55. For the Lord is laying Babylon wasteand stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters;the noise of their voice is raised,
56. for a destroyer has come upon her,upon Babylon;her warriors are taken;their bows are broken in pieces, for the Lord is a God of recompense;he will surely repay.
57. I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58. “Thus says the Lord of hosts:The broad wall of Babylonshall be leveled to the ground, and her high gatesshall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing,and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”
59. The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster.
60. Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,
62. and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’
63. When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,
64. and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.