16. At His giving voice— tumult of waters in the skies! He causes clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
17. All mankind is stupid, ignorant. Every goldsmith is disgraced by an idol, for his molten image is a lie— there is no breath in them.
18. They are futile, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
19. Jacob’s Portion is not like these, for He is the former of all things, including the tribe of His heritage —Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.
20. “You are My club, a war weapon— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.
21. With you I wreck horse and rider, with you I wreck chariot and rider,
22. with you I break man and woman, with you I break elder and youth, with you I break young man and maid,
23. with you I scatter shepherd and flock, with you I scatter plowman and ox-team, with you I scatter governors and officials.
24. I will repay Babylon and all living in Chaldea for all their evil that they did in Zion, before your eyes.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
25. “Beware! I am against you, destroyer of the Mount!” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “Destroyer of all the land— I will stretch out My hand at you, roll you down from the cliffs, and make you a burning hill.
26. They will not even take from you a cornerstone or foundation stone, for you will be desolate forever.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
27. Raise a banner in the land! Blow a shofar among the nations! Consecrate the nations against her. Summon against her the kingdoms— Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Bring horses up like rough locusts.
28. Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its deputies, and all the land of his dominion.
29. Now the land shakes and writhes, for Adonai’s plans against Babylon arise— to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
30. Babylon’s warriors ceased fighting. They stay in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted. They have become like women. Her dwellings are set ablaze, her gate-bars are broken.
31. One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell Babylon’s king that his city has been taken from end to end.
32. The fords have also been seized and the marshes burned with fire, so the warriors are in panic.
33. For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at treading time. A little longer, and the time of harvest for her will come.”
34. “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, crushed me, set me aside like an empty dish, swallowed me up like a dragon, filled his belly with my delicacies, rinsed me away.”
35. The one dwelling in Zion says: “Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon!” Jerusalem says: “My blood be on the Chaldeans!”
36. Therefore thus says Adonai: “Yes, I will uphold your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.