²² Listen! Hear the terrifying roar of great armies
    as they roll down from the north.
The towns of Judah will be destroyed
    and become a haunt for jackals.

¹¹ “I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the Lord.
    “It will be a place haunted by jackals.
The towns of Judah will be ghost towns,
    with no one living in them.”

⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,^[a]
    a cruel and violent people.
They will march across the world
    and conquer other lands.
⁷ They are notorious for their cruelty
    and do whatever they like.
⁸ Their horses are swifter than cheetahs^[b]
    and fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their charioteers charge from far away.
    Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey.

⁹ “On they come, all bent on violence.
    Their hordes advance like a desert wind,
    sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.

¹⁵ O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,”
    says the Lord.
“It is a mighty nation,
    an ancient nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
    whose speech you cannot understand.

⁶ Raise a signal flag as a warning for Jerusalem^[a]:
    ‘Flee now! Do not delay!’
For I am bringing terrible destruction upon you
    from the north.”

“They will set their thrones
    at the gates of the city.
They will attack its walls
    and all the other towns of Judah.