17
At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant, every goldsmith put to shame by his idol! The figures he casts are a fraud, there is no breath in them,
18
they are nothings, ridiculous objects; when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.
19
Ya'akov's portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, including the tribe he claims as his heritage. ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name.
20
"[Bavel] you are my war club and weapons of war - with you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms;
21
with you I shatter horses and their riders; with you I shatter chariots and their drivers;
22
with you I shatter husbands and wives; with you I shatter old and young; with you I shatter young men and virgins;
23
with you I shatter shepherds and their flocks; with you I shatter farmers and their teams; with you I shatter governors and deputies.
24
"But I will repay Bavel and all living in the land of the Kasdim for all the evil they did in Tziyon," says ADONAI, "before your eyes [, Y'hudah]."
25
"I am against you, destructive mountain, destroying all the earth," says ADONAI. "I will stretch out my hand against you, to send you tumbling down from the crags and make you a burned-out mountain.
26
No one will make cornerstones or foundation-stones from you again; but you will be desolate forever," says ADONAI.
27
Raise up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the nations. Prepare the nations for war against her. Summon kingdoms against her - Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint an officer against her; bring up horses like bristling grasshoppers.