28. Get the nations ready for battle against her. Get the kings of the Medes ready. Get their governors and all their important officials ready. Get all the countries they rule ready for battle against Babylon.
29. The land shakes and moves as if it is in pain. It will shake when the Lord does to Babylon what he plans— to make the land of Babylon an empty desert, a place where no one will live.
30. Babylon’s soldiers have stopped fighting. They stay in their forts. Their strength is gone. They have become like frightened women. Babylon’s houses are burning. The bars of her gates are broken.
31. One messenger follows another. Messenger follows messenger. They announce to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured.
32. The places where people cross the rivers have been captured. The swamplands are burning. All of Babylon’s soldiers are afraid.”
33. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: “Babylon is like a threshing floor, where people beat the grain at harvest time. And the time to beat Babylon is coming soon.
34. “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed us in the past. In the past he hurt us. In the past he took our people away, and we became like an empty jar. He took the best we had. He was like a giant monster that ate everything until it was full. He took the best we had and then threw us away.
35. Babylon did terrible things to hurt us. Now I want those things to happen to Babylon.” The people living in Zion said, “The people of Babylon are guilty of killing our people. Now they are being punished for the bad things they did.” The city of Jerusalem said those things.
36. So this is what the Lord says: “I will defend you, Judah. I will make sure that Babylon is punished. I will dry up Babylon’s sea. And I will make her water springs become dry.