47
Prediction of the destruction of Babylon
1 Yahweh also says, “You people of Babylon,
you should go and sit in the dust/dirt to show that you are mourning,
because your time to rule [MTY] other countries is almost ended.
People will never again say that Babylonia is beautiful
like a very attractive/beautiful young woman.
2 You will be slaves, so take heavy stones
and grind grain like slave women do.
Take off your beautiful veils
and take off your robes as you prepare to cross streams to go where you will be forced to go.
3 You will be naked and very ashamed.
I will get vengeance on you and not pity you.”
4 The one who frees us people of Judah, whom we call ‘the Commander of the armies of angels’,
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Yahweh says, “You people of Babylon,
sit silently in the darkness,
because people will never again say that your city is like [MET] a queen that rules many kingdoms.
6 I was angry with the people whom I chose to belong to me,
and I punished them.
I allowed you people of Babylon to conquer them.
But when you conquered them, you did not have mercy on them.
You ◄oppressed/treated cruelly► [MET] even the old people.
7 You said, ‘We will rule other nations forever;
it is as though our city will be the queen of the world forever!’
But you did not think about the things that you were doing,
or think about what would result.
8 You people of Babylon who enjoy pleasure and sex,
listen to this:
You enjoy a luxurious life and you feel secure.
You say, ‘We are like gods,
and there are no others like us.
Our women will never become widows,
and our children will never be killed in wars.’
9 But both of those things will happen to you suddenly:
Many of your women will become widows
and many of your children will die,
even though you perform much sorcery and many kinds of magic to prevent bad things from happening to you.
10 You felt protected even though you were doing many wicked things,
and you said, ‘No one will see what we are doing!’
You thought that you were very wise and knew many things,
and you said, ‘We are gods, and there are no others like us,’
but you deceived yourselves.
11 So you will experience terrible things,
and you will not be able to prevent them by working magic.
You will experience disasters,
and you will not be able to pay anyone to prevent those things from happening.
◄A catastrophe/Something terrible► will happen to you suddenly,
something that you will not realize is about to happen.
12 So you can continue to perform all your magic spells [IRO]!
You can perform the many kinds of sorcery that you have practiced for many years!
Perhaps doing those things will enable you to be successful;
perhaps you will be able to cause your enemies to be afraid of you!
13 But all that has resulted from your doing all the things that the magicians have told you to do is that you have become tired!
The men who look at the stars every month and predict what will happen
should come forward and rescue you from the disasters that you are about to experience.
14 But they cannot do that, because they are like [SIM] straw that is burning in a fire;
they cannot save themselves from being burned up in the flames.
Those men are unable to help you [MET];
they are as useless as stubble that burns quickly and produces no heat for you.
15 The people whom you have associated with and worked with since you were young
will not help you,
because they will just continue doing their own foolish things,
and they will not pay any attention to you
when you cry out for help.”