17. Every man is senseless by his knowledge; every goldsmith is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18. They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their judgment they shall perish.
19. The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the maker of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.
20. You are my battle-axe and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
21. And with you will I break in pieces the horse and its rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and its rider;
22. With you also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces old and young; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the maiden;
23. I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
24. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,
25. Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
26. And they shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate forever,
27. Set you up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.
28. Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, their captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their dominion.
29. And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
30. The mighty men of Babylon have ceased to fight, they have remained in their strongholds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.
31. One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side,