Babylon will be destroyed

1This is what Yahweh says: “I will inspire/motivate an army to destroy Babylon like a powerful wind [MET], and also to destroy the people of Babylonia.

2I will send a foreign army to come to get rid of Babylonia like a strong wind that blows away chaff. They will attack from every direction on that day of disaster.

3I will tell them, ‘Do not allow the archers of Babylon to have time to put on their armor or draw their bows. Do not spare the young men of Babylon. Completely destroy their army.’

4Their soldiers will fall dead in Babylonia; they will die after being wounded in the streets.

5I, the Commander of the armies of angels, the Israelis’ God, have not abandoned Israel and Judah. Even though their land was full of people who sinned against me, the Holy God of Israel,
I am still their God.

6You people of Israel and Judah, flee from Babylon! Run away from there! Do not stay there and be killed when I punish the people of Babylon!
It will be the time when I will get revenge; I will do to them what they deserve.

7Babylon has been like [MET] a gold cup in my hand, a cup that is full of wine that caused people all over the earth who drank some of it to become drunk. It is as though the rulers of the nations drank the wine from Babylon, and it caused them to become crazy.

8But suddenly Babylon will be conquered. You foreigners who live in Babylon, weep for its people. Give them medicine for their wounds; perhaps they can be healed.”

9We foreigners would have tried to heal them, but now they cannot be healed. So we will not try to help them; we will abandon them, and return to our own lands, because it is as though the punishment they are receiving is so great that it reaches up to the clouds in sky, so great that no one can measure it.

10Yahweh has ◄vindicated us/shown that we were right►; so let’s proclaim in Jerusalem everything that Yahweh our God has done for us.

11You enemy soldiers, sharpen your arrows! Lift up your shields, because Yahweh has incited your kings of Media and Persia to march with their armies to Babylon and to destroy it. That is how Yahweh will get revenge on those foreigners who entered his temple in Jerusalem and defiled it.

12Lift up a battle flag close to the walls of Babylon! ◄Reinforce the/Appoint more► guards, and tell the watchmen to stand in their positions!
Prepare an ambush, because Yahweh is about to accomplish all that he has planned to do to the people of Babylon.

13Babylon is a city near the great Euphrates River, a city in which there are many rich people, but it is time for Babylon to be finished; the time for the city to exist is ended.

14The Commander of the armies of angels has solemnly promised, using his own name,
“Your cities will be filled with your enemies; I will cause them to be like [SIM] a swarm of locusts;
and they will shout triumphantly when they conquer your city.”

A song to praise Yahweh

15Yahweh created the earth by his power; he established it by his wisdom,
and he stretched out the sky by his understanding.

16When he speaks loudly, there is thunder in the sky; he causes clouds to form in every part of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and releases the winds from his storehouses.

17People are senseless, and they know very little [HYP];
those who make idols are always disappointed, because their idols do nothing for them. The images/statues that they make are not real gods; they are lifeless.

18Idols are worthless; they deserve to be ridiculed; there will be a time when they will all be destroyed.

19But the God whom we Israelis worship is not like those idols; he is the one who created everything that exists; we, the people of Israel, belong to him; his name is ‘the Commander of the armies of angels’.

20Yahweh says about the army of Babylonia (OR, about a nation that will attack Babylonia),
“You have been like [MET] my battle-axe and war-club;
with your power I have shattered nations and destroyed many kingdoms.

21With your power I have shattered armies of other nations: I destroyed their horses and their riders, their chariots and their chariot-drivers.

22With your power I shattered men and women, old people and children,
young men and young women.

23With your power I shattered shepherds and their flocks of sheep, farmers and their oxen,
governors and their officials.”

24But, Yahweh also says, “Soon I will repay/punish you people in Babylon and in the rest of Babylonia for all the evil things that you have done in Jerusalem.

25Babylonia is [APO] like [MET] a great mountain from which bandits descend to ◄plunder/steal things from► people all over the earth. But I, Yahweh, am the enemy of you people of Babylonia. I will raise my fist to strike you. I will knock you down from the cliffs and cause you to be only a huge pile of burned rubble.

26Your city will be abandoned forever; even the stones in your city will never again be used for buildings.
Your city will be completely destroyed.”

27Tell the nations to lift up a battle flag! Tell them to shout the battle-cry! Gather all their armies to fight against Babylon! Prepare the nations to attack Babylon.
Summon the armies of the kingdoms north of Babylonia—from Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander for them,
and bring a great number of horses; there must be a huge number of horses; that huge number will resemble [SIM] a swarm of locusts.

28Prepare the armies of other nations, armies that will be led by the kings of Media and Persia,
their governors and their officials.

29When they attack Babylon, it will be as though the earth will shake and writhe in pain, because those armies will accomplish everything that Yahweh has planned to do to Babylon; they will destroy it completely, with the result that no one will live there again.

30When their enemies attack, the strongest warriors in Babylon will not fight. They will remain in their barracks, without any strength. They will be as timid/weak as [SIM] women.
The enemy soldiers will burn the buildings in the city and pull down the bars of the city gates.

31Messengers will go quickly, one after another, to tell the king that his city has been captured.

32The places at which people can cross the river to escape from the city will be blocked. The dry reeds in the marshes/swamps will be set on fire,
and the soldiers of Babylon will be terrified.

33This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom we Israelis worship, says; “Babylon is like [SIM] wheat on the ground where it is about to be threshed by animals tramping on it.
Very soon their enemies will trample on the city of Babylon [MET].”

34The army of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, has attacked and crushed us Israeli people, and we have no strength left. It is as though they have swallowed us like a great monster that filled its belly with all our tasty parts,
and then has spit out what it did not like.

35So the people of [PRS] Jerusalem say to Yahweh,
“Cause the people of Babylon to suffer like they caused us to suffer! Cause the people of Babylonia to be punished for killing [MTY] our people!”

Yahweh will get revenge on Babylon

36And this is what Yahweh replies to the people of Jerusalem: “I will be like your lawyer to defend you, and I will avenge you. I will dry up the river in Babylon and all the springs of water.

37Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a place where jackals/wolves live. It will become a place that people are horrified about and will ridicule; it will be a place where no one lives.

38The people of Babylon will all roar like young lions; they will growl like baby lions.

39But while they are extremely hungry, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them. It is as though I will cause them to drink wine until they are very drunk, with the result that they will fall asleep. But they will never wake up from that sleep!

40I will bring them down to a place where they will be slaughtered, like [SIM] someone who takes lambs or rams or goats to where they will be slaughtered for sacrifices.

41People all over the earth now ◄honor/praise► Babylon; they say that it is a great city. But I will cause it to become a place about which people of all nations are horrified.

42The enemies of Babylon will cover the city like huge waves of the sea [DOU].

43The towns in Babylonia will become ruins, Babylonia will become a dry desert area. It will be a land in which no one lives and which no one walks through.

44And I will punish Bel, the god that the people of Babylon worship, and I will cause the people to give back what they have stolen [MET]. People of other nations will no longer come to worship Bel. And the walls of Babylon will collapse.”

A message for the Israeli people

45Yahweh also says, “My people, come out of Babylon! Run away from there!
Run, because I, Yahweh, am extremely angry [MTY] with the people of Babylon, and I will get rid of them!

46Do not be discouraged/worried [IDM] or afraid when you hear reports about what is happening in Babylon. People will report rumors like that every year, rumors about violent things being done in the land,
and rumors about leaders fighting against each other.

47But it will soon be the time for me to get rid of the idols in Babylon.
People all over the land will be ashamed because of being defeated; and the corpses of their soldiers will lie in the streets.

48Then all the angels in heaven and all the people on [PRS] the earth will rejoice, because from the north will come armies that will destroy Babylon.

49Like the soldiers of Babylon killed the people of Israel and also killed others all over the world [HYP],
the people of Babylon must also be killed.

50You Israeli people who have not been killed [MTY], get out of Babylon! Do not wait! Even though you are in a land far away from Israel, think about Yahweh, and think about Jerusalem!”

51The Israeli people say, “We are ashamed. We are completely disgraced [DOU], because foreigners have entered Yahweh’s temple and ◄defiled it/caused it to become unfit for worship►.”

52Yahweh replies, “That is true, but there will soon be a time when I will destroy the idols in Babylon, and throughout Babylonia there will be wounded people who will groan.

53Even if the walls around Babylon could extend up to the sky, and if its walls/fortifications were extremely strong, I will send armies that will destroy the city. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

Babylon will be completely destroyed

54Listen to the people of Babylon crying for help! And listen to the sounds of things being destroyed all over Babylonia!

55Yahweh will be destroying Babylon. He will cause the loud noises in the city to cease.

56Enemy troops will surge against the city like [SIM] a great wave. They will capture the city’s mighty soldiers
and break their weapons. That will happen because Yahweh is a God who punishes his enemies justly; he will punish them as they deserve.

57The king, the Commander of the armies of angels says, “I will cause the city officials and wise men, the army captains and soldiers in Babylon to become drunk. They will fall asleep,
but they will never wake up again!”

58Yahweh also says, “The thick walls around Babylon will be flattened to the ground. The city gates will be burned. People from other countries will work hard to save the city, but it will be ◄in vain/useless►,
because everything that they have built will be destroyed by fire.”

Jeremiah’s message was taken to Babylon

59Seraiah was the man who made arrangements for the King of Babylon whenever he traveled. He was the son of Neraiah and grandson of Mahseiah. When he was about to go to Babylon with King Zedekiah, after Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost four years, the prophet Jeremiah gave him a message.

60Jeremiah had written on a scroll a list of all the disasters that he had written about, disasters that would soon occur in Babylon.

61He said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, read aloud everything that I have written on this scroll.

62Then pray, ‘Yahweh, you said that you will thoroughly destroy Babylon, with the result that people and animals will no longer live there. You said that it will be desolate forever.’

63Then, when you have finished reading what I have written on the scroll, tie it to a heavy stone and throw it into the Euphrates River.

64Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon and its people will disappear and never exist again, because of the disasters that Yahweh will cause to occur there’ ”
That is the end of Jeremiah’s messages.