54. The Lord says,“Listen to the sound of crying in Babylon,of mourning for the destruction in the land.
55. I am destroying Babylonand putting it to silence.The armies rush in like roaring wavesand attack with noisy shouts.
56. They have come to destroy Babylon;its soldiers are captured,and their bows are broken.I am a God who punishes evil,and I will treat Babylon as it deserves.
57. I will make its rulers drunk —men of wisdom, leaders, and soldiers.They will go to sleep and never wake up.I, the king, have spoken,I am the Lord Almighty.
58. The walls of mighty Babylon will be thrown to the ground,and its towering gates burnt down.The work of the nations is all for nothing;their efforts go up in flames.I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
59. King Zedekiah's personal attendant was Seraiah, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. In the fourth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, Seraiah was going to Babylonia with him, and I gave him some instructions.
60. I wrote in a book an account of all the destruction that would come on Babylonia, as well as all these other things about Babylonia.
61. I told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, be sure to read aloud to the people everything that is written here.
62. Then pray, ‘Lord, you have said that you would destroy this place, so that there would be no living creatures in it, neither people nor animals, and it would be like a desert for ever.’
63. Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people, then tie it to a stone and throw it into the River Euphrates,
64. and say, ‘This is what will happen to Babylonia — it will sink and never rise again, because of the destruction that the Lord is going to bring on it.’ ”The words of Jeremiah end here.