29. “Call for the archers. Tell them to attack Babylon. Tell them to surround the city. Don’t let anyone escape. Pay her back for the bad things she has done. Do to her what she has done to other nations. Babylon did not respect the Lord. Babylon was very rude to the Holy One of Israel. So punish Babylon.
30. Babylon’s young men will be killed in the streets. All her soldiers will die on that day.” This is what the Lord says.
31. “Babylon, you are too proud, and I am against you,” says the Lord GOD All-Powerful. “I am against you, and the time has come for you to be punished.
32. Proud Babylon will stumble and fall, and no one will help her get up. I will start a fire in her towns. That fire will completely burn up everyone around her.”
33. This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “The people of Israel and Judah are slaves. The enemy took them, and the enemy will not let Israel go.
34. But God will get them back. His name is the Lord God All-Powerful. He will defend them very strongly. He will argue their case so that he can let their land rest. But there will be no rest for those living in Babylon.”
35. The Lord says, “Sword, kill the people living in Babylon. Sword, kill the king’s officials and the wise men of Babylon.
36. Sword, kill the priests of Babylon. They will be like fools. Sword, kill the soldiers of Babylon. They will be full of fear.
37. Sword, kill the horses and chariots of Babylon. Sword, kill all the soldiers hired from other countries. They will be like frightened women. Sword, destroy the treasures of Babylon. Those treasures will be taken away.
38. Sword, strike the waters of Babylon. Those waters will be dried up. Babylon has many, many idols. These idols show that the people of Babylon are foolish. So bad things will happen to them.
39. Babylon will never again be filled with people. Wild dogs, ostriches, and other desert animals will live there. But no one will live there ever again.
40. God completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them. In the same way no one will live in Babylon, and no one will ever go to live there.” This is what the Lord says.
41. “Look! There are people coming from the north. They come from a powerful nation. Many kings are coming together from all around the world.
42. Their armies have bows and spears. The soldiers are cruel. They have no mercy. The soldiers come riding on their horses; the sound is as loud as the roaring sea. They stand in their places, ready for battle. They are ready to attack you, city of Babylon.
43. The king of Babylon heard about those armies, and he is paralyzed with fear. He is overcome with fear and pain, like a woman giving birth.