7. Babylon was like a gold cup in my hand. That city made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank its wine. So now they have gone crazy.
8. Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Sob over it! Get healing lotion for its pain. Perhaps it can be healed.
9. "The nations say, 'We would have healed Babylon. But it can't be healed. So let's leave it. Let's each go to our own land. Babylon 's sins reach all the way to the skies. They rise up as high as the clouds.'
10. "The people of Judah say, 'The Lord has made things right for us again. So come. Let's tell in Zion what the Lord our God has done.'
11. "I have stirred up you kings of the Medes. So sharpen your arrows! Get your shields! I plan to destroy Babylon. I will pay the Babylonians back. They have destroyed my temple.
12. Lift up a banner! Attack Babylon's walls! Put more guards on duty! Station more of them to watch over you! Hide and wait to attack them! I will do what I have planned. I will do what I have decided to do against the people of Babylon.
13. You who live by the rivers of Babylon, your end has come. You who are rich in treasures, it is time for you to be destroyed.
14. I am the Lord who rules over all. I have made a promise with an oath in my own name. I have said, 'I will certainly fill your land with soldiers. They will be as many as a huge number of locusts. They will win the battle over you. They will shout for joy.'