One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured.

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

For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, 'Fair Babylon will be like a threshing floor which has been trampled flat for harvest. The time for her to be cut down and harvested will come very soon.'

Therefore the Lord says, "I will stand up for your cause. I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. I will dry up their sea. I will make their springs run dry.

Babylon will become a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, a place where no one lives.

When their appetites are all stirred up, I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out, they will fall asleep forever, they will never wake up," says the Lord.

"I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats."

I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall."

Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler."

"So the time will certainly come when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame. All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst.

Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon. For destroyers from the north will attack it," says the Lord.

Yes, but the time will certainly come," says the Lord, "when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.

Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold, I will send destroyers against her," says the Lord.

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

For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon, and put an end to her loud noise. Their waves will roar like turbulent waters. They will make a deafening noise.

For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. Her warriors will be captured; their bows will be broken. For the Lord is a God who punishes; he pays back in full.

"I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her governors, leaders, and warriors. They will fall asleep forever and never wake up," says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all.

This is what the Lord who rules over all says, "Babylon's thick wall will be completely demolished. Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed."

Then say, 'O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!'

Then say, 'In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.'" The prophecies of Jeremiah end here.

"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

(Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.

(Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break

(Resh) Our very life breath -- the Lord's anointed king -- was caught in their traps, of whom we thought, "Under his protection we will survive among the nations."

(Sin/Shin) Rejoice and be glad for now, O people of Edom, who reside in the land of Uz. But the cup of judgment will pass to you also; you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

(Tav) O people of Zion, your punishment will come to an end; he will not prolong your exile. But, O people of Edom, he will punish your sin and reveal your offenses!

For wild animals are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate.

He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak with you."

And as for them, whether they listen or not -- for they are a rebellious house -- they will know that a prophet has been among them.

When I say to the wicked, "You will certainly die," and you do not warn him -- you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live -- that wicked person will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life.

"When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life."

The hand of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, "Get up, go out to the valley, and I will speak with you there."

As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue and you must say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says.' Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

"Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege.

"As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in a single container, and make food from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side -- 390 days -- you will eat it.

The food you eat will be eight ounces a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed times.

And the Lord said, "This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them."

And I said, "Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat has never entered my mouth."

So he said to me, "All right then, I will substitute cow's manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it."

Then he said to me, "Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity.

Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

"Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I -- even I -- am against you, and I will execute judgment among you while the nations watch.

I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again because of all your abominable practices.

Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors to the winds.

"Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare you.

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

Then my anger will be fully vented; I will exhaust my rage on them, and I will be appeased. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy when I have fully vented my rage against them.

"I will make you desolate and an object of scorn among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.

You will be an object of scorn and taunting, a prime example of destruction among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. I, the Lord, have spoken!

I will shoot against them deadly, destructive arrows of famine, which I will shoot to destroy you. I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply.

I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!"

Say, 'Mountains of Israel, Hear the word of the sovereign Lord! This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols.

I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out.

The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord.

"'But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands.

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize how I was crushed by their unfaithful heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.'

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, "Ah!" because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence.

The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them.

Then you will know that I am the Lord -- when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"

The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge you according to your behavior, I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices.

My eye will not pity you; I will not spare you. For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that I am the Lord!

Soon now I will pour out my rage on you; I will fully vent my anger against you. I will judge you according to your behavior. I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices.

My eye will not pity you; I will not spare you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you.

Violence has grown into a staff that supports wickedness. Not one of them will be left -- not from their crowd, not from their wealth, not from their prominence.

The customer will no longer pay the seller while both parties are alive, for the vision against their whole crowd will not be revoked. Each person, for his iniquity, will fail to preserve his life.

The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city.

Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan -- each one for his iniquity.

All of their hands will hang limp; their knees will be wet with urine.

They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald.

They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's fury. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth was the obstacle leading to their iniquity.

They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, and with it they made their abominable images -- their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them.

I will give it to foreigners as loot, to the world's wicked ones as plunder, and they will desecrate it.

I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. Vandals will enter it and desecrate it.

I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated.

Terror is coming! They will seek peace, but find none.

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"

He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing -- the great abominations that the people of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!"

He said to me, "You will see them practicing even greater abominations!"

He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!"

Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them."

While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, "Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?"

But as for me, my eye will not pity them nor will I spare them; I hereby repay them for what they have done."

Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: 'The corpses you have dumped in the midst of the city are the meat, and this city is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it.

You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,' declares the sovereign Lord.

But I will take you out of the city. And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you.

You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!'"