31. One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
32. the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”
33. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
34. “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.
35. May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion. “May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem.
36. Therefore this is what the Lord says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
37. Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.
38. Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.
39. But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the Lord.
40. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.
41. “How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!
42. The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.
43. Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels.