From that land he went to Assyria and built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,

That country has many rivers and rich treasures, but its time is up, and its thread of life is cut.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came to me and said, "Come, and I will show you how the famous prostitute is to be punished, that great city that is built near many rivers.

The angel also said to me, "The waters you saw, on which the prostitute sits, are nations, peoples, races, and languages.

Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!

"The foreigners living in Babylon will run away to their homelands, scattering like deer escaping from hunters, like sheep without a shepherd.

You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you--- those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.

Go out from Babylon, go free! Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere: "The LORD has saved his servant Israel!"

Do not let seeds be planted in that country nor let a harvest be gathered. Every foreigner living there will be afraid of the attacking army and will go back home."

The Babylonian soldiers have stopped fighting and remain in their forts. They have lost their courage and have become helpless. The city gates are broken down, and the houses are on fire.