“People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly! Leave the land of Babylonia! Be the first to depart! Be like the male goats that lead the herd.

The exiles from Judah will say, ‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion what the Lord our God has done!’

“Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord!

As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them.

“Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed!

Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

‘But I will take you out of the city. And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you.

I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

It has tried my patience; yet its thick rot is not removed from it. Subject its rot to the fire!

Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall; the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.’

When your products went out from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with the abundance of your wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.

When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep.

He spoke with me, instructing me as follows: “Daniel, I have now come to impart understanding to you.

But reports will trouble him from the east and north, and he will set out in a tremendous rage to destroy and wipe out many.

Therefore, I will certainly cut you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; I will certainly kill you in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment; for my judgment will come forth like the light of the dawn.

Just as lion cubs are born predators, so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.

Look, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling place! He will descend and march on the earth’s mountaintops!

‘Do not fear, because I made a promise to your ancestors when they left Egypt, and my spirit even now testifies to you.’

I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ throughout all the earth.”

All these strong ones are scattering; they have sought permission to go and walk about over the earth.” The Lord had said, “Go! Walk about over the earth!” So they are doing so.