56Destroying armies come against Babylon.

Her mighty men are captured,

and their weapons break in their hands.

For the Lord is a God who gives just punishment;

he always repays in full.

57I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

along with her captains, officers, and warriors.

They will fall asleep

and never wake up again!”

says the King, whose name is

the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

58This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:

“The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground,

and her massive gates will be burned.

The builders from many lands have worked in vain,

for their work will be destroyed by fire!”

Jeremiah’s Message Sent to Babylon

59The prophet Jeremiah gave this message to Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, a staff officer, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. This was during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign.^k 60Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words written here. 61He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read aloud everything on this scroll. 62Then say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that neither people nor animals will remain here. She will lie empty and abandoned forever.’ 63When you have finished reading the scroll, tie it to a stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64Then say, ‘In this same way Babylon and her people will sink, never again to rise, because of the disasters I will bring upon her.’”

This is the end of Jeremiah’s messages.