^{2 Ref} Give it out among the nations, make it public, and let the flag be lifted up; give the word and keep nothing back; say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is broken, her images are put to shame, her gods are broken.

^{3 Ref} For out of the north a nation is coming up against her, which will make her land waste and unpeopled: they are in flight, man and beast are gone.

^{4 Ref} In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping and making prayer to the Lord their God.

^{5 Ref} They will be questioning about the way to Zion, with their faces turned in its direction, saying, Come, and be united to the Lord in an eternal agreement which will be kept in mind for ever.

^{6 Ref} My people have been wandering sheep: their keepers have made them go out of the right way, turning them loose on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, having no memory of their resting-place.

^{7 Ref} They have been attacked by all those who came across them: and their attackers said, We are doing no wrong, because they have done evil against the Lord in whom is righteousness, against the Lord, the hope of their fathers.

^{8 Ref} Go in flight out of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and be like he-goats before the flocks.

^{9 Ref} For see, I am moving and sending up against Babylon a band of great nations from the north country: and they will put their armies in position against her; and from there she will be taken: their arrows will be like those of an expert man of war; not one will come back without getting its mark.

^{10 Ref} And the wealth of Chaldaea will come into the hands of her attackers: all those who take her wealth will have enough, says the Lord.

^{11 Ref} Because you are glad, because you are lifted up with pride, you wasters of my heritage, because you are playing like a young cow put out to grass, and you make a noise like strong horses;