^9 (A)Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Wake up the mighty men,
Let all the men of war draw near,
Let them come up.
^10 (B)Beat your plowshares into swords
And your ^[a]pruning hooks into spears;
^(C)Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”
¹¹ Assemble and come, all you nations,
And gather together all around.
Cause ^(D)Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.

²⁰ “You^(A) are My battle-ax and weapons of war:
For with you I will break the nation in pieces;
With you I will destroy kingdoms;
²¹ With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider;
With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;
²² With you also I will break in pieces man and woman;
With you I will break in pieces ^(B)old and young;
With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;
²³ With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen;
And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.

^11 (A)Make^[a] the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
^(B)The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
^(C)For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is ^(D)the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple.
^12 (E)Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon;
Make the guard strong,
Set up the watchmen,
Prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

³ “Order^[a] the ^[b]buckler and shield,
And draw near to battle!
⁴ Harness the horses,
And mount up, you horsemen!
Stand forth with your helmets,
Polish the spears,
^(A)Put on the armor!
⁵ Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back?
Their mighty ones are beaten down;
They have speedily fled,
And did not look back,
For ^(B)fear was all around,” says the Lord.
⁶ “Do not let the swift flee away,
Nor the mighty man escape;
They will ^(C)stumble and fall
Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

⁷ “Who is this coming up ^(D)like a flood,
Whose waters move like the rivers?
⁸ Egypt rises up like a flood,
And its waters move like the rivers;
And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth,
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
⁹ Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots!
And let the mighty men come forth:
^[c]The Ethiopians and ^[d]the Libyans who handle the shield,
And the Lydians ^(E)who handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰ For this is ^(F)the day of the Lord God of hosts,
A day of vengeance,
That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.
^(G)The sword shall devour;
It shall be ^[e]satiated and made drunk with their blood;
For the Lord God of hosts ^(H)has a sacrifice
In the north country by the River Euphrates.

¹⁴ Draw your water for the siege!
^(A)Fortify your strongholds!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Make strong the brick kiln!
¹⁵ There the fire will devour you,
The sword will cut you off;
It will eat you up like a ^(B)locust.

Make yourself many—like the locust!
Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!