55. For the Lord lays Babylon waste,silences her loud cry,Waves roaring like mighty waters,a clamor resounding.
56. For the destroyer comes upon her, upon Babylon;warriors are captured, their bows broken;The Lord is a God of recompense,he will surely repay.
57. I will make her princes and sages drunk, with her governors, officers, and warriors, so that they sleep an everlasting sleep, never to awaken—oracle of the King, whose name is Lord of hosts.
58. Thus says the Lord of hosts:The walls of spacious Babylon shall be leveled to the ground,its lofty gates destroyed by fire.The toil of the peoples is for nothing;the nations weary themselves for what the flames consume.
59. The mission Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year of his reign; Seraiah was chief quartermaster.
60. Jeremiah wrote down on one scroll the disaster that would befall Babylon; all these words were written against Babylon.
61. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you reach Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,