²⁰ “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I ^(A)break nations in pieces;
    with you I destroy kingdoms;
²¹ with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
    with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
²² with you I break in pieces man and woman;
    with you I break in pieces ^(B)the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces ^(C)the young man and the young woman;
²³     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
    with you I break in pieces ^(D)governors and commanders.

²⁵ “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
declares the Lord,
    which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
    and roll you down from the crags,
    ^(F)and make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶ No ^(G)stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be ^(H)a perpetual waste,
    declares the Lord.

^27 (I)“Set up a standard on the earth;
    ^(J)blow the trumpet among the nations;
^(K)prepare ^(L)the nations for war against her;
    summon against her ^(M)the kingdoms,
    ^(N)Ararat, Minni, and ^(O)Ashkenaz;
appoint a ^(P)marshal against her;
    ^(Q)bring up horses like bristling locusts.
^28 (R)Prepare ^(S)the nations for war against her,
    the kings of ^(T)the Medes, ^(U)with their governors ^(V)and deputies,
    and every ^(W)land under their dominion.
^29 (X)The land trembles and writhes in pain,
    ^(Y)for the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.
³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
    ^(Z)they have become women;
^(AA)her dwellings are on fire;
    ^(AB)her bars are broken.
³¹ One ^(AC)runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken on every side;
³² the fords have been ^(AD)seized,
    the marshes are burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.
³³ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
^(AE)The daughter of Babylon is like ^(AF)a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
    and ^(AG)the time of her harvest will come.”

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon ^(AH)has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
    ^(AI)he has swallowed me like ^(AJ)a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.^[a]
35 The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
    let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    let Jerusalem say.
³⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, ^(AK)I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
^(AL)I will dry up her sea
    and ^(AM)make her fountain dry,
³⁷ and Babylon shall become ^(AN)a heap of ruins,
    ^(AO)the haunt of jackals,
^(AP)a horror ^(AQ)and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.

^38 (AR)“They shall roar together ^(AS)like lions;
    they shall growl like lions' cubs.
^39 (AT)While they are inflamed ^(AU)I will prepare them a feast
    and ^(AV)make them drunk, that they may become merry,
^(AW)then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and not wake, declares the Lord.
⁴⁰ I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and male goats.

⁴¹ “How ^(AX)Babylon^[b] is taken,
    ^(AY)the praise of the whole earth ^(AZ)seized!
How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
^42 (BA)The sea has come up on Babylon;
    she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
⁴³ Her cities have become a horror,
    ^(BB)a land of drought and a desert,
^(BC)a land in which no one dwells,
    and through which no son of man passes.
⁴⁴ And I will punish ^(BD)Bel in Babylon,
    and ^(BE)take out of his mouth ^(BF)what he has swallowed.
^(BG)The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    ^(BH)the wall of Babylon has fallen.

⁴⁵ “Go out of the midst of her, ^(BI)my people!
    Let every one save his life
    from ^(BJ)the fierce anger of the Lord!
⁴⁶ Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
    ^(BK)at the report heard in the land,
^(BL)when a report comes in one year
    and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
    ^(BM)and ruler is against ruler.

^11 (A)“Sharpen the arrows!
    Take up the shields!

¹⁷ Behold, ^(A)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
    who have no regard for silver
    and do not delight in gold.

²⁶ He will ^(A)raise a signal for nations far away,
    and ^(B)whistle for them ^(C)from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!