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.
54. Cries of anguish will come from Babylon,the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
55. For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon,and put an end to her loud noise.Their waves will roar like turbulent waters.They will make a deafening noise.
56. For a destroyer is attacking Babylon.Her warriors will be captured;their bows will be broken.For the Lord is a God who punishes;he pays back in full.
57. “I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her governors, leaders, and warriors.They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,”says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all.
58. This is what the Lord who rules over all says,“Babylon’s thick wall will be completely demolished.Her high gates will be set on fire.The peoples strive for what does not satisfy.The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.”
59. This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign. (Seraiah was a quartermaster.)