| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1“Come down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust. For your days of sitting on a throne have ended. O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be the lovely princess, tender and delicate. | 1"Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called delicate and pampered. |
| 2Take heavy millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, and strip off your robe. Expose yourself to public view. | 2Pick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams! |
| 3You will be naked and burdened with shame. I will take vengeance against you without pity.” | 3Let your private parts be exposed! Your genitals will be on display! I will get revenge; I will not have pity on anyone," |
| 4Our Redeemer, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, is the Holy One of Israel. | 4says our protector--the LORD who commands armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel. |
| 5“O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence. Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms. | 5"Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called 'Queen of kingdoms.' |
| 6For I was angry with my chosen people and punished them by letting them fall into your hands. But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy. You oppressed even the elderly. | 6I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. |
| 7You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of the world!’ You did not reflect on your actions or think about their consequences. | 7You said, 'I will rule forever as permanent queen!' You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out. |
| 8“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’ | 8So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, who lives securely, who says to herself, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me! I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.' |
| 9Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment: widowhood and the loss of your children. Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic. | 9Both of these will come upon you suddenly, in one day! You will lose your children and be widowed. You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, despite your many incantations and your numerous amulets. |
| 10“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’ | 10You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, 'No one sees me.' Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me!' |
| 11So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared. | 11Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. |
| 12“Now use your magical charms! Use the spells you have worked at all these years! Maybe they will do you some good. Maybe they can make someone afraid of you. | 12Persist in trusting your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited since your youth! Maybe you will be successful--maybe you will scare away disaster. |
| 13All the advice you receive has made you tired. Where are all your astrologers, those stargazers who make predictions each month? Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds. | 13You are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand--the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions--let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! |
| 14But they are like straw burning in a fire; they cannot save themselves from the flame. You will get no help from them at all; their hearth is no place to sit for warmth. | 14Look, they are like straw, which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy. |
| 15And all your friends, those with whom you’ve done business since childhood, will go their own ways, turning a deaf ear to your cries. | 15They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you." |
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