Psa 137:8-9, Isa 47:5-9, Jer 50:33-34, 51:8-10, 24, Nah 2-3 | ESV | STEP | O daughter of Babylon , doomed to be destroyed , blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us !

8 O daughter of Babylon, ^adoomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who ^brepays you
with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and ^cdashes them against the rock!

Isaiah 47:5-9

5 ^dSit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of ^ethe Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
^fthe mistress of kingdoms.
6 ^gI was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
^hyou showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be ⁱmistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, ^jyou lover of pleasures,
^kwho sit securely,
who say in your heart,
^l“I am, and there is no one besides me;
^mI shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 ⁿThese two things shall come to you
in a moment, ^oin one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
^pin spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.

Jeremiah 50:33-34

33 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^qThe people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; ^rthey refuse to let them go. 34 ^sTheir Redeemer is strong; ^tthe Lord of hosts is his name. ^uHe will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:8-10

8 ^vSuddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
^wwail for her!
^xTake balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
^yForsake her, and ^zlet us go
each to his own country,
for ^aaher judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10 ^abThe Lord has brought about our vindication;
^accome, let us declare in Zion
the work of the Lord our God.

Jeremiah 51:24

24 ^ad“I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord.

Nahum 2

The Destruction of Nineveh

1 ^aeThe scatterer has come up against you.
^afMan the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle; ^{▼▼Hebrew gird your loins}
collect all your strength.
2 For ^ahthe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and ^airuined their branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is red;
^ajhis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
4 ^akThe chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
5 He remembers ^alhis officers;
^amthey stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower ^{▼▼Or the mantelet} is set up.
6 ^aoThe river gates are opened;
the palace ^apmelts away;
7 its mistress ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered its mistress is uncertain} is ^arstripped; ^{▼▼Or exiled} she is carried off,
her slave girls ^atlamenting,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
8 ^auNineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away. ^{▼▼Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but ^awnone turns back.
9 Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.
10 ^axDesolate! Desolation and ruin!
^ayHearts melt and ^azknees tremble;
^baanguish is in all loins;
^bball faces grow pale!
11 Where is the lions’ den,
the feeding place of ^bcthe young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
where his cubs were, with ^bdnone to disturb?
12 ^beThe lion tore enough for his cubs
and ^bfstrangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
13 ^bgBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^bhI will burn your ^{▼▼Hebrew her} chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and ^bjthe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Nahum 3

Woe to Nineveh

1 Woe to ^bkthe bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
^blno end to the prey!
2 The crack of the whip, and ^bmrumble of the wheel,
^bngalloping horse and ^bobounding chariot!
3 Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and ^bpglittering spear,
^bqhosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!
4 And all for the countless whorings of the ^brprostitute,
^bsgraceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
and peoples with her charms.
5 ^btBehold, I am against you,
declares the Lord of hosts,
and ^buwill lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^bvyour nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
6 I will throw filth at you
and ^bwtreat you with contempt
and make you ^bxa spectacle.
7 And all who look at you ^bywill shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^bzNineveh; ^cawho will grieve for her?”
^cbWhere shall I seek comforters for you?
8 ^ccAre you better than ^cdThebes ^{▼▼Hebrew No-amon}
that sat ^cfby the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
9 ^cgCush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
^chPut and the ^ciLibyans were her ^{▼▼Hebrew your} helpers.
10 ^ckYet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
^clher infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^cmlots were cast,
^cnand all her great men were bound in chains.
11 ^coYou also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;
^cpyou will seek a refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are ^cqlike fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your troops
^crare women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has devoured your bars.
14 ^csDraw water for the siege;
^ctstrengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will ^cudevour you ^cvlike the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^cwlike the locust;
multiply ^cxlike the grasshopper!
16 You increased ^cyyour merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
^czThe locust spreads its wings and flies away.
17 Your ^daprinces are ^dblike grasshoppers,
^dcyour scribes ^{▼▼Or marshals} like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.
18 Your shepherds ^deare asleep,
O king of Assyria;
^dfyour nobles slumber.
Your people ^dgare scattered on the mountains
with none to gather them.
19 There is no easing your hurt;
^dhyour wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
^diclap their hands over you.
For ^djupon whom has not come
your unceasing evil?