(The Lord)

5 Look at the nations, look well,

be shocked and amazed.

For I am about to do a work in your days;

you will not believe it when it is told.

6 For I am about to raise up the Chaldeans,

a nation grim and quick of action

who sweep over the whole breadth of the earth

to seize dwellings not their own.

7 They bring fear and terror.

They write their own rules.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,

quicker than wolves hunting at dusk.

From afar they come swooping down,

like an eagle attacking its prey.

9 They all come to do violence,

a horde like a desert wind,

they gather up captives like sand.

10 At kings they scoff,

and princes are sport to them.

They laugh at every fortress,

and heap up earth to take it.

11 Then they sweep on like the wind,

Their strength is their god.