The time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon, and the whole land will be disgraced. There will be many dead people lying all around.
Look, I see a man coming in a chariot with a team of horses.” The man gives back the answer, “Babylon has fallen. It has fallen! All the statues of her gods lie broken on the ground.”
So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon punish the men from Anathoth. Their young men will die in war. Their sons and daughters will die from hunger.
What will you say when they appoint as your heads those you had thought were your friends? Won’t you have much pain and trouble, like a woman giving birth to a baby?
A prophet or a priest or one of the people might say, ‘This is a message from the Lord.’ That person has lied, so I will punish him and his whole family.
“But when the seventy years have passed, I will punish the king of Babylon and his entire nation for their evil,” says the Lord. “I will make that land a desert forever.
“Announce this to the nations. Lift up a banner and tell them. Speak the whole message and say: ‘Babylon will be captured. The god Bel will be put to shame, and the god Marduk will be afraid. Babylon’s gods will be put to shame, and her idols will be afraid!’