2 ‘Announce and proclaim among the nations,lift up a banner and proclaim it;keep nothing back, but say,“Babylon will be captured;Bel will be put to shame,Marduk filled with terror.Her images will be put to shameand her idols filled with terror.”
3 A nation from the north will attack herand lay waste her land.No one will live in it;both people and animals will flee away.
4 ‘In those days, at that time,’declares the Lord,‘the people of Israel and the people of Judah togetherwill go in tears to seek the Lord their God.
5 They will ask the way to Zionand turn their faces towards it.They will come and bind themselves to the Lordin an everlasting covenantthat will not be forgotten.
6 ‘My people have been lost sheep;their shepherds have led them astrayand caused them to roam on the mountains.They wandered over mountain and hilland forgot their own resting place.
7 Whoever found them devoured them;their enemies said, “We are not guilty,for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.”
8 ‘Flee out of Babylon;leave the land of the Babylonians,and be like the goats that lead the flock.