17 “Israel is like scattered sheep;The lions have driven him away.First the king of Assyria devoured him;Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,As I have punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will bring back Israel to his home,And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;For I will pardon those whom I preserve.
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,And against the inhabitants of Pekod.Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,“And do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 A sound of battle is in the land,And of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!