14. The Lord who rules over all has solemnly sworn,‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers.They will swarm over it like locusts.They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’
15. He is the one who by his power made the earth.He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place,by his understanding he spread out the heavens.
16. When his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar.He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.
17. All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.For the image he forges is merely a sham.There is no breath in any of those idols.
18. They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed.When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
19. The Lord, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob, is not like them.For he is the one who created everything,including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own.He is known as the Lord who rules over all.
20. “Babylon, you are my war club,my weapon for battle.I used you to smash nations.I used you to destroy kingdoms.
21. I used you to smash horses and their riders.I used you to smash chariots and their drivers.
22. I used you to smash men and women.I used you to smash old men and young men.I used you to smash young men and young women.
23. I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks.I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen.I used you to smash governors and leaders.”
24. “But I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babyloniafor all the wicked things they did in Zion right before the eyes of you Judeans,” says the Lord.