be upon Babylon, she will that dwells in Zion say; and my blood be upon the Chaldeans dwelling there, shall Jerusalem say. 36 Therefore thus says the Lord, Look, I will judge your adversary, and I will execute vengeance for you; and I will waste her sea, and dry up her fountain. 37 And Babylon shall be a desolation, and shall not be inhabited. 38 For they rose up together as lions, and as lions' cubs. 39 In their heat I will give them a draft, and make them drunk, that they may be stupified, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and not awake, says the Lord. 40 I will bring them down as lambs to the slaughter, and as rams with kids. 41 How has the boast of all the earth been taken and caught in a snare! how has Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 42 The sea has come up upon Babylon with the sound of its waves, and she is covered. 43 Her cities have become like a dry and trackless land; not so much as one man shall dwell in it, neither shall a son of man lodge in it. 44 And I will take vengeance on Babylon, and bring forth out of her mouth what she has swallowed down, and the nations shall no more be gathered to her: 45  46  47  48  49 and in Babylon the men killed from all the earth shall fall. 50 Go forth of the land, you that escape, and do not stay; you that are afar off, remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are ashamed, because we have heard our reproach; disgrace has covered our face; aliens have come into our sanctuary, even into the house of the Lord. 52 Therefore, look, the days come, says the Lord, when I will take vengeance upon her carved images: and men will fall dead in all her land. 53 For though Babylon should go up as the heaven, and though she should strengthen her walls with her power, from me shall come they that shall destroy her, says the Lord. 54 A sound of a cry in Babylon, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans: 55 for the Lord has utterly destroyed Babylon, and cut off from her the great voice sounding as many waters: he has consigned her voice to destruction. 56 For distress has come upon Babylon, her warriors are taken, their bows are useless: for God repays them, the Lord repays her a recompense. 57 And he will make her leaders and her wise men and her captains completely drunk, says the King, the Lord Almighty is his name. 58 Thus says the Lord, The wall of Babylon was made broad, but it shall be completely broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire; and the peoples shall not labor in vain, nor the nations fail in their rule. 59 THE WORD WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED THE PROPHET JEREMIAS to say to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went from Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was over the bounties. 60 And Jeremiah wrote in one book all the evils which should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, and see and read all these words; 62 then you shall say, Lord God, you have spoken against this place, to destroy it, and that there should be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast; for it shall be a desolation for ever. 63 And it will happen, when you shall cease from reading this book, that you shall bind a stone upon it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; 64 and shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise, because of the evils which I bring upon it.