8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed.Howl for her.Take balm for her pain;perhaps she may be healed.
9. We applied healing to Babylon,but she is not healed.Forsake her, and let us each go into his own country;for her judgment reaches to heavenand is lifted up even to the skies.
10. The Lord has brought forth our righteousness.Come, and let us declare in Zionthe work of the Lord our God.
11. Sharpen the arrows.Gather the shields.The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.For His device is against Babylon, to destroy it;because it is the vengeance of the Lord,the vengeance of His temple.
12. Set up the standard against the walls of Babylon,make the watch strong,set up the watchmen,prepare the ambushes.For the Lord has both devised and donethat which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13. O you who dwell by many waters,abundant in treasures,your end has come,and the measure of your end.
14. The Lord of Hosts has sworn by Himself,saying: Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts,and they will lift up shouts of victory against you.
15. He has made the earth by His power;He has established the world by His wisdom,and has stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
16. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,and He causes the clouds to ascend from the remote parts of the earth;He makes lightning with rain,and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
17. Every man is ignorant by His knowledge;every founder is humiliated by the graven image,for his molded image is falsehood,and there is no breath in them.
18. They are vanity, the work of errors;in the time of their punishment they will perish.
19. The portion of Jacob is not like them,for He is the former of all things,and Israel is the rod of His inheritance.The Lord of Hosts is His name.
20. He says: You are My battle-axand weapon of war:for with you I will break in pieces the nations,and with you I will destroy kingdoms;
21. and with you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider;and with you I will break in pieces the chariot and his rider.
22. With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;and with you I will break in pieces old and young;and with you I will break in pieces the young man and the young woman.
23. I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock;and with you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;and with you I will break in pieces captains and rulers.