Babylon’s Punishment
The LORD first addresses Babylon as His former weapon, the instrument with which He shattered nations, rulers, and every level of human society. But that past role now gives way to reckoning: before the eyes of Zion, He will repay Babylon and all Chaldea for their evil. The destroying mountain that ravaged the earth will itself be rolled down, burned, and made useless for future building.
“20You are My war club, 21With you I shatter the horse and rider; 22With you I shatter man and woman; 23With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; 24Before your very eyes I will repay 25“Behold, I am against you, 26No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone
A banner is raised in the land and nations are summoned against Babylon, especially the Medes and their allies. The earth quakes as the LORD's plans against Babylon take shape, her warriors stop fighting, and reports race through the city that its defenses and crossings are taken. Babylon, daughter of the threshing floor, is about to be trampled at harvest time.
27“Raise a banner in the land! 28Prepare the nations for battle against her — 29The earth quakes and writhes 30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; 31One courier races to meet another, 32The fords have been seized, 33For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
Zion speaks of being devoured and emptied by Nebuchadnezzar like prey swallowed by a monster, and calls for violence done to her to return upon Babylon. The LORD answers that He will plead Zion's cause, dry up Babylon's sea and springs, and make her a heap, a haunt of jackals, and an object of horror. Her roaring princes and reveling crowds will be given a drunken feast that leads not to triumph but to everlasting sleep, and they will be brought down like animals to slaughter.
34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; 35May the violence done to me 36Therefore this is what the LORD says: 37Babylon will become a heap of rubble, 38They will roar together like young lions; 39While they are flushed with heat, 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
Babylon, called Sheshach, is seized and flooded over as though by a sea; her cities become desolation. Bel is punished, what he swallowed is forced from him, and the nations no longer stream to him. God's people are commanded to come out from the midst of Babylon and not let their hearts faint at the rumors and violence within the land, for the day is coming when Babylon's idols will be judged, her whole land shamed, and heaven and earth will sing over her fall when destroyers come from the north.
41How Sheshach has been captured! 42The sea has come up over Babylon; 43Her cities have become a desolation, 44I will punish Bel in Babylon. 45Come out of her, My people! 46Do not let your heart grow faint, 47Therefore, behold, the days are coming 48Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
Babylon must fall because she caused the slain of Israel, and those who escaped are told to keep going and remember the LORD from afar, even while carrying the shame of the temple's desecration. The LORD repeats that He will judge Babylon's images, send destroyers despite her highest fortifications, and drown out her proud noise with the roar of destruction. Her princes, governors, warriors, and wise men will be made drunk into an irreversible sleep, and even her broad walls and lofty gates will be burned, showing that the labor of nations and peoples for Babylon ends only in fire and emptiness.
49“Babylon must fall 50You who have escaped the sword, 51“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; 52“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” 53Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens 54“The sound of a cry 55For the LORD will destroy Babylon; 56For a destroyer is coming against her — 57I will make her princes and wise men drunk, 58This is what the LORD of Hosts says: