14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn:“I’ll fill this place with soldiers.They’ll swarm through here like locustschanting victory songs over you.”
15-19 By his power he made earth.His wisdom gave shape to the world.He crafted the cosmos.He thunders and rain pours down.He sends the clouds soaring.He embellishes the storm with lightnings,launches the wind from his warehouse.Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish!god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods!Their gods are frauds, dead sticks—deadwood gods, tasteless jokes.They’re nothing but stale smoke.When the smoke clears, they’re gone.But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing;he put the whole universe together,With special attention to Israel.His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
20-23 God says, “You, Babylon, are my hammer,my weapon of war.I’ll use you to smash godless nations,use you to knock kingdoms to bits.I’ll use you to smash horse and rider,use you to smash chariot and driver.I’ll use you to smash man and woman,use you to smash the old man and the boy.I’ll use you to smash the young man and young woman,use you to smash shepherd and sheep.I’ll use you to smash farmer and yoked oxen,use you to smash governors and senators.
24 “Judeans, you’ll see it with your own eyes. I’ll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion.” God’s Decree.
25-26 “I’m your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer,you ravager of the whole earth.I’ll reach out, I’ll take you in my hand,and I’ll crush you till there’s no mountain left.I’ll turn you into a gravel pit—no more cornerstones cut from you,No more foundation stones quarried from you!Nothing left of you but gravel.” God’s Decree.
27-28 “Raise the signal in the land,blow the shofar-trumpet for the nations.Consecrate the nations for holy work against her.Call kingdoms into service against her.Enlist Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.Appoint a field marshal against her,and round up horses, locust hordes of horses!Consecrate the nations for holy work against her—the king of the Medes, his leaders and people.
29-33 “The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain,terrorized by my plans against Babylon,Plans to turn the country of Babyloninto a lifeless moonscape—a wasteland.Babylon’s soldiers have quit fighting.They hide out in ruins and caves—Cowards who’ve given up without a fight,exposed as cowering milksops.Babylon’s houses are going up in flames,the city gates torn off their hinges.Runner after runner comes racing in,each on the heels of the last,Bringing reports to the king of Babylonthat his city is a lost cause.The fords of the rivers are all taken.Wildfire rages through the swamp grass.Soldiers desert left and right.I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, said it would happen:‘Daughter Babylon is a threshing floorat threshing time.Soon, oh very soon, her harvest will comeand then the chaff will fly!’