⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.^(A)
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.^(B)
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,^[a](C)
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth^(D)
    to seize dwellings not their own.^(E)
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;^(F)
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
⁸ Their horses are swifter^(G) than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves^(H) at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
⁹     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes^[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners^(I) like sand.
¹⁰ They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.^(J)
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps^(K) they capture them.
¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind^(L) and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”^(M)