A Vision of the Fall of Babylon

¹This is a message about Babylonia. Like a whirlwind sweeping across the desert, disaster will come from a terrifying land.

²I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction. Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering which Babylon has caused.

³What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor.

⁴My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.

⁵In the vision a banquet is ready; rugs are spread for the guests to sit on. They are eating and drinking. Suddenly the command rings out: “Officers! Prepare your shields!”

⁶Then the Lord said to me, “Go and post a sentry, and tell him to report what he sees.

⁷If he sees riders coming on horseback, two by two, and riders on donkeys and camels, he is to observe them carefully.”

⁸The sentry calls out, “Sir, I have been standing guard at my post day and night.”

⁹Suddenly, here they come! Riders on horseback, two by two. The sentry gives the news, “Babylon has fallen! All the idols they worshiped lie shattered on the ground.”

¹⁰My people Israel, you have been threshed like wheat, but now I have announced to you the good news that I have heard from the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel.

A Message about Edom

¹¹This is a message about Edom. Someone calls to me from Edom, “Sentry, how soon will the night be over? Tell me how soon it will end.”

¹²I answer, “Morning is coming, but night will come again. If you want to ask again, come back and ask.”

A Message about Arabia

¹³This is a message about Arabia. People of Dedan, you whose caravans camp in the barren country of Arabia,

¹⁴give water to the thirsty people who come to you. You people of the land of Tema, give food to the refugees.

¹⁵People are fleeing to escape from swords that are ready to kill them, from bows that are ready to shoot, from all the dangers of war.

¹⁶Then the Lord said to me, “In exactly one year the greatness of the tribes of Kedar will be at an end.

¹⁷The archers are the bravest warriors of Kedar, but few of them will be left. I, the Lord God of Israel, have spoken.”

A Message about Jerusalem

¹This is a message about the Valley of Vision. What is happening? Why are all the people of the city celebrating on the roofs of the houses?

²The whole city is in an uproar, filled with noise and excitement. Your people who died in this war did not die fighting.

³All your leaders ran away and were captured before they shot a single arrow.

⁴Now leave me alone to weep bitterly over all those of my people who have died. Don't try to comfort me.

⁵This is a time of panic, defeat, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, and the Sovereign Lord Almighty has sent it on us. The walls of our city have been battered down, and cries for help have echoed among the hills.

⁶The soldiers from the land of Elam came riding on horseback, armed with bows and arrows. Soldiers from the land of Kir had their shields ready.

⁷The fertile valleys of Judah were filled with chariots; soldiers on horseback stood in front of Jerusalem's gates.

⁸All of Judah's defenses crumbled. When that happened, you brought weapons out of the arsenal.

^9-10You found the places where the walls of Jerusalem needed repair. You inspected all the houses in Jerusalem and tore some of them down to get stones to repair the city walls. In order to store water,

¹¹you built a reservoir inside the city to hold the water flowing down from the old pool. But you paid no attention to God, who planned all this long ago and who caused it to happen.

¹²The Sovereign Lord Almighty was calling you then to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth.

¹³Instead, you laughed and celebrated. You killed sheep and cattle to eat, and you drank wine. You said, “We might as well eat and drink! Tomorrow we'll be dead.”

¹⁴The Sovereign Lord Almighty himself spoke to me and said, “This evil will never be forgiven them as long as they live. I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

A Warning to Shebna

¹⁵The Sovereign Lord Almighty told me to go to Shebna, the manager of the royal household, and say to him,

¹⁶“Who do you think you are? What right do you have to carve a tomb for yourself out of the rocky hillside?

¹⁷You may be important, but the Lord will pick you up and throw you away.

¹⁸He will pick you up like a ball and throw you into a much larger country. You will die there beside the chariots you were so proud of. You are a disgrace to your master's household.

¹⁹The Lord will remove you from office and bring you down from your high position.”

²⁰The Lord said to Shebna, “When that happens, I will send for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

²¹I will put your official robe and belt on him and give him all the authority you have had. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

²²I will give him complete authority under the king, the descendant of David. He will have the keys of office; what he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open.

²³I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, and he will be a source of honor to his whole family.

²⁴“But all his relatives and dependents will become a burden to him. They will hang on him like pots and bowls hanging from a peg!

²⁵When that happens, the peg that was firmly fastened will pull loose and fall. And that will be the end of everything that was hanging on it.” The Lord has spoken.

¹Doomed is the lying, murderous city, full of wealth to be looted and plundered!

²Listen! The crack of the whip, the rattle of wheels, the gallop of horses, the jolting of chariots!

³Cavalry troops charge, swords flash, spears gleam! Corpses are piled high, dead bodies without number— men stumble over them!

⁴Nineveh the whore is being punished. Attractive and full of deadly charms, she enchanted nations and enslaved them.

⁵The Lord Almighty says, “I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.

⁶I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror.

⁷All who see you will shrink back. They will say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins! Who has any sympathy for her? Who will want to comfort her?’”

⁸Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall—the Nile was her defense.

⁹She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.

¹⁰Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.

¹¹Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies.

¹²All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!

¹³Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.

¹⁴Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!

¹⁵No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts. You multiplied like locusts!

¹⁶You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away.

¹⁷Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!

¹⁸Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again.

¹⁹There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?

²⁹The Lord protects honest people, but destroys those who do wrong.

³⁰Righteous people will always have security, but the wicked will not survive in the land.

³¹Righteous people speak wisdom, but the tongue that speaks evil will be stopped.

³²Righteous people know the kind thing to say, but the wicked are always saying things that hurt.