[1:5] Then the Lord said to his people, “Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it.
[1:6] I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.
[1:7] They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.
[1:8] “Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.
[1:9] “Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand.
[1:10] They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them—they pile up earth against it and capture it.
[1:11] Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god.”