16. People will come to look at your dead body. They will think about you and say, “Is this the same man who caused great fear in all the kingdoms on earth,
17. who destroyed cities and turned the land into a desert, who captured people in war and would not let them go home?”
18. The kings of other nations lie buried with honor, each king with his own grave.
19. But you were thrown out of your grave like a branch cut from a tree and thrown away. You are like a dead man who fell in battle, trampled under the feet of other soldiers. Now you look like any other dead man wrapped in burial clothes.
20. Other kings have their own graves, but you will not join them, because you ruined your own country and killed your own people. So your wicked descendants will be stopped.
21. Prepare to kill his children, because their father is guilty. His children will never take control of the land. They will never fill the world with their cities.
22. The Lord All-Powerful said, “I will stand and fight against those people. I will destroy the famous city, Babylon. I will destroy all the people there. I will destroy their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren.” The Lord himself said this.
23. “I will change Babylon. It will be a place for animals, not people. It will be a swamp. I will use the ‘broom of destruction’ to sweep Babylon away.” The Lord All-Powerful said this.
24. The Lord All-Powerful made this promise: “This will happen exactly as I meant for it to happen. It will happen just the way I planned.
25. I will destroy the king of Assyria in my country. I will walk on him on my mountains. He forced my people to be his slaves; he put a yoke on their necks. But that pole will be taken off Judah’s neck, and that burden will be removed.
26. This is what I plan to do for this land. I will use my power to punish all those nations.”
27. When the Lord All-Powerful makes a plan, no one can change it. When he raises his arm to punish, no one can stop him.
28. This message was given to me the year King Ahaz died:
29. Country of Philistia, don’t be happy that the king who beat you is now dead. It is true that his rule has ended, but his son will come and rule. It will be like one snake giving birth to a more dangerous one. The new king will be like a quick and dangerous snake to you.