7. All who found them have devoured them.Their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty,because they have sinned against the Lord,the habitation of righteousness,even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’
8. “Flee out of the middle of Babylon!Go out of the land of the Kasdim,and be as the male goats before the flocks.
9. For, behold, I will stir upand cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country;and they will set themselves in array against her.She will be taken from there.Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man.None of them will return in vain.
10. Kasdim will be a prey.All who prey on her will be satisfied,” says the Lord.
11. “Because you are glad,because you rejoice,O you who plunder my heritage,because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain,and neigh as strong horses;
12. your mother will be utterly disappointed.She who bore you will be confounded.Behold, she will be the least of the nations,a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13. Because of the Lord’s wrath she won’t be inhabited,but she will be wholly desolate.Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished,and hiss at all her plagues.
14. Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,all you who bend the bow;shoot at her.Spare no arrows;for she has sinned against the Lord.
15. Shout against her all around.She has submitted herself.Her bulwarks have fallen.Her walls have been thrown down,for it is the vengeance of the Lord.Take vengeance on her.As she has done, do to her.
16. Cut off the sower from Babylon,and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest.For fear of the oppressing sword,they will each return to their own people,and they will each flee to their own land.
17. “Israel is a hunted sheep.The lions have driven him away.First, the king of Assyria devoured him,and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
18. Therefore the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,as I have punished the king of Assyria.
19. I will bring Israel again to his pasture,and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan.His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
20. In those days, and in that time,” says the Lord,“the iniquity of Israel will be sought for,and there will be none;also the sins of Judah,and they won’t be found;for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
21. “Go up against the land of Merathaim,even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod.Kill and utterly destroy after them,” says the Lord,“and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22. A sound of battle is in the land,and of great destruction.
23. How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken!How Babylon has become a desolation amongst the nations!