18. They are worthless, a work to be mocked.At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.
19. Jacob’s Portion is not like thesebecause He is the One who formed all things. Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
20. You are My battle club,My weapons of war.With you I will smash nations;with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.
21. With you I will smash the horse and its rider;with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.
22. With you I will smash man and woman; with you I will smash the old man and the youth;with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.
23. With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock;with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team. With you I will smash governors and officials.
24. “I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
25. Look, I am against you, devastating mountain —this is the Lord’s declaration —you devastate the whole earth.I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs,and turn you into a charred mountain.
26. No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstoneor a foundation stone from you,because you will become desolate forever.This is the Lord’s declaration.
27. Raise a signal flag in the land;blow a ram’s horn among the nations; set apart the nations against her. Summon kingdoms against her —Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.Appoint a marshal against her;bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28. Set apart the nations for battle against her —the kings of Media,her governors and all her officials,and all the lands they rule.
29. The earth quakes and tremblesbecause the Lord’s intentions against Babylon stand:to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.
30. Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds.Their might is exhausted;they have become like women.Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze,her gate bars are shattered.
31. Messenger races to meet messenger, and herald to meet herald,to announce to the king of Babylonthat his city has been capturedfrom end to end.
32. The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire,and the soldiers are terrified.
33. For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floorat the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.