24 I’ll repay Bavel (Babylon) and all the Kasdim (Chaldeans)
for all the evil they did in Tsiyon (Zion) as you watched.[fn]
That is Yahweh’s declaration.
25 Listen, Yahweh declares that I’m against you,
you mountain of destruction that destroys the whole earth.
I’ll stretch my hand out against you, and roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain
26 so they won’t quarry any stone from you to construct a building’s corner or foundation.
because you’ll become a permanent wasteland.
That is Yahweh’s declaration.
27 Lift up a banner over the earth.
≈ Blow the trumpet across the nations.
Call the nations to attack it: Ararat, Mini, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a commander to attack it.
Bring in horses like swarming locusts.
28 Prepare the nations to attack it:
The kings of the Madim (Medes) and their governors,
all of their officials and all the land under their control.
29 The land will shake and writhe in agony,
since Yahweh’s plans against Bavel (Babylon) will be fulfilled:
→ to make Bavel into a deserted wasteland.
30 The Babylonian soldiers have given up the fight—they stay in their fortresses.
Their strength has run out—they’ve become like women.
The locking bars across its gates are broken and its homes are on fire.
31 A messenger runs across to pass the news onto another messenger,
≈ and a runner tells another runner to report to the Babylonian king
that his city has been taken over from one end to the other.
32 The fords over the river have been seized
the reed marshes have been burnt off,
and Bavel’s (Babylon’s) soldiers are terrified
33 Yes, Yisrael’s (Israel’s) god, Commander-in-chief Yahweh, says this:
The daughter of Bavel is like a threshing floor—it’s time to trample it down.
In a little while, the time will come for it to be harvested.
34 The Babylonian King Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) has devoured me.
He’s driven me into confusion and made me into an empty pot.
≈ Like a monster, he’s swallowed me—filled his stomach with my delicacies,
→ and then he spat me out.
35 The who lives in Tsiyon (Zion) will say,
‘May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Bavel.’
Yerushalem (Jerusalem) will say,
‘May my blood be on Kasdim’s inhabitants.’
