18. “The kings of the nations lie in stately glory,each in his own tomb,
19. but you will be thrown out of your gravelike a worthless branch.Like a corpse trampled underfoot,you will be dumped into a mass gravewith those killed in battle.You will descend to the pit.
20. You will not be given a proper burial,for you have destroyed your nationand slaughtered your people.The descendants of such an evil personwill never again receive honor.
21. Kill this man’s children!Let them die because of their father’s sins!They must not rise and conquer the earth,filling the world with their cities.”
22. This is what the lord of Heaven’s Armies says:“I, myself, have risen against Babylon!I will destroy its children and its children’s children,”says the lord.
23. “I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls,filled with swamps and marshes.I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction.I, the lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
24. The lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath:“It will all happen as I have planned.It will be as I have decided.
25. I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel;I will trample them on my mountains.My people will no longer be their slavesnor bow down under their heavy loads.
26. I have a plan for the whole earth,a hand of judgment upon all the nations.
27. The lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken—who can change his plans?When his hand is raised,who can stop him?”
28. This message came to me the year King Ahaz died: