14. “Take your positions for war against Babylon,all you soldiers with bows.Shoot your arrows at Babylon! Do not save any of them.This is because Babylon has sinned against the Lord.
15. Soldiers around Babylon, shout the war cry!Babylon has surrendered. Her towers have fallen.Her walls have been torn down.The Lord is giving them the punishment they deserve.You nations should give Babylon what she deserves.Do to her what she has done to others.
16. Don’t let the people from Babylon plant their crops.Don’t let them gather the harvest.The soldiers of Babylon treated their captives cruelly.Now, let everyone go back home!Let everyone run to his own country.
17. “The people of Israel are like a flock of sheep that are scattered.They are like sheep that have been chased away by lions.The first lion to eat them upwas the king of Assyria.The last lion to crush their boneswas Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
18. So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says:“I will punish the king of Babylon and his country.I will punish him as I punished the king of Assyria.
19. But I will bring the people of Israel back to their own pasture.They will eat on Mount Carmel and in Bashan.They will eat and be full.They will eat on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.”
20. The Lord says,“At that time people will try 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.This is because I am saving the few people left alive from Israel and Judah.And I am forgiving their sins.
21. “Attack the land of Merathaim.Attack the people who live in Pekod.Chase them, kill them and completely destroy them.Do everything I commanded you!” says the Lord.
22. “The noise of battle can be heard all over the country.It is the noise of much destruction.
23. Babylon was the hammer of the whole earth.But how broken and shattered that hammer is now!Babylon is truly the most ruinedof all 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 taken prisoner.
25. The Lord has opened up his storeroom.He has brought out the weapons of his anger.This is because the Lord God of heaven’s armies has work to do.He has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.
26. Come against Babylon from far away.Break open her storehouses of grain.Pile up her dead bodies like big piles of grain.Completely destroy Babylonand do not leave anyone alive.
27. Kill all the young men in Babylon.Let them be killed.The time has come for their defeat.How terrible it will be for them!It is time for them to be punished.
28. Listen to the people running from the country of Babylon!They are telling Jerusalemhow the Lord our God is punishing Babylon as it deserves.This is because Babylon destroyed his Temple.
29. “Call for the men who shoot arrowsto come against 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 acted with pride against the Lord,the Holy One of Israel.
30. So Babylon’s young men will be killed in the streets.All her soldiers will die on that day,” says the Lord.