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¹ Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I stir up against Babylon, and against the Chaldeans dwelling therein, a deadly burning wind. ² And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall spoil her, and shall ravage her land. Woe to Babylon round about her in the day of her affliction. ³ Let the archer bend his bow, and him that has armour put it on: and spare ye not her young men, but destroy ye all her host. ⁴ And slain men shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and men pierced through shall fall without it. ⁵ For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken of their God, of the Lord Almighty; whereas their land was filled with iniquity against the holy things of Israel. ⁶ Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every one his soul: and be not overthrown in her iniquity; for it is the time of her retribution from the Lord; he is rendering to her a recompence. ⁷ Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, causing all the earth to be drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore they were shaken. ⁸ And Babylon is fallen suddenly, and is broken to pieces: lament for her; take balm for her deadly wound, if by any means she may be healed. ⁹ We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed: let us forsake her, and depart every one to his own country: for her judgment has reached to the heaven, it has mounted up to the stars.

¹⁰ The Lord has brought forth his judgment: come, and let us declare in Sion the works of the Lord our God. ¹¹ Prepare the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes: for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy it utterly; for it is the Lord’s vengeance, it is the vengeance of his people. ¹² Lift up a standard on the walls of Babylon, prepare the quivers, rouse the guards, prepare the weapons: for the Lord has taken the work in hand, and will execute what he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon, ¹³ dwelling on many waters, and amidst the abundance of her treasures; thine end is come verily into thy bowels. ¹⁴ For the Lord has sworn by his arm, saying,I will fill thee with men as with locusts; and they that come down shall cry against thee. ¹⁵ The Lord made the earth by his power, preparing the world by his wisdom, by his understanding he stretched out the heaven. ¹⁶ At his voice he makes a sound of water in the heaven, and brings up clouds from the extremity of the earth; he makes lightnings for rain, and brings light out of his treasures. ¹⁷ Every man has completely lost understanding; every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images: for they have cast false gods, there is no breath in them.