50This is the message that the LORD gave me about the city of Babylon and its people:H1697H3068H1696H894H776H3778H3027H3414H50302"Tell the news to the nations! Proclaim it! Give the signal and announce the news! Do not keep it a secret! Babylon has fallen! Her god Marduk has been shattered! Babylon's idols are put to shame; her disgusting images are crushed!H5046H1471H8085H5375H5251H8085H3582H559H894H3920H1078H3001H4781H2865H6091H3001H1544H28653"A nation from the north has come to attack Babylonia and will make it a desert. People and animals will run away, and no one will live there."H6828H5927H1471H7896H776H8047H3427H5110H1980H120H9294The LORD says, "When that time comes, the people of both Israel and Judah will come weeping, looking for me, their God.H3117H6256H5002H3068H1121H3478H935H1121H3063H3162H1980H1058H3212H1245H3068H4305They will ask the way to Zion and then go in that direction. They will make an eternal covenant with me and never break it.H7592H1870H6726H6440H2008H935H3867H3068H5769H1285H79116"My people are like sheep whose shepherds have let them get lost in the mountains. They have wandered like sheep from one mountain to another, and they have forgotten where their home is.H5971H6H6629H7462H8582H7725H7726H2022H1980H2022H1389H7911H72587They are attacked by all who find them. Their enemies say, 'They sinned against the LORD, and so what we have done is not wrong. Their ancestors trusted in the LORD, and they themselves should have remained faithful to him.'H4672H398H6862H559H816H2398H3068H5116H6664H3068H4723H18"People of Israel, run away from Babylonia! Leave the country! Be the first to leave!H5110H8432H894H3318H3318H776H3778H6260H6440H66299I am going to stir up a group of strong nations in the north and make them attack Babylonia. They will line up in battle against the country and conquer it. They are skillful hunters, shooting arrows that never miss the mark.H5782H5927H894H6951H1419H1471H6828H776H6186H3920H2671H1368H7919H7921H7725H738710Babylonia will be looted, and those who loot it will take everything they want. I, the LORD, have spoken."H3778H7998H7997H7646H5002H306811The LORD says, "People of Babylonia, you plundered my nation. You are happy and glad, going about like a cow threshing grain or like a neighing horse,H8055H5937H8154H5159H6335H5697H1877H1758H6670H4712but your own great city will be humiliated and disgraced. Babylonia will be the least important nation of all; it will become a dry and waterless desert.H517H3966H954H3205H2659H319H1471H4057H6723H616013Because of my anger no one will live in Babylon; it will be left in ruins, and all who pass by will be shocked and amazed.H7110H3068H3427H8077H5674H894H8074H8319H434714"Archers, line up for battle against Babylon and surround it. Shoot all your arrows at Babylon, because it has sinned against me, the LORD.H6186H894H5439H1869H7198H3034H2550H2671H2398H306815Raise the war cry all around the city! Now Babylon has surrendered. Its walls have been broken through and torn down. I am taking my revenge on the Babylonians. So take your revenge on them, and treat them as they have treated others.H7321H5439H5414H3027H803H5307H2346H2040H5360H3068H5358H6213H621316Do not let seeds be planted in that country nor let a harvest be gathered. Every foreigner living there will be afraid of the attacking army and will go back home."H3772H2232H894H8610H4038H6256H7105H6440H3238H2719H6437H376H5971H5127H376H77617The LORD says, "The people of Israel are like sheep, chased and scattered by lions. First, they were attacked by the emperor of Assyria, and then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia gnawed on their bones.H3478H6340H7716H738H5080H7223H4428H804H398H314H5019H4428H894H610518Because of this, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will punish King Nebuchadnezzar and his country, just as I punished the emperor of Assyria.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H6485H4428H894H776H6485H4428H80419I will restore the people of Israel to their land. They will eat the food that grows on Mount Carmel and in the region of Bashan, and they will eat all they want of the crops that grow in the territories of Ephraim and Gilead.H7725H3478H7725H5116H7462H3760H1316H5315H7646H2022H669H156820When that time comes, no sin will be found in Israel and no wickedness in Judah, because I will forgive those people whose lives I have spared. I, the LORD, have spoken."H3117H6256H5002H3068H5771H3478H1245H2403H3063H4672H5545H760421The LORD says, "Attack the people of Merathaim and of Pekod. Kill and destroy them. Do everything I command you. I, the LORD, have spoken.H5927H776H4850H3427H6489H2717H2763H310H5002H3068H6213H668022The noise of battle is heard in the land, and there is great destruction.H6963H4421H776H1419H766723Babylonia hammered the whole world to pieces, and now that hammer is shattered! All the nations are shocked at what has happened to that country.H6360H776H1438H7665H894H8047H147124Babylonia, you fought against me, and you have been caught in the trap I set for you, even though you did not know it.H3369H3920H894H3045H4672H8610H1624H306825I have opened the place where my weapons are stored, and in my anger I have taken them out, because I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, have work to do in Babylonia.H3068H6605H214H3318H3627H2195H4399H136H3069H6635H776H377826Attack it from every side and break open the places where its grain is stored! Pile up the loot like piles of grain! Destroy the country! Leave nothing at all!H935H7093H6605H3965H5549H6194H2763H761127Kill all their soldiers! Slaughter them! The people of Babylonia are doomed! The time has come for them to be punished!"H2717H6499H3381H2874H1945H3117H935H6256H648628(Refugees escape from Babylonia and come to Jerusalem, and they tell how the LORD our God took revenge for what the Babylonians had done to his Temple.)H6963H5127H6405H776H894H5046H6726H5360H3068H430H5360H196429"Tell the archers to attack Babylon. Send out everyone who knows how to use the bow and arrow. Surround the city and don't let anyone escape. Pay it back for all it has done, and treat it as it has treated others, because it acted with pride against me, the Holy One of Israel.H8085H7228H894H1869H7198H2583H5439H6413H7999H6467H6213H6213H2102H3068H6918H347830So its young men will be killed in the city streets, and all its soldiers will be destroyed on that day. I, the LORD, have spoken.H970H5307H7339H582H4421H1826H3117H5002H306831"Babylonia, you are filled with pride, so I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, am against you! The time has come for me to punish you.H2087H5002H136H3069H6635H3117H935H6256H648532Your proud nation will stumble and fall, and no one will help you up. I will set your cities on fire, and everything around will be destroyed."H2087H3782H5307H6965H3341H784H5892H398H543933The LORD Almighty says, "The people of Israel and of Judah are oppressed. All who captured them are guarding them closely and will not let them go.H559H3068H6635H1121H3478H1121H3063H6231H3162H7617H2388H3985H797134But the one who will rescue them is strong - his name is the LORD Almighty. He himself will take up their cause and will bring peace to the earth, but trouble to the people of Babylonia."H1350H2389H3068H6635H8034H7378H7378H7379H7280H776H7264H3427H89435The LORD says, "Death to Babylonia! Death to its people, to its rulers, to its people of wisdom.H2719H3778H5002H3068H3427H894H8269H245036Death to its lying prophets - what fools they are! Death to its soldiers - how terrified they are!H2719H907H2973H2719H1368H286537Destroy its horses and chariots! Death to its hired soldiers - how weak they are! Destroy its treasures; plunder and loot.H2719H5483H7393H6153H8432H802H2719H214H96238Bring a drought on its land and dry up its rivers. Babylonia is a land of terrifying idols that have made fools of the people.H2721H4325H3001H776H6456H1984H36739"And so Babylon will be haunted by demons and evil spirits, and by unclean birds. Never again will people live there, not for all time to come.H6728H338H3427H1323H3284H3427H3427H5331H7931H1755H175540The same thing will happen to Babylon that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when I destroyed them and the nearby towns. No one will ever live there again. I, the LORD, have spoken.H430H4114H5467H6017H7934H5002H3068H376H3427H1121H120H148141"People are coming from a country in the north, a mighty nation far away; many kings are preparing for war.H5971H935H6828H1419H1471H7227H4428H5782H3411H77642They have taken their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Babylonia.H2388H7198H3591H394H7355H6963H1993H3220H7392H5483H6186H376H4421H1323H89443The king of Babylonia hears the news, and his hands hang limp. He is seized by anguish, by pain like a woman in labor.H4428H894H8085H8088H3027H7503H6869H2388H2427H320544"Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan up to the green pasture land, I, the LORD, will come and make the Babylonians run away suddenly from their city. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me?H5927H738H1347H3383H5116H386H7323H7280H7323H7323H977H6485H3259H7462H5975H644045So listen to the plan that I have made against the city of Babylon and to what I intend to do to its people. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified.H8085H6098H3068H3289H894H4284H2803H776H3778H6810H6629H5498H5116H807446When Babylon falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard by the other nations."H6963H8610H894H776H7493H2201H8085H1471
Dublin, OH
