33. This is what the Lord of Hosts says:Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.All their captors hold them fast; they refuse to release them.
34. Their Redeemer is strong;Yahweh of Hosts is His name.He will fervently plead their case so that He might bring rest to the earthbut turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
35. A sword is over the Chaldeans —this is the Lord’s declaration —against those who live in Babylon,against her officials, and against her sages.
36. A sword is against the diviners,and they will act foolishly.A sword is against her heroic warriors,and they will be terrified.
37. A sword is against his horses and chariotsand against all the foreigners among them, and they will be like women. A sword is against her treasuries,and they will be plundered.
38. A drought will come on her waters,and they will be dried up.For it is a land of carved images,and they go mad because of terrifying things.
39. Therefore, desert creatures will live with hyenas,and ostriches will also live in her.It will never again be inhabitedor lived in through all generations.
40. Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrahand their neighboring towns —this is the Lord’s declaration —so no one will live there;no human being will even stay in itas a temporary resident.
41. Look! A people comes from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred upfrom the remote regions of the earth.
42. They grasp bow and javelin.They are cruel and show no mercy.Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses,lined up like men in battle formationagainst you, Daughter Babylon.
43. The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,and his hands fall helpless.Distress has seized him —pain, like a woman in labor.
44. “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me? ”
45. Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.
46. At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.