26. Yes, come against her from distant lands.Break open her granaries.Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble.Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!
27. Destroy even her young bulls—it will be terrible for them, too!Slaughter them all!For Babylon’s day of reckoning has come.
28. Listen to the people who have escaped from Babylon,as they tell in Jerusalemhow the lord our God has taken vengeanceagainst those who destroyed his Temple.
29. “Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon.Surround the city so none can escape.Do to her as she has done to others,for she has defied the lord, the Holy One of Israel.
30. Her young men will fall in the streets and die.Her soldiers will all be killed,”says the lord.
31. “See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,”says the Lord, the lord of Heaven’s Armies.“Your day of reckoning has arrived—the day when I will punish you.
32. O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall,and no one will raise you up.For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylonthat will burn up everything around them.”
33. This is what the lord of Heaven’s Armies says:“The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged.Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.
34. But the one who redeems them is strong.His name is the lord of Heaven’s Armies.He will defend themand give them rest again in Israel.But for the people of Babylonthere will be no rest!
35. “The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,”says the lord.“It will strike the people of Babylon—her officials and wise men, too.
36. The sword will strike her wise counselors,and they will become fools.The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,and panic will seize them.
37. The sword will strike her horses and chariotsand her allies from other lands,and they will all become like women.The sword will strike her treasures,and they all will be plundered.
38. A drought will strike her water supply,causing it to dry up.And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols,and the people are madly in love with them.
39. “Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas.It will be a home for owls.Never again will people live there;it will lie desolate forever.