8
"Move from the midst of Babylon, Go out of the land of the Chaldeans; And be like the rams before the flocks.
9
For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country, And they shall array themselves against her; From there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; None shall return in vain.
10
And Chaldea shall become plunder; All who plunder her shall be satisfied," says the Lord.
11
"Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, You destroyers of My heritage, Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, And you bellow like bulls,
12
Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, A dry land and a desert.
13
Because of the wrath of the Lord She shall not be inhabited, But she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified And hiss at all her plagues.
14
"Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around, All you who bend the bow; Shoot at her, spare no arrows, For she has sinned against the Lord.
15
Shout against her all around; She has given her hand, Her foundations have fallen, Her walls are thrown down; For it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her.
16
Cut off the sower from Babylon, And him who handles the sickle at harvest time. For fear of the oppressing sword Everyone shall turn to his own people, And everyone shall flee to his own land.
17
"Israel is like scattered sheep; The lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones."
18
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, As I have punished the king of Assyria.
19
But I will bring back Israel to his home, And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20
In those days and in that time," says the Lord, "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve.
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! I have laid a snare for you;
24
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 hosts In 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 Babylon Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, The vengeance of His temple.