Jeremiah 51:24-56

The LORD says, “You will see me repay Babylonia and its people for all the evil they did to Jerusalem. Babylonia, you are like a mountain that destroys the whole world, but I, the LORD, am your enemy. I will take hold of you, level you to the ground, and leave you in ashes. None of the stones from your ruins will ever be used again for building. You will be like a desert forever. I, the LORD, have spoken. “Give the signal to attack! Blow the trumpet so that the nations can hear! Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia! Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack. Appoint an officer to lead the attack. Bring up the horses like a swarm of locusts. Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia. Send for the kings of Media, their leaders and officials, and the armies of all the countries they control. The earth trembles and shakes because the LORD is carrying out his plan to make Babylonia a desert, where no one lives. The Babylonian soldiers have stopped fighting and remain in their forts. They have lost their courage and have become helpless. The city gates are broken down, and the houses are on fire. Messenger after messenger runs to tell the king of Babylonia that his city has been broken into from every side. The enemy have captured the river crossing and have set the fortresses on fire. The Babylonian soldiers have panicked. Soon the enemy will cut them down and trample them like grain on a threshing place. I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, have spoken.” The king of Babylonia cut Jerusalem up and ate it. He emptied the city like a jar; like a monster he swallowed it. He took what he wanted and threw the rest away. Let the people of Zion say, “May Babylonia be held responsible for the violence done to us!” Let the people of Jerusalem say, “May Babylonia be held responsible for what we have suffered!” LORD And so the LORD said to the people of Jerusalem, “I will take up your cause and will make your enemies pay for what they did to you. I will dry up the source of Babylonia's water and make its rivers go dry. That country will become a pile of ruins where wild animals live. It will be a horrible sight; no one will live there, and all who see it will be terrified. The Babylonians all roar like lions and growl like lion cubs. Are they greedy? I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk and happy. They will go to sleep and never wake up. I will take them to be slaughtered, like lambs, goats, and rams. I, the LORD, have spoken.” The LORD says about Babylon: “The city that the whole world praised has been captured! What a horrifying sight Babylon has become to the nations! The sea has rolled over Babylon and covered it with roaring waves. The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels. I will punish Bel, the god of Babylonia, and make him give up his stolen goods; the nations will not worship him any more. “Babylon's walls have fallen. People of Israel, run away from there! Run for your life from my fierce anger. Do not lose courage or be afraid because of the rumors you hear. Every year a different rumor spreads—rumors of violence in the land and of one king fighting another. And so the time is coming when I will deal with Babylonia's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its people will be killed. Everything on earth and in the sky will shout for joy when Babylonia falls to the people who come from the north to destroy it. Babylonia caused the death of people all over the world, and now Babylonia will fall because it caused the death of so many Israelites. I, the LORD, have spoken.” The LORD says to his people in Babylonia: “You have escaped death! Now go! Don't wait! Though you are far from home, think about me, your LORD, and remember Jerusalem. You say, ‘We've been disgraced and made ashamed; we feel completely helpless because foreigners have taken over the holy places in the Temple.’ So then, I say that the time is coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols, and the wounded will groan throughout the country. Even if Babylon could climb to the sky and build a strong fortress there, I would still send people to destroy it. I, the LORD, have spoken.” The LORD says, “Listen to the sound of crying in Babylon, of mourning for the destruction in the land. I am destroying Babylon and putting it to silence. The armies rush in like roaring waves and attack with noisy shouts. 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.