Yahweh’s reply

5 Yahweh replied to me,

“I know that what you say is true, but look around at what is happening in the other nations;

if you look, you will be amazed,

because I am doing something during this time that you would not believe would happen,

even if someone told you about it.

6 The soldiers of Babylonia are fierce/cruel and swift.

And now I am causing them to become very powerful;

they will march across the world

and conquer many other countries.

7 They are people whom others fear very much [DOU],

and they do whatever they want to,

paying no attention to the laws of other countries.

8 The horses that pull their chariots go faster than leopards,

and they are fiercer than wolves are in the evening.

The horses on which the soldiers ride gallop swiftly;

the soldiers riding them come from distant places.

They are like [SIM] eagles that swoop down to snatch and kill small animals.

9 As they ride along,

they are determined to act violently.

They advance like [SIM] a wind from the desert,

gathering prisoners that are as numerous as grains of sand.

10 They make fun of kings and princes of other countries,

and they ridicule all the cities that have high walls around them.

They pile dirt outside those walls

in order to climb up and capture those cities.

11 They rush past like the wind,

and then they go to attack other cities.

But they are very guilty,

because they think that their own power is their god.”