How deserted will that once-famous city be, that city that was once filled with joy!

{Therefore} her young men will fall in her public squares, and all {the soldiers} will perish in that day," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.

Then will I kindle a fire in the walls of Damascus, - And it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

They will take their tents, and their flocks, their tent curtains, and all their equipment, and their camels they will carry away for themselves, and they will call to them, 'Terror [is] from all around.'

So shall their camels, become, a prey, And the throng of their cattle, a spoil, Then will I scatter them to every wind even the clipt-beards, - And from all sides of him, will I bring in their doom Declareth Yahweh.

"And Hazor will become as a lair of jackals, a waste forever; no one will live there, and no son of humankind will dwell as an alien in it."

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

Then will I bring in against Elam four winds from the four quarters of the heavens, And will scatter them to all these winds, - And there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam, shall not come;

And I will cause Elam to be dismayed Before their enemies Even before them who are seeking their life, So will I bring upon them calamity, Even the glow of mine anger Declareth Yahweh, - And will send after them the sword, until I have made an end of them;

And I will set my throne in Elam, - And will destroy, from thence king and princes, Declareth Yahweh;

But it shall come to pass In the afterpart of the days, That I will bring back the captivity of Elam, Declareth Yahweh.

"Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: 'Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon's idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed.

For a nation will come up against her from [the] north. It will make her land as a horror, and an inhabitant will not be in her. From humans to animals they [all] will wander [off]. They will go [away].

In those days and in that time,'" {declares} Yahweh, "the people of Israel will come, they and the people of Judah together. {Weeping as they go}, they will go, and Yahweh their God they will seek.

They will ask [the] way [to] Zion, [turning] their faces there. They will come and join themselves to Yahweh [by] {an everlasting covenant} [that] will not be forgotten.

For look, I [am] going to stir up, and I [am] going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from [the] land of [the] north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows [are] like a warrior [who has] achieved success, he does not return without success.

And Chaldea will be as booty, all [those who] plunder her will be satisfied," {declares} Yahweh.

Because thou wilt be glad, because thou wilt exult, ye plundering mine inheritance, because thou wilt show off proudly as a heifer at grass, and thou wilt neigh as the strong ones;

your mother will be very ashamed. [She who] gave birth [to] you will be humiliated. Look, [she will be the] least of [the] nations, a desert, dry land, and wilderness.

Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited, but she will be a wasteland, all of her. Everyone [who] passes by Babylon will be appalled and will hiss because of all her wounds.

Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the Lord, am wreaking revenge, take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done!

Cut ye off the sower from Babylon, And him that graspeth the sickle in the time of harvest, From the face of the sword of the oppressor, Each, to his own people will they turn, and Each, to his own land will they flee.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

So will I bring back Israel unto his own pasture, And he shall feed upon Carmel and Bashan; And in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead, shall, his soul, he satisfied.

In those days and in that time, Declareth Yahweh, The iniquity of Israel, shall be sought, and there shall be none, And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; For I will grant pardon to them whom I suffer to remain.

How was the hammer of all the earth cut off, and it will be broken! How was Babel for a desolation among the nations!

I'll set a trap for you, and you will be caught, Babylon, but you don't realize it. You will be found and also seized, because you challenged the LORD!

Jehovah opened his treasure, and he will bring forth the vessels of his anger: for this the work to the Lord Jehovah of armies in the land of the Chaldeans

"The sound of fugitives and refugees will come from the land of Babylon to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his Temple.

{Therefore} her young men will fall in her public squares, and all {her soldiers} will perish on that day," {declares} Yahweh.

"Look, I [am] against you, arrogant [one]," {declares} Lord Yahweh of hosts, "for your day has come, [the] time [when] I will punish you.

So shall the most insolent one stumble and fall, And he shall have none to lift him up, - And I will kindle a fire in his cities which shall devour all who are round about him.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are crushed down together: all those who took them prisoner keep them in a tight grip; they will not let them go.

Their Redeemer, can hold fast, Yahweh of hosts, is his name, He will, thoroughly plead, their plea, - That he may quiet the earth, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

"Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians," says the Lord. "They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia, against her leaders and her men of wisdom.

A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror.

A sword is on all the mixed people in her, and they will become like women: a sword is on her store-houses, and they will be taken by her attackers.

A drought [will come] against her waters, and they will dry up, for it [is] a land of images, and because of the frightful [objects], they act like madmen.

{Therefore} desert creatures will live [there] with jackals, and daughters of ostriches will inhabit her. And she will not be inhabited again {forever}, and she will not be dwelt in {for all generations}.

As [when] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors," {declares} Yahweh, "no one will live there, and [the] son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in her.

See, a people is coming from the north; a great nation and a number of kings will be put in motion from the inmost parts of the earth.

Bow and javelin, shall they grasp, Cruel, are they and will not have compassion, Their voice, like the sea, will roar, And, on horses, will they ride, - Set in array, as one man for battle, Against thee, O daughter of Babylon!

The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear when he hears news of their coming. Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.

Lo! as a lion, shall he come up from the majesty of the Jordan, Unto the pasture perennial, But I will wink - I will make them run away therefrom, Who then shall be the Chosen One whom against it, I may set in charge? For who shall be like unto, me? And who shall appoint me, a time? And who is the Shepherd that shall stand before me?

Therefore hear ye, The counsel of Yahweh, which he hath counselled against Babylon, And his devices which he hath devised against the land a of the Chaldeans, - Surely the little ones of the flock, shall drag them away, Surely he will cause the pasture to be astounded over them.

At [the] sound, 'Babylon has been captured,' the earth will quake, and a cry for help among the nations will be heard."

Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.

And I will send to Babylon winnowers, And they shall winnow her, And shall empty her land, - For they are against her round about in the day of calamity.

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

"For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken by their God, the Lord who rules over all. For the land of Babylonia is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

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.

Babel a cup of gold in the hand of Jehovah, making all the earth drunk: the nations drank from her wine; for this the nations will be foolish.

Babylon fell suddenly, and she will be broken: wail ye for her; take balsam for her pain, perhaps she will be healed.

We healed Babel, and she was not healed: forsake ye her and we will go each to his land: for her judgment reached to the heavens, and was lifted up even to the clouds.

Jehovah brought forth our justice: come ye, and we will recount in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.

"Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media. For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the Lord will get his revenge -- how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians' destruction of his temple.

Give the signal to attack Babylon's wall! Bring more guards! Post them all around the city! Put men in ambush! For the Lord will do what he has planned. He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.

Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, "Surely I will fill you [with] troops like the creeping locusts, and they will sing over you a war cry."

For a voice he gives a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he will bring up the clouds, from the extremity of the earth, making lightnings to the rain, and he will bring forth the wind from his treasures.

All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols.

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

A war-club, art thou for me, Weapons of war; Therefore will I Beat down with thee - nations, and Destroy with thee - kingdoms;

and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

and with thee will I break in pieces 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 governors and deputies.

So will I recompense to Babylon, And to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, All their wickedness which they have committed against Zion before your eyes, - Declareth Yahweh.

Behold me! against thee, O destroying mountain Declareth Yahweh, That destroyest all the earth, - Therefore will I stretch out my hand over thee, And roll thee down from the crags, And make of thee a burning mountain:

They will not take from you a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, for you will be {an everlasting desolation}," {declares} Yahweh.

The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. For the Lord will carry out his plan. He plans to make the land of Babylonia a wasteland where no one lives.

The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting. They will remain in their fortified cities. They will lose their strength to do battle. They will be as frightened as women. The houses in her cities will be set on fire. The gates of her cities will be broken down.

One man, running, will give word to another, and one who goes with news will be handing it on to another, to give word to the king of Babylon that his town has been taken from every quarter:

They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified.

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} and the time of the harvest will come for her."

"[May] the violence done to me and to my flesh [be] on Babylon," the inhabitants of Zion will say; and "My blood [be] upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say.

Therefore, Thus, sith Yahweh, Behold me! pleading thy cause, So then I will execute the avenging of thee; And will dry up her sea, And make dry her spring:

And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, [an object of] horror, and [an object of] hissing, {without} inhabitants.

Together, like wild lions, shall they roar, - They have growled like lions' whelps.

When they are heated, I will spread their banquets, And let them drink that they may become uproarious, So shall they sleep an age-abiding sleep and not wake, - Declareth Yahweh.

I will bring them down As fat lambs to slaughter, - As rams with he-goats.

How was Sheshach taken and the praise of all the earth will be seized; how was Babel for a desolation among the nations!

The sea will come up against Babylon, and she will be covered by wave upon wave.

Her cities will become an object of horror, a dry land and a desert, a land in which no one lives, and through which no human being passes.

So will I bring punishment upon Bel in Babylon, And will bring forth what he hath swallowed out of his mouth, And the nations shall stream unto him no more, - Even the wall of Babylon hath fallen!

So that your hearts may not become feeble and full of fear because of the news which will go about in the land; for a story will go about one year, and after that in another year another story, and violent acts in the land, ruler against ruler.

Therefore, lo! days coming when I will bring punishment upon the images of Babylon, And all her land, shall turn pale, - Yea, all her wounded, shall fall in her midst.

Then [the] heaven and [the] earth and all that [is] in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for from [the] north the destroyers will come to it," {declares} Yahweh.

As Babylon had the dead of Israel put to the sword, so in Babylon the dead of all the land will be stretched out.

Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When I will bring punishment upon her images; And throughout all her land, stroll the pierced one groan.

Though Babylon goes up [to] the heavens, and though she fortifies the high place of her strength, from me destroyers will come to her," {declares} Yahweh.

Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

For, Yahweh, is spoiling Babylon, And will destroy out of her the loud voice, - Though their waves have roared like many waters, Been uttered the loud boast of their voice.

For there hath come upon her - upon Babylon - a spoiler, And captured are their heroes And broken are their bows, - For, a GOD of recompenses, is Yahweh, He will surely repay.

Then will I make drunk - Her princes and her wise men, Her governors, and her deputies and her heroes, And they shall sleep an age-abiding sleep, and not wake, - Declareth the King, Yahweh of hosts, is his name.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished, and her high gates will burn with fire, and [the] peoples will labor {for nothing}, and [the] nations {for fire}, and they will grow weary."

And Jeremiah will write all the evil which shall come to Babel, in one book, all these words being written against Babel

And Jeremiah will say to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babel, and thou sawest, and didst read all these words,

And you must say, 'Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that [there will] not be in it [anything] living, from humankind to animals, for it will be {an everlasting desolation}.'

And it will be that, when you have come to an end of reading this book, you are to have a stone fixed to it, and have it dropped into the Euphrates:

And you must say, 'Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, {because of} the face of the disasters that I [am] bringing on her, and they will grow weary.'" {Thus far} the words of Jeremiah.

And he will do evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all which Jehoiakim did.