20. “You are my war club.You are my battle weapon.I use you to smash nations.I use you to destroy kingdoms.
21. I use you to smash horse and rider.I use you to smash chariot and driver.
22. I use you to smash men and women.I use you to smash old men and young men.I use you to smash young men and young women.
23. I use you to smash shepherds and flocks.I use you to smash farmers and oxen.I use you to smash governors and officers.
24. “But I will pay Babylon back, and I will pay back all the Babylonians for all the evil things they did to Jerusalem,” says the Lord.
25. The Lord says,“Babylon, you are a destroying mountain.And I am against you.You have destroyed the whole land.I will put my hand out against you.I will roll you off the cliffs.I will make you a burned-out mountain.
26. People will not find any rocks in Babylon big enough for cornerstones.People will not take any rocks from Babylon to use for the foundation of a building.This is because your city will be just a pile of ruins forever,” says the Lord.
27. “Lift up the banner in the land!Blow the trumpet among the nations!Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.Call these kingdoms to come fight against Babylon:Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.Choose a commander to lead the army against Babylon.Send so many horses that they are like a swarm of locusts.
28. Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.Get the kings of the Medes ready.Get their governors and all their officers ready.Get all the countries they rule ready for battle against Babylon.
29. The land shakes and moves like it is in pain.It will shake when the Lord does what he planned to Babylon.His plan is to make Babylon into an empty desert.No one will live there.
30. Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting.They stay in their protected cities.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 Babylonthat his whole city has been captured.
32. The river crossings have been captured.The swamplands are burning.All of Babylon’s soldiers are terribly afraid.”
33. This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says:“The city of Babylon is like a threshing floor,where people crush the grain at harvest time.The time to harvest Babylon is coming soon.”
34. “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has destroyed us.In the past he took our people away.And we became like an empty jar.He was like a giant snake that swallowed us.He ate everything until he was full of our best things.Then he spit us out.
35. Babylon did terrible things to hurt us.Now let those things happen to Babylon,”say the people of Jerusalem.“The people of Babylon are guilty of killing our people.Now let them be punished for the evil they did,” says Jerusalem.