27 “Lift up the banner in the land!Blow the trumpet among the nations!Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.Call these kingdoms to come fight against Babylon:Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.Choose a commander to lead the army against Babylon.Send so many horses that they are like a swarm of locusts.
28 Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.Get the kings of the Medes ready.Get their governors and all their officers ready.Get all the countries they rule ready for battle against Babylon.
29 The land shakes and moves like it is in pain.It will shake when the Lord does what he planned to Babylon.His plan is to make Babylon into an empty desert.No one will live there.
30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting.They stay in their protected cities.Their strength is gone.They have become like frightened women.Babylon’s houses are burning.The bars of her gates are broken.
31 One messenger follows another.Messenger follows messenger.They announce to the king of Babylonthat his whole city has been captured.
32 The river crossings have been captured.The swamplands are burning.All of Babylon’s soldiers are terribly afraid.”
33 This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says:“The city of Babylon is like a threshing floor,where people crush the grain at harvest time.The time to harvest Babylon is coming soon.”