21 Go up against the Meratayim region in Bavel (Babylon)
as well as Pekod’s inhabitants.
Attack them and ensure that they’re eliminated.
That is Yahweh’s declaration—make sure to do everything that I’m commanding you to do.
22 There’s a sound of battle and terrible destruction across the land.
23 How the ‘hammer’ of all the lands has itself been cut apart and destroyed.
How Bavel has become an object of horror among the nations.
24 I set a trap for you and you were caught, Bavel, and you didn’t even know it.
You were found and captured, because you went against Yahweh.
25 Yahweh has opened his armoury and is bringing out the weapons for carrying out his anger.
There’s work for the master, Commander-in-chief Yahweh, in Bavel—the land of the Kasdim (Chaldeans).
26 Come to it from far away.
Open its store-houses full of grain.
Pile everything up in heaps.
Completely destroy everything—don’t leave anyone alive.
27 Kill all its young bulls—send them off for slaughter.
They won’t end well because their moment has come—the time for their punishment.
28 There’s the sound of those fleeing—escaping from Bavel (Babylon)
to announce in Tsiyon (Zion) that our god Yahweh is taking vengeance—
vengeance for what was done to his temple.
29 Summon the archers against Bavel—all those who use bows and arrows.
Surround it completely and don’t let anyone escape.
Repay it for what it’s done.
Do to it what it did to others[ref]
because it had defied Yahweh, Yisrael’s (Israel’s) holy ,
30 so their young men will fall in the town squares,
≈ and all their fighting men will be killed on that day.
That is Yahweh’s declaration.
31 Listen, Commander-in-chief Yahweh declares:
I’m against you, you proud nation
because your time is up, you proud —
the time has come for me to punish you.
32 So the proud will stumble and fall,
and no one will be there to help it up.
I’ll light a fire in its cities and it will devour everything around it.
33 Commander-in-chief Yahweh says this:
The Yisrael’s (Israel’s) people are oppressed,
as are the people from Yehudah (Judah).
All those who captured them have kept hold of them—
they’ve refused to let them go.
34 The one who paid the price to free them is strong.
His name is Commander-in-chief Yahweh.
He’ll successfully plead their case,
in order to bring peace and stability to the land,
and to cause turmoil for Bavel’s (Babylon’s) inhabitants.
35 Yahweh declares that war is coming to the Kasdim (Chaldeans)
including its inhabitants, leaders, and wise .
36 War is coming for empty talkers and they’ll become fools.
≈ Battles are coming against its warriors, and they’ll be terrified.
37 Attacks are coming against their horses,
their chariots and all of Bavel’s foreign mercenaries,
so they’ll become like women.
Armed raids are coming against its storerooms,
→ and they’ll all be looted.
38 A drought is coming on its water supplies so they’ll dry up,
because it’s a land full of idols,
and the people do mad things trying to appease them.
39 So jackals and other desert animals will live there,
along with ostriches that will breed there.[ref]
People will never live there again—
future generations won’t live there.
40 Just like the overthrow of Sedom and Amorah (Gomorrah) and its neighbours,[ref]
Yahweh declares that no one will live there—no human would want to stay there.
41 Listen, a people group is coming from the north—
a powerful nation and many kings are being stirred up from the farthest parts of the world.
42 They’ll be carrying bows and spears.
They’re cruel and will show no mercy.
The sound of them coming will be like the roar of the sea
They’ll be riding horses in formation,
organised for battle, against you, daughter of Bavel (Babylon).
43 The Babylonian king will hear their report
and his hands will fall limp in distress—
he’ll be in anguish like a woman giving birth.
44 Listen, there’ll be one who comes like a lion
from the thickets along the Yarden (Jordan), up to the watered pastureland
because I’ll act quickly to cause them to run away from there,
and I’ll appoint someone specially chosen for it,
because who is like me, and who can summon me to come?
What shepherd is able to resist me?
45 So listen to the plans that Yahweh has decided against Bavel (Babylon)—
the plans that he has planned against the land of the Kasdim (Chaldeans).
They’ll definitely be dragged away—even the smallest flock.
Their pasturelands will be ruined.
46 The sound of Bavel being conquered Bavel will make the earth quake,
≈ and their cry of distress will be heard right across the continent.
