12. Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon!Make the watch strong!Set the watchmen,and prepare the ambushes;for the Lord has both purposed and donethat which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13. You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures,your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14. The Lord of Hosts has sworn by himself, saying,‘Surely I will fill you with men,as with the canker worm;and they will lift up a shout against you.’
15. “He has made the earth by his power.He has established the world by his wisdom.By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.
16. When he utters his voice,there is a roar of waters in the heavens,and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth.He makes lightning for the rain,and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
17. “Every man has become brutish without knowledge.Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image;for his molten image is falsehood,and there is no breath in them.
18. They are vanity,a work of delusion.In the time of their visitation, they will perish.
19. The portion of Jacob is not like these,for he is the former of all things;including the tribe of his inheritance:the Lord of Hosts is his name.
20. “You are my battle axe and weapons of war.With you I will break the nations into pieces.With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21. With you I will break in piecesthe horse and his rider.
22. With you I will break in piecesthe chariot and him who rides therein.With you I will break in piecesman and woman.With you I will break in piecesthe old man and the youth.With you I will break in piecesthe young man and the virgin.
23. With you I will break in piecesthe shepherd and his flock.With you I will break in piecesthe farmer and his yoke.With you I will break in piecesgovernors and deputies.
24. “I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of the Kasdim for all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.
25. “Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says the Lord,“which destroys all the earth.I will stretch out my hand on you,roll you down from the rocks,and will make you a burnt mountain.
26. They won’t take a cornerstone from you,nor a stone for foundations;but you will be desolate forever,” says the Lord.