The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday October 27, 2021 (NIV)

“See, I will stir^(A) up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon^(B) and the people of Leb Kamai.^[a]
2 I will send foreigners^(C) to Babylon
to winnow^(D) her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
in the day^(E) of her disaster.
³ Let not the archer string his bow,^(F)
nor let him put on his armor.^(G)
Do not spare her young men;
completely destroy^[b] her army.
⁴ They will fall^(H) down slain in Babylon,^[c]
fatally wounded in her streets.^(I)
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken^(J)
by their God, the Lord Almighty,
though their land^[d] is full of guilt^(K)
before the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ “Flee^(L) from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.^(M)
It is time^(N) for the Lord’s vengeance;^(O)
he will repay^(P) her what she deserves.
⁷ Babylon was a gold cup^(Q) in the Lord’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
⁸ Babylon will suddenly fall^(R) and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm^(S) for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed.

⁹ “‘We would have healed Babylon,
but she cannot be healed;
let us leave^(T) her and each go to our own land,
for her judgment^(U) reaches to the skies,
it rises as high as the heavens.’

¹⁰ “‘The Lord has vindicated^(V) us;
come, let us tell in Zion
what the Lord our God has done.’^(W)

¹¹ “Sharpen the arrows,^(X)
take up the shields!^(Y)
The Lord has stirred up the kings^(Z) of the Medes,^(AA)
because his purpose^(AB) is to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will take vengeance,^(AC)
vengeance for his temple.^(AD)
12 Lift up a banner^(AE) against the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard,
station the watchmen,^(AF)
prepare an ambush!^(AG)
The Lord will carry out his purpose,^(AH)
his decree against the people of Babylon.
¹³ You who live by many waters^(AI)
and are rich in treasures,^(AJ)
your end has come,
the time for you to be destroyed.^(AK)
14 The Lord Almighty has sworn by himself:^(AL)
I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts,^(AM)
and they will shout^(AN) in triumph over you.

¹⁵ “He made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom^(AO)
and stretched^(AP) out the heavens by his understanding.^(AQ)
16 When he thunders,^(AR) the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain^(AS)
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(AT)

¹⁷ “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;^(AU)
they have no breath in them.
¹⁸ They are worthless,^(AV) the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
¹⁹ He who is the Portion^(AW) of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including the people of his inheritance^(AX)—
the Lord Almighty is his name.

²⁰ “You are my war club,^(AY)
my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter^(AZ) nations,^(BA)
with you I destroy kingdoms,
²¹ with you I shatter horse and rider,^(BB)
with you I shatter chariot^(BC) and driver,
²² with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and young woman,^(BD)
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.^(BE)

²⁵ “I am against^(BH) you, you destroying mountain,
you who destroy the whole earth,”^(BI)
declares the Lord.
“I will stretch out my hand^(BJ) against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a burned-out mountain.^(BK)
26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,
nor any stone for a foundation,
for you will be desolate^(BL) forever,”
declares the Lord.

²⁷ “Lift up a banner^(BM) in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations for battle against her;
summon against her these kingdoms:^(BN)
Ararat,^(BO) Minni and Ashkenaz.^(BP)
Appoint a commander against her;
send up horses like a swarm of locusts.^(BQ)
28 Prepare the nations for battle against her—
the kings of the Medes,^(BR)
their governors and all their officials,
and all the countries they rule.^(BS)
29 The land trembles^(BT) and writhes,
for the Lord’s purposes^(BU) against Babylon stand—
to lay waste^(BV) the land of Babylon
so that no one will live there.^(BW)
30 Babylon’s warriors^(BX) have stopped fighting;
they remain in their strongholds.
Their strength is exhausted;
they have become weaklings.^(BY)
Her dwellings are set on fire;^(BZ)
the bars^(CA) of her gates are broken.
³¹ One courier^(CB) follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,^(CC)
32 the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,^(CD)
and the soldiers terrified.^(CE)”

“Daughter Babylon^(CF) is like a threshing floor^(CG)
at the time it is trampled;
the time to harvest^(CH) her will soon come.^(CI)”

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar^(CJ) king of Babylon has devoured^(CK) us,^(CL)
he has thrown us into confusion,
he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
and then has spewed^(CM) us out.
³⁵ May the violence^(CN) done to our flesh^[f] be on Babylon,”
say the inhabitants of Zion.
“May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,”
says Jerusalem.^(CO)

“See, I will defend your cause^(CP)
and avenge^(CQ) you;
I will dry up^(CR) her sea
and make her springs dry.
³⁷ Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
a haunt^(CS) of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,^(CT)
a place where no one lives.^(CU)
38 Her people all roar like young lions,^(CV)
they growl like lion cubs.
³⁹ But while they are aroused,
I will set out a feast for them
and make them drunk,^(CW)
so that they shout with laughter—
then sleep forever^(CX) and not awake,”
declares the Lord.^(CY)
40 “I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and goats.^(CZ)

⁴¹ “How Sheshak^[g](DA) will be captured,^(DB)
the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate^(DC) Babylon will be
among the nations!
⁴² The sea will rise over Babylon;
its roaring waves^(DD) will cover her.
⁴³ Her towns will be desolate,
a dry and desert^(DE) land,
a land where no one lives,
through which no one travels.^(DF)
44 I will punish Bel^(DG) in Babylon
and make him spew out^(DH) what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
And the wall^(DI) of Babylon will fall.

⁴⁵ “Come out^(DJ) of her, my people!
Run^(DK) for your lives!
Run from the fierce anger^(DL) of the Lord.
⁴⁶ Do not lose heart^(DM) or be afraid^(DN)
when rumors^(DO) are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year, another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
⁴⁷ For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols^(DP) of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced^(DQ)
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.^(DR)
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout^(DS) for joy over Babylon,
for out of the north^(DT)
destroyers^(DU) will attack her,”
declares the Lord.

⁴⁹ “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth
have fallen because of Babylon.^(DV)
50 You who have escaped the sword,
leave^(DW) and do not linger!
Remember^(DX) the Lord in a distant land,^(DY)
and call to mind Jerusalem.”

⁵¹ “We are disgraced,^(DZ)
for we have been insulted
and shame covers our faces,
because foreigners have entered
the holy places of the Lord’s house.”^(EA)

⁵² “But days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish her idols,^(EB)
and throughout her land
the wounded will groan.^(EC)
53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens^(ED)
and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers^(EE) against her,”
declares the Lord.

⁴ The King^(K) is mighty, he loves justice^(L)—
you have established equity;^(M)
in Jacob you have done
what is just and right.^(N)
5 Exalt^(O) the Lord our God
and worship at his footstool;
he is holy.

⁶ Moses^(P) and Aaron^(Q) were among his priests,
Samuel^(R) was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
and he answered^(S) them.
⁷ He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;^(T)
they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

⁸ Lord our God,
you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,^(U)
though you punished^(V) their misdeeds.^[a]
9 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.

¹⁷ Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears
is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own.