Jeremiah 51:35-61

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!”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.