[50:21] The Lord says, “Attack the people of Merathaim and of Pekod. Kill and destroy them. Do everything I command you. I, the Lord, have spoken.
[50:22] The noise of battle is heard in the land, and there is great destruction.
[50:23] Babylonia hammered the whole world to pieces, and now that hammer is shattered! All the nations are shocked at what has happened to that country.
[50:24] Babylonia, you fought against me, and you have been caught in the trap I set for you, even though you did not know it.
[50:25] I have opened the place where my weapons are stored, and in my anger I have taken them out, because I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have work to do in Babylonia.
[50:26] Attack it from every side and break open the places where its grain is stored! Pile up the loot like piles of grain! Destroy the country! Leave nothing at all!
[50:27] Kill all their soldiers! Slaughter them! The people of Babylonia are doomed! The time has come for them to be punished!” (
[50:28] Refugees escape from Babylonia and come to Jerusalem, and they tell how the Lord our God took revenge for what the Babylonians had done to his Temple.)
[50:29] “Tell the archers to attack Babylon. Send out everyone who knows how to use the bow and arrow. Surround the city and don't let anyone escape. Pay it back for all it has done, and treat it as it has treated others, because it acted with pride against me, the Holy One of Israel.
[50:30] So its young men will be killed in the city streets, and all its soldiers will be destroyed on that day. I, the Lord, have spoken.
[50:31] “Babylonia, you are filled with pride, so I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, am against you! The time has come for me to punish you.
[50:32] Your proud nation will stumble and fall, and no one will help you up. I will set your cities on fire, and everything around will be destroyed.”
[50:33] The Lord Almighty says, “The people of Israel and of Judah are oppressed. All who captured them are guarding them closely and will not let them go.
[50:34] But the one who will rescue them is strong—his name is the Lord Almighty. He himself will take up their cause and will bring peace to the earth, but trouble to the people of Babylonia.”
[50:35] The Lord says, “Death to Babylonia! Death to its people, to its rulers, to its people of wisdom.
[50:36] Death to its lying prophets— what fools they are! Death to its soldiers— how terrified they are!
[50:37] Destroy its horses and chariots! Death to its hired soldiers— how weak they are! Destroy its treasures; plunder and loot.
[50:38] Bring a drought on its land and dry up its rivers. Babylonia is a land of terrifying idols that have made fools of the people.
[50:39] “And so Babylon will be haunted by demons and evil spirits, and by unclean birds. Never again will people live there, not for all time to come.
[50:40] The same thing will happen to Babylon that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when I destroyed them and the nearby towns. No one will ever live there again. I, the Lord, have spoken.
[50:41] “People are coming from a country in the north, a mighty nation far away; many kings are preparing for war.
[50:42] They have taken their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Babylonia.
[50:43] The king of Babylonia hears the news, and his hands hang limp. He is seized by anguish, by pain like a woman in labor.
[50:44] “Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan up to the green pasture land, I, the Lord, will come and make the Babylonians run away suddenly from their city. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me?
[50:45] So listen to the plan that I have made against the city of Babylon and to what I intend to do to its people. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified.
[50:46] When Babylon falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard by the other nations.”