20
You are my hammer, my weapon of war. With you I will crush the nations. With you I will destroy kingdoms.
21
With you I will crush horse and rider. With you I will crush chariot and driver.
22
With you I will crush men and women. With you I will crush old and young. With you I will crush young men and young women.
23
With you I will crush shepherds and flocks. With you I will crush farmers and oxen. With you I will crush governors and officials.
24
I will repay Babylon and all its inhabitants for the terrible things they have done to Zion in your sight, declares the LORD.
25
I'm against you, you mountain of destruction, declares the LORD, you destroyer of the whole earth! I will reach out against you; I will topple you from your heights; I will turn you into a rubbish heap.
26
They will never remove a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you. You will be a wasteland forever, declares the LORD.
27
Set up a flag in the land; sound the alarm among the nations! Prepare them for war against her; summon kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; call up the troops, like swarms of locusts!
28
Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of Media, its governors, all its officials, and all the countries they rule.
29
The earth quakes and trembles because the LORD's plans against Babylon are fulfilled: to reduce Babylon to a wasteland, with no one left in it.
30
Babylon's warriors quit fighting; they hide in their fortifications. Their strength is worn out; their courage is gone! Babylon's houses are burned down, and its gates are smashed.