57. I’ll make her leaders and sages drunk,her governors, officials,and warriors as well.They will sleep forever, never to get up,declares the king,whose name isthe Lord of heavenly forces.
58. The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:Babylon’s massive walls will come down,down to the ground;and its high gates will be burnedto the ground.People labor in vain;nations toil for nothing but ashes!
59. This is what the prophet Jeremiah instructed the staff officer Seraiah, Neriah’s son and Mahseiah’s grandson, when Seraiah went to Babylon with Judah’s King Zedekiah in the fourth year of his rule.
60. Jeremiah wrote down in a single scroll all the disasters that would happen to Babylon—all these things concerning Babylon.
61. Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When you get to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words.
62. Then say, "Lord, you declared that this place will be destroyed and nothing will remain in it—neither human nor animal; that it will forever be a wasteland!"
63. When you finish reading the scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River.
64. Then say, "In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I’m bringing against it."Jeremiah’s words end here.