The Fall of Babylon

1“Come down and sit in the dust,

Virgin Daughter of Babylon.

Sit ona the ground without a chair,

Daughter of the Chaldeans!

For no longer will they call you

tender and attractive.

2Take millstones and grind flour.

Remove your veil,

strip off your robes,b

bare your legs,

and wade through the rivers.

3Your nakedness will bec exposed,

and your disgrace will also be seen.

I’ll take vengeance,

and I will spare no mortal.

4“Our Redeemer—

the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

5“Sit silent,d and enter into the darkness,

you daughter of the Chaldeans;

for no more will they call you

Queen of Kingdoms.

6I was angry with my people,

ande I desecrated my heritage,

and gave them into your control.

You showed them no mercy;

even on the aged you laid your yoke most heavily.

7You said, ‘I will always continue—Queen forever!’

You didn’t take these things into your thinking,

nor did you think about their consequences.f

8“Now hear this, you wanton creature,

lounging with no cares,

and saying to herself:

‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me;

I won’t live as a widow,

nor will I seeg the loss of children.’

9Both of these things will overtake you

suddenly on a single day:

loss of children and widowhood.

They will come upon you in full measure,

despite the multitude of your incantations

and the great power of your spells.”

Self-Deception of the Babylonians

10“You trusted in your own knowledge.h

You said, ‘No one sees me.’

Your wisdom and knowledge have misled you.

You said in your heart,

‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me.’

11“But disaster will comei upon you,

andj you will not know how to charm it away.

A calamity will befall you

that you will not be able tok ward off;

and devastation will come upon you suddenly,

andl you won’t anticipate it.

12“Butm stand up now with your spells

and your many incantations,

at which you have labored from your childhood until today,n

13according too your multiple schemes.

Let them stand up now—

those who conjurep the heavens

andq gaze at the stars,

predicting at the new moons—

and save you from what is about to happen to them.r

14“See, they are just like stubble;

fire burns them up.

They could nots even save themselves

from the power of the flame.

There will be no coals for warming oneself,

no fire to sit by.

15So will they be to you—those with whom you toiled

and did business since your childhood—

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is not one who can save you.