I will bring such a disaster on them that all the nations of the world will be terrified. People will make fun of them, make jokes about them, ridicule them, and use their name as a curse everywhere I scatter them.

"When I am angry and furious with you and punish you, all the nations around you will be terrified. They will look at you with disgust and make fun of you.

The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, "You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?"

who angrily oppressed the peoples and never stopped persecuting the nations they had conquered.

Is this the man who destroyed cities and turned the world into a desert? Is this the man who never freed his prisoners or let them go home?"

The LORD says to Babylon, "Sit in silence and darkness; no more will they call you the queen of nations!

I will make your oppressors kill each other; they will be drunk with murder and rage. Then all people will know that I am the LORD, the one who saves you and sets you free. They will know that I am Israel's powerful God."

I will give it to those who oppressed you, to those who made you lie down in the streets and trampled on you as if you were dirt."

'I am going to send for all the peoples from the north and for my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. I am going to bring them to fight against Judah and its inhabitants and against all the neighboring nations. I am going to destroy this nation and its neighbors and leave them in ruins forever, a terrible and shocking sight. I, the LORD, have spoken.

This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighboring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years.

I will punish Babylonia with all the disasters that I threatened to bring on the nations when I spoke through Jeremiah---all the disasters recorded in this book.

I am the one who has placed all these nations under the power of my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, and I have made even the wild animals serve him.

All nations will serve him, and they will serve his son and his grandson until the time comes for his own nation to fall. Then his nation will serve powerful nations and great kings.

The noise of battle is heard in the land, and there is great destruction.

Babylonia hammered the whole world to pieces, and now that hammer is shattered! All the nations are shocked at what has happened to that country.

The LORD says, "Babylonia, you are my hammer, my weapon of war. I used you to crush nations and kingdoms,

to kill men and women, to slay old and young, to kill boys and girls,

The LORD says, "You will see me repay Babylonia and its people for all the evil they did to Jerusalem.

Then I wanted to know more about the fourth beast, which was not like any of the others---the terrifying beast which crushed its victims with its bronze claws and iron teeth and then trampled on them.

While I was looking, that horn made war on God's people and conquered them.

This is the explanation I was given: "The fourth beast is a fourth empire that will be on the earth and will be different from all other empires. It will crush the whole earth and trample it down.

He will speak against the Supreme God and oppress God's people. He will try to change their religious laws and festivals, and God's people will be under his power for three and a half years.

O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?

The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.

"Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them---they pile up earth against it and capture it.

The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, "You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?"

You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself.

You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder.

The second beast was allowed to breathe life into the image of the first beast, so that the image could talk and put to death all those who would not worship it.

No one could buy or sell without this mark, that is, the beast's name or the number that stands for the name.

I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "The judgments you have made are just, O Holy One, you who are and who were!

They poured out the blood of God's people and of the prophets, and so you have given them blood to drink. They are getting what they deserve!"

And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of those who were killed because they had been loyal to Jesus. When I saw her, I was completely amazed.

For her sins are piled up as high as heaven, and God remembers her wicked ways.

Give her as much suffering and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. For she keeps telling herself: 'Here I sit, a queen! I am no widow, I will never know grief !'

Babylonia is the most beautiful kingdom of all; it is the pride of its people. But I, the LORD, will overthrow Babylon as I did Sodom and Gomorrah!

"I myself will prepare your way, leveling mountains and hills. I will break down bronze gates and smash their iron bars.

I will give you treasures from dark, secret places; then you will know that I am the LORD and that the God of Israel has called you by name.

The king of Babylonia looted the Temple, the Temple treasury, and the wealth of the king and his officials, and took everything back to Babylon.

Our glittering gold has grown dull; the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets.

He has made you ruler of all the inhabited earth and ruler over all the animals and birds. You are the head of gold.

and say, "How terrible! How awful for the great city! She used to dress herself in linen, purple, and scarlet, and cover herself with gold ornaments, precious stones, and pearls!