Jeremiah 51:51-64

“We were mocked and ashamed; we were covered with disgrace because foreigners had entered the temple of YAHWEH’s holy places.” YAHWEH declares, “Behold, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s ‘gods,’ and throughout the land, wounded people will be groaning in pain. I, YAHWEH, say, even if Babylon should climb up to the sky, and entrench herself in an inaccessible height, I would still call her enemies to destroy her.” “Listen! The voice of a shout from Babylon. It is a noise of great destruction coming from the country of the Chaldeans. I am attacking Babylon and will destroy her and will silence the noise of the city. The enemy armies rush in like roaring waves and attack with shouts and battle cries. An enemy has come to destroy Babylon. They have captured Babylon’s soldiers and broken their bows into pieces. For YAHWEH is a God of recompense; he never fails to repay. I will make her soldiers and all her leaders drunk, including the advisers, officials, and military commanders. They will fall into an everlasting sleep, never to wake again,” declares the King, whose name is YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. “The attacking army will demolish the massive walls protecting Babylon and burn down the lofty gates of the city. The nations wear themselves out to no avail; they will see the flames destroy what they’ve done,” declares YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. Now Jeremiah had written all these prophecies of Babylon’s doom on a scroll. In the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, the king traveled to Babylonia, accompanied by his personal attendant, Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. Jeremiah gave Seraiah the scroll together with this command: “When you arrive in Babylon, be sure to read all the prophecies written on this scroll to all the people. Afterward, pray this prayer: ‘O  YAHWEH, you have promised to destroy this place so that no one will live here ever again, neither human nor animal. You said it will be desolate forever.’ “Then, Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people, tie a heavy stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River with these words: ‘Just as this scroll will sink, so Babylon will sink to the depths, never to rise again from the disaster I am going to bring on her.’ ” This ends Jeremiah’s writings.