16. Don’t let the people from Babylon plant their crops. Don’t let them gather the harvest. The soldiers of Babylon brought many prisoners to their city. Now the enemy soldiers have come, so the prisoners are going back home. They are running back to their own countries.
17. “Israel is like a flock of sheep that was scattered all over the country. Israel is like sheep that were chased away by lions. The first lion to attack was the king of Assyria. The last lion to crush Israel’s bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
18. So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will soon punish the king of Babylon and his country as I punished the king of Assyria.
19. “‘I will bring Israel back to his own fields. He will eat food that grows on Mount Carmel and in the land of Bashan. He will eat and be full. He will eat on the hills in the lands of Ephraim and Gilead.’”
20. The Lord says, “At that time people will try hard to find Israel’s guilt, but there will be no guilt. People will try to find Judah’s sins, but no sins will be found. That is because I am saving a few survivors from Israel and Judah. And I am forgiving them for all their sins.”
21. The Lord says, “Attack the country of Merathaim! Attack the people living in Pekod! Attack them! Kill them and destroy them completely! Do everything I commanded you!
22. “The noise of battle can be heard all over the country. It is the noise of much destruction.
23. Babylon was called ‘The Hammer of the Whole Earth.’ But now the ‘Hammer’ is shattered. Babylon is the most ruined of the nations.
24. Babylon, I set a trap for you, and you were caught before you knew it. You fought against the Lord, so you were found and captured.
25. The Lord has opened up his storeroom and brought out the weapons of his anger. The Lord GOD All-Powerful brought out those weapons, because he has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
26. “Come against Babylon from far away. Break open the storehouses where she keeps her grain. Destroy Babylon completely. Don’t leave anyone alive. Pile up her dead bodies like big piles of grain.