11. Sharpen your arrows;prepare your shields.The Lord is stirring upthe spirit of kings from Media.He intends to destroy Babylon;this is the Lord’s retribution,a day of reckoning for his temple.
12. Set up a flag on the walls of Babylon,fortify the guards,post watchmen,prepare an ambush,because the Lord has a planagainst the inhabitants of Babylon.He will accomplish it,just as he said he would.
13. You live beside a great river,and you are rich in treasures.But your time has come;your cruelty has caught up with you.
14. The Lord of heavenly forceshas sworn by his own name:I’m going to fill your citieswith soldiers like a swarm of locusts;they will celebrate their victory over you.
15. God made the earth by his might,shaped the world by his wisdom,and crafted the skies by his knowledge.
16. At the sound of God’s voice,the heavenly waters roar.God raises the cloudsfrom the ends of the earth.He makes lightning for the rainand sends the wind from his treasuries.
17. Everyone is too foolish to understand;every smith is shamed by his idols,for their images are shams;they aren’t alive.
18. They are a delusion, a charade;at the appointed time they will be ruined!
19. But the portion of Jacobis utterly different,for he has formed all things,including his very own tribe;the Lord of heavenly forcesis his name!
20. You are my hammer,my weapon of war.With you I will crush the nations.With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21. With you I will crush horse and rider.With you I will crush chariot and driver.