Our enemies are already in the city of Dan; we hear the snorting of their horses. The whole land trembles when their horses neigh. Our enemies have come to destroy our land and everything in it, our city and all its people."

But you, LORD, are the true God, you are the living God and the eternal king. When you are angry, the world trembles; the nations cannot endure your anger.

Death to its lying prophets--- what fools they are! Death to its soldiers--- how terrified they are!

The king of Babylonia hears the news, and his hands hang limp. He is seized by anguish, by pain like a woman in labor.

I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place on that day when I, the LORD Almighty, show my anger.

"The foreigners living in Babylon will run away to their homelands, scattering like deer escaping from hunters, like sheep without a shepherd.

The dead will stare and gape at you. They will ask, "Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble?

The earth shakes as they advance; the sky trembles. The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

And so the earth will quake, and everyone in the land will be in distress. The whole country will be shaken; it will rise and fall like the Nile River.

The LORD has stirred up the kings of Media, because he intends to destroy Babylonia. That is how he will take revenge for the destruction of his Temple. The attacking officers command, "Sharpen your arrows! Get your shields ready!

Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Place troops in ambush!" The LORD has done what he said he would do to the people of Babylonia.

The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels.

Then pray, ' LORD, you have said that you would destroy this place, so that there would be no living creatures in it, neither people nor animals, and it would be like a desert forever.'

and say, 'This is what will happen to Babylonia---it will sink and never rise again because of the destruction that the LORD is going to bring on it.' " The words of Jeremiah end here.

Because of my anger no one will live in Babylon; it will be left in ruins, and all who pass by will be shocked and amazed.

"And so Babylon will be haunted by demons and evil spirits, and by unclean birds. Never again will people live there, not for all time to come.

The same thing will happen to Babylon that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when I destroyed them and the nearby towns. No one will ever live there again. I, the LORD, have spoken.

So listen to the plan that I have made against the city of Babylon and to what I intend to do to its people. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified.

Babylonia is the most beautiful kingdom of all; it is the pride of its people. But I, the LORD, will overthrow Babylon as I did Sodom and Gomorrah!

No one will ever live there again. No wandering Arab will ever pitch a tent there, and no shepherd will ever pasture a flock there.

I will turn Babylon into a marsh, and owls will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken."

The LORD Almighty has sworn an oath: "What I have planned will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.

From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do.

I am calling a man to come from the east; he will swoop down like a hawk and accomplish what I have planned. I have spoken, and it will be done.

The LORD says, "Babylon, come down from your throne, and sit in the dust on the ground. You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered, but you are soft and delicate no longer! You are now a slave!

People will see you naked; they will see you humbled and shamed. I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me."

The LORD says to Babylon, "Sit in silence and darkness; no more will they call you the queen of nations!

You thought you would always be a queen, and did not take these things to heart or think how it all would end.

But in a moment, in a single day, both of these things will happen. In spite of all the magic you use, you will lose your husband and children.

Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly--- ruin you never dreamed of !

You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you--- those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.

That is all the good they will do you--- those astrologers you've consulted all your life. They all will leave you and go their own way, and none will be left to save you."

He cried out in a loud voice: "She has fallen! Great Babylon has fallen! She is now haunted by demons and unclean spirits; all kinds of filthy and hateful birds live in her.

Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "This is how the great city Babylon will be violently thrown down and will never be seen again.

Never again will the light of a lamp be seen in you; no more will the voices of brides and grooms be heard in you. Your merchants were the most powerful in all the world, and with your false magic you deceived all the peoples of the world!"