40. “I will lead them off to be slaughteredlike lambs, rams, and male goats.”
41. “See how Babylon has been captured!See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken!See what an object of horrorBabylon has become among the nations!
42. The sea has swept over Babylon.She has been covered by a multitude of its waves.
43. The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.She has become a dry and barren desert.No one lives in those towns any more.No one even passes through them.
44. I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.The nations will not come streaming to him any longer.Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.”
45. “Get out of Babylon, my people!Flee to save your livesfrom the fierce anger of the Lord!
46. Do not lose your courage or become afraidbecause of the reports that are heard in the land.For a report will come in one year.Another report will follow it in the next.There will be violence in the landwith ruler fighting against ruler.”
47. “So the time will certainly come when I will punish the idols of Babylon.Her whole land will be put to shame.All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst.
48. Then heaven and earth and all that is in themwill sing for joy over Babylon.For destroyers from the north will attack it,”says the Lord.
49. “Babylon must fall because of the Israelites she has killed,just as the earth’s mortally wounded fellbecause of Babylon.
50. You who have escaped the sword,go, do not delay.Remember the Lord in a faraway land.Think about Jerusalem.
51. ‘We are ashamed because we have been insulted.Our faces show our disgrace.For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms in the Lord’s temple.’
52. Yes, but the time will certainly come,” says the Lord,“when I will punish her idols.Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.
53. Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky and fortifies her elevated stronghold,I will send destroyers against her,”says the Lord.