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27 “Set up a standard in the land!
    Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Prepare the nations against her!
    Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz!
Appoint a marshal against her!
    Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm!
28 Prepare against her the nations,
    the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!
29 The land trembles and is in pain;
    for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand,
    to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting,
    they remain in their strongholds.
Their might has failed.
    They have become as women.
Her dwelling places are set on fire.
    Her bars are broken.
31 One runner will run to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
    to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.
32 So the passages are seized.
    They have burned the reeds with fire.
    The men of war are frightened.”

33 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says:

“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden.
    Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.”

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27 Raise a signal flag to the nations.
    Sound the battle cry!
Mobilize them all against Babylon.
    Prepare them to fight against her!
Bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
    Appoint a commander,
    and bring a multitude of horses like swarming locusts!
28 Bring against her the armies of the nations—
    led by the kings of the Medes
    and all their captains and officers.

29 The earth trembles and writhes in pain,
    for everything the Lord has planned against Babylon stands unchanged.
Babylon will be left desolate without a single inhabitant.
30     Her mightiest warriors no longer fight.
They stay in their barracks, their courage gone.
    They have become like women.
The invaders have burned the houses
    and broken down the city gates.
31 The news is passed from one runner to the next
    as the messengers hurry to tell the king
    that his city has been captured.
32 All the escape routes are blocked.
    The marshes have been set aflame,
    and the army is in a panic.

33 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    the God of Israel, says:
“Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor,
    about to be trampled.
In just a little while
    her harvest will begin.”

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