21. “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,And against the inhabitants of Pekod.Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,“And do according to all that I have commanded you.
22. A sound of battle is in the land,And of great destruction.
23. How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
24. I have laid a snare for you;You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon,And you were not aware;You have been found and also caught,Because you have contended against the Lord.
25. The Lord has opened His armory,And has brought out the weapons of His indignation;For this is the work of the Lord God of hostsIn the land of the Chaldeans.
26. Come against her from the farthest border;Open her storehouses;Cast her up as heaps of ruins,And destroy her utterly;Let nothing of her be left.
27. Slay all her bulls,Let them go down to the slaughter.Woe to them!For their day has come, the time of their punishment.
28. The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of BabylonDeclares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,The vengeance of His temple.
29. “Call together the archers against Babylon.All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;Let none of them escape.Repay her according to her work;According to all she has done, do to her;For she has been proud against the Lord,Against the Holy One of Israel.
30. Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
31. “Behold, I am against you,O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;“For your day has come,The time that I will punish you.
32. The most proud shall stumble and fall,And no one will raise him up;I will kindle a fire in his cities,And it will devour all around him.”
33. Thus says the Lord of hosts:“The children of Israel were oppressed,Along with the children of Judah;All who took them captive have held them fast;They have refused to let them go.