51:4 Let them fall slain in the land of Babylonia,
mortally wounded in the streets of her cities.
51:11 “Sharpen your arrows!
Fill your quivers!
The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media.
For he intends to destroy Babylonia.
For that is how the Lord will get his revenge –
how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple.
51:20 “Babylon, you are my war club,
my weapon for battle.
I used you to smash nations.
I used you to destroy kingdoms.
51:21 I used you to smash horses and their riders.
I used you to smash chariots and their drivers.
51:22 I used you to smash men and women.
I used you to smash old men and young men.
I used you to smash young men and young women.
51:23 I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks.
I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen.
I used you to smash governors and leaders.”
51:24 “But I will repay Babylon
and all who live in Babylonia
for all the wicked things they did in Zion
right before the eyes of you Judeans,”
says the Lord.
51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
devoured me and drove my people out.
Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.
He filled his belly with my riches.
He made me an empty dish.
He completely cleaned me out.”
51:35 The person who lives in Zion says,
“May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives.”
Jerusalem says,
“May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people.”
51:36 Therefore the Lord says,
“I will stand up for your cause.
I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you.
I will dry up their sea.
I will make their springs run dry.
51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon.
Her warriors will be captured;
their bows will be broken.
For the Lord is a God who punishes;
he pays back in full.