28. Listen to the people running from the country of Babylon!They are telling Jerusalemhow the Lord our God is punishing Babylon as it deserves.This is because Babylon destroyed his Temple.
29. “Call for the men who shoot arrowsto come against Babylon.Tell them to surround the city.Don’t let anyone escape.Pay her back for the bad things she has done.Do to her what she has done to other nations.Babylon acted with pride against the Lord,the Holy One of Israel.
30. So Babylon’s young men will be killed in the streets.All her soldiers will die on that day,” says the Lord.
31. “Babylon, you are too proud. And I am against you,”says the Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies.“This is because the time has comefor you to be punished.
32. Proud Babylon will stumble and fall.And no one will help her get up.I will start a fire in her towns.It will completely burn up everything around her.”
33. This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:“The people of Israeland Judah both are slaves.The enemy took them as prisoners.And they won’t let them go.
34. But God is strong and will buy them back.His name is the Lord of heaven’s armies.He will defend them with powerso he can give rest to their land.But he will not give rest to those living in Babylon.”
35. The Lord says,“Let a sword kill the people living in Babylon!Let a sword kill its officers and wise men!
36. Let a sword kill its false prophets!They will become fools.Let a sword kill Babylon’s warriors!They will be full of terror.
37. Let a sword kill its horses and chariots.Let a sword kill all the soldiers hired from other countries!They will be like frightened women.Let there be a sword against Babylon’s treasures!They will be taken away.
38. Let there be a sword against its waters!They will be dried up.It is a land of idols.Those idols will go crazy with fear.
39. “Babylon will never be filled with people again.Desert animals and hyenas will live there.Owls will live there.But no people will live there ever again.
40. God completely destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrahand the towns around them,” says the Lord.“In the same way no people will live in Babylon.No man will stay there.
41. “Look! An army is coming from the north.It comes from a powerful nation.Many kings are coming together from all around the world.
42. Their armies have bows and spears.The soldiers are cruel and have no mercy.The soldiers come riding on their horses.And the sound is loud like the roaring sea.They stand in their places, ready for battle.They are ready to attack you, city of Babylon.
43. The king of Babylon heard about those armies.And he became helpless because of his fear.His fear is like pain.It is like the pain of a woman having a baby.
44. “A lion will come from the thick bushes near the Jordan River.It will go into the rich pastures where people feed their flocks.I am like that lion! I will suddenly chase the people of Babylon from their land.Who is the one I have chosen to do this?There is no one like me.There is no one who can challenge me.None of their leaders can stand up against me.”