1 ARST Yahweh also says,“You people of Babylon, you should go and sit in the dust, because your time to rule other countries is almost ended. People will never again say that Babylonia is beautiful like a very attractive young woman. BSB BSB: “Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
2 ARST You will be slaves, so take heavy stones and grind grain like slave women do. Take off your beautiful veils and take off your robes as you prepare to cross streams to go where you will be forced to go. BSB BSB: Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
3 ARST You will be naked and very ashamed. I will have vengeance on you and will not pity you.” BSB BSB: Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”
4 ARST The one who frees us people of Judah, whom we call‘Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies,’ is the Holy One of Israel. BSB BSB: Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel.
5 ARST Yahweh says,“You people of Babylon, sit silently in the darkness, because no one will never again say that your city is like a queen that rules many kingdoms. BSB BSB: “Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
6 ARST I was angry with the people who belong to me, and I punished them. I allowed you people of Babylon to conquer them. But when you conquered them, you did not act mercifully toward them. You oppressed even the old people. BSB BSB: I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
7 ARST You said,‘We will rule other nations forever; it is as though our city will be the queen of the world forever!’ But you did not think about the things that you were doing, or think about what would result. BSB BSB: You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.
8 ARST You people of Babylon who enjoy pleasures and who live in luxury, listen to this: You act as through you were gods, saying,“I am special, and there is no one better than I am,” None of our women will never become widows, and none of our children will never be killed in wars.’ BSB BSB: So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’
9 ARST But both of those things will happen to you suddenly: many of your women will become widows and many of your children will die, even though you perform much sorcery and many kinds of magic to prevent bad things from happening to you. BSB BSB: These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.
10 ARST You felt safe even though you were doing many wicked things, and you said,‘No one will see what we are doing!’ You thought that you were very wise and knew many things, and you said,‘We are gods, and there are no others like us,’ but you deceived yourselves. BSB BSB: You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
11 ARST So you will experience terrible things, and you will not be able to prevent them by working magic. You will experience disasters, and you will not be able to pay any magician to keep those things from happening. A catastrophe will happen to you suddenly, something that you will not realize is about to happen. BSB BSB: But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.
14 ARST But they cannot do that, because they are like straw that is burning in a fire; they cannot save themselves from being burned up in the flames. They are unable to help you; they are as useless as stubble that burns, but that fire will burn them up rather than let them enjoy the heat. BSB BSB: Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
15 ARST And they will disappoint you, those with whom you faithfully worked and with whom you traveled and traded when you were younger, and yet all of them keep doing their own foolish things; and when you cry out for help, there is no one who can help you.” BSB BSB: This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.