11 “Babylon, you are excited and happy.You took my land.You dance around like a young cow in the grain.Your laughter is like the neighing of male horses.
12 Your mother will be very ashamed.The woman who gave you birth will be disgraced.Babylonia will be the least important of all the nations.She will be an empty, dry desert.
13 The Lord will show his anger.No people will live there.Babylon will be completely empty.Everyone who passes by Babylon will be afraid.They will shake their heads when they see how it has been destroyed.
14 “Take your positions for war against Babylon,all you soldiers with bows.Shoot your arrows at Babylon! Do not save any of them.This is because Babylon has sinned against the Lord.
15 Soldiers around Babylon, shout the war cry!Babylon has surrendered. Her towers have fallen.Her walls have been torn down.The Lord is giving them the punishment they deserve.You nations should give Babylon what she deserves.Do to her what she has done to others.
16 Don’t let the people from Babylon plant their crops.Don’t let them gather the harvest.The soldiers of Babylon treated their captives cruelly.Now, let everyone go back home!Let everyone run to his own country.
17 “The people of Israel are like a flock of sheep that are scattered.They are like sheep that have been chased away by lions.The first lion to eat them upwas the king of Assyria.The last lion to crush their boneswas Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”