1. Thus says the Lord: I will raise up against Babylon,and against those who dwell in Leb Kamai,the spirit of a destroyer.
2. And I will send foreigners to Babylonthat they may winnow her and empty her land.For in the day of troublethey will be against her all around.
3. Let not him who bends his bow bend it,and let him not rise up in his scale-armor,and do not spare her young men;utterly destroy all her host.
4. Thus the slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans,and those who are thrust through in her streets.
5. For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah,by his God, the Lord of Hosts,though their land was filled with sinagainst the Holy One of Israel.
6. Flee out of the midst of Babylon,and each of you deliver his soul!Do not be cut off in her punishment,for this is the time of the vengeance of the Lord;He will render to her a recompense.
7. Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord,that made all the earth drunk.The nations have drunk of her wine;therefore the nations are mad.
8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed.Howl for her.Take balm for her pain;perhaps she may be healed.
9. We applied healing to Babylon,but she is not healed.Forsake her, and let us each go into his own country;for her judgment reaches to heavenand is lifted up even to the skies.
10. The Lord has brought forth our righteousness.Come, and let us declare in Zionthe work of the Lord our God.
11. Sharpen the arrows.Gather the shields.The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.For His device is against Babylon, to destroy it;because it is the vengeance of the Lord,the vengeance of His temple.
12. Set up the standard against the walls of Babylon,make the watch strong,set up the watchmen,prepare the ambushes.For the Lord has both devised and donethat which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13. O you who dwell by many waters,abundant in treasures,your end has come,and the measure of your end.
14. The Lord of Hosts has sworn by Himself,saying: Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts,and they will lift up shouts of victory against you.
15. He has made the earth by His power;He has established the world by His wisdom,and has stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
16. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,and He causes the clouds to ascend from the remote parts of the earth;He makes lightning with rain,and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
17. Every man is ignorant by His knowledge;every founder is humiliated by the graven image,for his molded image is falsehood,and there is no breath in them.
18. They are vanity, the work of errors;in the time of their punishment they will perish.
19. The portion of Jacob is not like them,for He is the former of all things,and Israel is the rod of His inheritance.The Lord of Hosts is His name.