38 There will not be any rain for their rivers. So they will dry up. Those things will happen because their land is full of statues of gods. Those gods will go crazy with terror.
39 "Desert creatures and hyenas will live in Babylon. And so will owls. People will never live there again. It will not be lived in for all time to come.
40 I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. I also destroyed the towns that were near them," announces the Lord. "Babylonia will be just like them. No one will live there. No one will stay there even for a short time.
41 "Look! An army is coming from the north. I am stirring up a great nation and many kings. They are coming from a land that is very far away.
42 Their soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are mean. They do not show any mercy at all. They come riding in on their horses. They sound like the roaring ocean. They are lined up for battle. They are coming to attack you, city of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylonia has heard reports about them. His hands can't help him. He is in great pain. It is like the pain of a woman having a baby.
44 I will be like a lion coming up from the bushes by the Jordan River. I will hunt in rich grasslands. I will chase the people of Babylon from their land in an instant. What nation will I choose to do it? Which one will I appoint? Is anyone like me? Who would dare to argue with me? What leader can stand against me?"