² “Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and ^[a]set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is ^(B)taken, ^(C)Bel is shamed.
^[b]Merodach is broken in pieces;
^(D)Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
^3 (E)For out of the north ^(F)a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall ^[c]move, they shall depart,
Both man and beast.

⁴ “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The children of Israel shall come,
^(G)They and the children of Judah together;
^(H)With continual weeping they shall come,
^(I)And seek the Lord their God.
⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion,
With their faces toward it, saying,
‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
In ^(J)a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’

⁶ “My people have been ^(K)lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them ^(L)astray;
They have turned them away on ^(M)the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
⁷ All who found them have ^(N)devoured them;
And ^(O)their adversaries said, ^(P)‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, ^(Q)the habitation of justice,
The Lord, ^(R)the hope of their fathers.’

⁸ “Move^(S) from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the ^[d]rams before the flocks.
^9 (T)For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of ^[e]an expert warrior;
^(U)None shall return in vain.
¹⁰ And Chaldea shall become plunder;
^(V)All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.

¹¹ “Because^(W) you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat ^(X)like a heifer threshing grain,
And you ^[f]bellow like bulls,
¹² Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a ^(Y)wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
¹³ Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
^(Z)But she shall be wholly desolate.
^(AA)Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴ “Put^(AB) yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
All you who bend the bow;
Shoot at her, spare no arrows,
For she has sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵ Shout against her all around;
She has ^(AC)given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
^(AD)Her walls are thrown down;
For ^(AE)it is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her.
As she has done, so do to her.
¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
^(AF)Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷ “Israel is like ^(AG)scattered sheep;
^(AH)The lions have driven him away.
First ^(AI)the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this ^(AJ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
As I have punished the king of ^(AK)Assyria.
^19 (AL)But I will bring back Israel to his home,
And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
²⁰ In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
^(AM)“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;
For I will pardon those ^(AN)whom I preserve.

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of ^(AO)Pekod.
^[g]Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do ^(AP)according to all that I have commanded you.
^22 (AQ)A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
²³ How ^(AR)the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
²⁴ I have laid a snare for you;
You have indeed been ^(AS)trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have ^(AT)contended against the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out ^(AU)the weapons of His indignation;
For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
²⁶ Come against her from the farthest border;
Open her storehouses;
Cast her up as heaps of ruins,
And destroy her utterly;
Let nothing of her be left.
²⁷ Slay all her ^(AV)bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of ^(AW)their punishment.
²⁸ The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
^(AX)Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
The vengeance of His temple.

²⁹ “Call together the archers against Babylon.
All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;
Let none of them ^[h]escape.
^(AY)Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
^(AZ)For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
^30 (BA)Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,
And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
³¹ “Behold, I am against you,
O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;
“For your day has come,
^[i]The time that I will punish you.
³² The most ^(BB)proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
^(BC)I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”

“The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
^34 (BD)Their Redeemer is strong;
^(BE)The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their ^(BF)case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵ “A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,
“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,
And ^(BG)against her princes and ^(BH)her wise men.
³⁶ A sword is ^(BI)against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.
A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
³⁷ A sword is against their horses,
Against their chariots,
And against all ^(BJ)the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And ^(BK)they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
^38 (BL)A ^[j]drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up.
For it is the land of carved images,
And they are insane with their idols.

³⁹ “Therefore^(BM) the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
^(BN)It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
^40 (BO)As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man ^(BP)dwell in it.

⁴¹ “Behold,^(BQ) a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
^42 (BR)They shall hold the bow and the lance;
^(BS)They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
^(BT)Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³ “The king of Babylon has ^(BU)heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in ^(BV)childbirth.

⁴⁴ “Behold,^(BW) he shall come up like a lion from the ^[k]floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will make them suddenly run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And ^(BX)who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”

⁴⁵ Therefore hear ^(BY)the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His ^(BZ)purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
^(CA)Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
^46 (CB)At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.