29. "Send for men who are armed with bows and arrows. Send them against Babylon. Set up camp all around it. Do not let anyone escape. Pay it back for what its people have done. Do to them what they have done to others. They have dared to disobey me. I am the Holy One of Israel.
30. You can be sure its young men will fall dead in the streets. All of its soldiers will be put to death at that time," announces the Lord.
31. "Proud Babylonians, I am against you," announces the Lord. The Lord who rules over all says, "Your day to be judged has come. It is time for you to be punished.
32. You proud people will trip and fall. No one will help you up. I will start a fire in your towns. It will burn up everyone who is around you."
33. The Lord who rules over all says, "The people of Israel are being treated badly. So are the people of Judah. Those who have captured them are holding them. They refuse to let them go.
34. But I am strong and will save them. My name is The Lord Who Rules Over All. I will stand up for them. I will bring peace and rest to their land. But I will bring trouble to those who live in Babylonia.
35. "A sword is coming against the Babylonians!" announces the Lord. "It is coming against those who live in Babylonia. It is coming against their officials and wise men.
36. A sword is coming against their prophets. But they are not really prophets at all! So they will look foolish. A sword is coming against their soldiers! They will be filled with terror.
37. A sword is coming against their horses and chariots! It is coming against all of the hired soldiers in their armies. They will become like weak women. A sword is coming against their treasures! They will be stolen.
38. There will not be any rain for their rivers. So they will dry up. Those things will happen because their land is full of statues of gods. Those gods will go crazy with terror.
39. "Desert creatures and hyenas will live in Babylon. And so will owls. People will never live there again. It will not be lived in for all time to come.
40. I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. I also destroyed the towns that were near them," announces the Lord. "Babylonia will be just like them. No one will live there. No one will stay there even for a short time.
41. "Look! An army is coming from the north. I am stirring up a great nation and many kings. They are coming from a land that is very far away.
42. Their soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are mean. They do not show any mercy at all. They come riding in on their horses. They sound like the roaring ocean. They are lined up for battle. They are coming to attack you, city of Babylon.
43. The king of Babylonia has heard reports about them. His hands can't help him. He is in great pain. It is like the pain of a woman having a baby.
44. I will be like a lion coming up from the bushes by the Jordan River. I will hunt in rich grasslands. I will chase the people of Babylon from their land in an instant. What nation will I choose to do it? Which one will I appoint? Is anyone like me? Who would dare to argue with me? What leader can stand against me?"
45. So listen to what the Lord has planned against Babylon. Hear what he has planned against the land of the Babylonians. Their young people will be dragged away. The Lord will completely destroy their grasslands because of them.
46. When the earth hears that Babylonia has been captured, it will shake. The people's cries will be heard among the nations.