44. I will punish Bel in Babylon.I will make Bel spit out everything that it has swallowed.Nations will no longer stream to Babylon,and its walls will fall.
45. “Leave it, my people!Run for your lives!Run from the burning anger of the Lord.
46. Don’t lose courage or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land.One rumor comes one year; another rumor comes the next year.Rumors of violence are in the land.Rumors that one ruler will fight against another are in the land.
47. That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s idols.The whole country will be put to shame,and all its soldiers will lie dead.
48. Then heaven and earth and everything in them will rejoice over Babylon,because destroyers from the north will attack it,”declares the Lord.
49. Because the people of Babylon have killed many Israelitesand because they have killed many people throughout the earth,Babylon must fall.
50. You people who escaped from the sword, leave!Don’t just stand there.Remember the Lord in a distant land, and think about Jerusalem.
51. We have been put to shame, and we have been disgraced.Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have goneinto the holy places of the Lord’s temple.
52. “That is why the days are coming,” declares the Lord,“when I will punish their idols,and those who are wounded will moan everywhere in the land.
53. The people of Babylon might go up to heaven.They might fortify their strongholds.But destroyers will still come from me against them,”declares the Lord.
54. Cries of agony are heard from Babylon.Sounds of terrible destruction are heardfrom the land of the Babylonians.
55. The Lord will destroy Babylon.He will silence the loud noise coming from it.Waves of enemies will come roaring in like raging water.The noise will be heard everywhere.
56. A destroyer will attack Babylon,its soldiers will be captured,and their bows and arrows will be broken.“I, the Lord, am a God who punishes evil.I will certainly punish them.
57. I will make their officials and wise men drunk,along with their governors, officers, and soldiers.They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up,”declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies.