The Holy Bible: Revised Common Version

2  "Declare among the nations and publish,/
and set up a standard./
Publish, and do not conceal./
Say, 'Babylon is taken./
Bel is confounded./
Merodach is broken in pieces./
Her idols are confounded./
Her images are broken in pieces.'

3  For out of the north there comes a nation against her/
which shall make her land desolate,/
and no one shall dwell in it./
They shall flee, they shall depart—/
both man and beast.

4  "In those days and in that time,"/
says the LORD,/
"the children of Israel shall come—/
they and the children of Judah together—/
going and weeping./
They shall go and seek the LORD their God.

5  They shall ask the way to Zion/
with their faces toward it, saying,/
'Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD/
in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.'

6  "My people have been lost sheep./
Their shepherds have caused them to go astray./
They have turned them away on the mountains./
They have gone from mountain to hill./
They have forgotten their resting-place.

7  All who found them have devoured them./
And their adversaries said, 'We do not offend/
because they have sinned against the LORD,/
the habitation of justice,/
even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.'

8  Flee out of the midst of Babylon/
and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans,/
and be as the male goats before the flocks.

9  For behold, I will raise and cause to come against Babylon/
an assembly of great nations from the north country./
And they shall set themselves in array against her./
From there she shall be taken./
Their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man./
No one shall return in vain.

10 And Chaldea shall be plundered./
All who plunder her shall be satisfied,"/
says the LORD.

11 "Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,/
O destroyers of my heritage,/
because you have grown fat as the heifer at grass/
and bellow as bulls,

12 Your mother shall be greatly confounded./
She who bore you shall be ashamed./
Behold, the hindmost of the nations/
shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited,/
but it shall be wholly desolate./
Everyone who goes by Babylon/
shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues.

14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side./
All you who bend the bow,/
shoot at her, spare no arrows,/
for she has sinned against the LORD.

15 Shout against her on every side./
She has given her hand./
Her foundations have fallen./
Her walls are thrown down./
Since it is the vengeance of the LORD,/
take vengeance upon her./
As she has done, do to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,/
and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest./
For fear of the oppressing sword/
they shall each turn to his people/
and shall each flee to his own land.

17 "Israel is a scattered sheep./
The lions have driven him away./
First the king of Assyria has devoured him,/
and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon/
has broken his bones.

'Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,/
as I have punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring Israel back to his habitation,/
and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan,/
and his soul shall be satisfied/
upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days and in that time,'/
says the LORD,/
'the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,/
and there shall be none,/
and the sins of Judah,/
and they shall not be found,/
for I will pardon those whom I reserve.'

21 "Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it,/
and against the inhabitants of Pekod./
Waste and utterly destroy after them,"/
says the LORD,/
"and do according to all that I have commanded you.

22 A sound of battle is in the land,/
and of great destruction.

23 How the hammer of the whole earth/
is cut apart and broken!/
How Babylon has become/
a desolation among the nations!

24 I have laid a snare for you,/
and you are also taken, O Babylon,/
and you were not aware./
You are found and also caught/
because you have striven against the LORD."

25 The LORD has opened his armory/
and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation,/
for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts/
in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her from the utmost border./
Open her store-houses./
Cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly./
Let nothing of her be left.

27 Slay all her bulls./
Let them go down to the slaughter./
Woe to them! For their day has come,/
the time of their visitation.

28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon/
declares in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,/
the vengeance of his temple.

29 "Call together the archers against Babylon./
All you who bend the bow,/
encamp against it on every side./
Let none thereof escape./
Recompense her according to her work./
According to all that she has done, do to her,/
for she has been proud against the LORD,/
against the Holy One of Israel.

30 Therefore, her young men shall fall in the streets/
and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,"/
says the LORD.

31 "Behold, I am against you, O most proud,"/
says the Lord GOD of hosts,/
"for your day has come,/
the time that I will visit you.

32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall,/
and no one shall raise him up./
And I will kindle a fire in his cities,/
and it shall devour all around him."

"The children of Israel and the children of Judah/
were oppressed together./
And all who took them captives held them fast./
They refused to let them go.

34 Their Redeemer is strong./
The LORD of hosts is his name./
He will thoroughly plead their cause/
so that he may give rest to the land/
and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans,"/
says the LORD,/
"and upon the inhabitants of Babylon,/
upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

36 A sword is upon the liars,/
and they shall be foolish./
A sword is upon her mighty men,/
and they shall be dismayed.

37 A sword is upon their horses, upon their chariots,/
and upon all the mingled people/
who are in the midst of her,/
and they shall become as women./
A sword is upon her treasures,/
and they shall be robbed.

38 A drought is upon her waters,/
and they shall be dried up./
For it is the land of engraved images,/
and they are mad upon their idols.

39 Therefore, the wild beasts of the desert and the wolves shall dwell there,/
and the owls shall dwell therein./
And it shall be no longer inhabited forever,/
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah/
and the neighboring cities,"/
says the LORD,/
"so shall no man abide there,/
neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

41 Behold, a people shall come from the north,/
and a great nation, and many kings/
shall be raised up from the borders of the earth.

42 They shall hold the bow and the lance./
They are cruel and will not show mercy./
Their voice shall roar like the sea/
and they shall ride upon horses,/
each put in array, like a man to the battle,/
against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon has heard their report/
and his hands became feeble./
Anguish took hold of him,/
and pangs as of a woman in travail.

44 "Behold, he shall come up like a lion/
from the swelling of the Jordan/
to the habitation of the strong,/
but I will make them suddenly run away from her./
And who is a chosen man whom I may appoint over her?/
For who is like me?/
And who will appoint me the time?/
And who is that shepherd who will stand before me?"

45 Therefore, hear the counsel of the LORD/
that he has taken against Babylon,/
and also his purposes that he has purposed/
against the land of the Chaldeans./
Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out./
Surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved,/
and the cry is heard among the nations.