43. The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels.
44. I will punish Bel, the god of Babylonia, and make him give up his stolen goods; the nations will not worship him any more.“Babylon's walls have fallen.
45. People of Israel, run away from there! Run for your life from my fierce anger.
46. Do not lose courage or be afraid because of the rumours you hear. Every year a different rumour spreads — rumours of violence in the land and of one king fighting another.
47. And so the time is coming when I will deal with Babylonia's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its people will be killed.
48. Everything on earth and in the sky will shout for joy when Babylonia falls to the people who come from the north to destroy it.
49. Babylonia caused the death of people all over the world, and now Babylonia will fall because it caused the death of so many Israelites. I, the Lord, have spoken.”