⁵ Look among the nations and watch!
        Be astonished and stare
            because something is happening in your days
                that you wouldn’t believe even if told.
⁶ I am about to rouse the Chaldeans,
        that bitter and impetuous nation,
            which travels throughout the earth to possess dwelling places it does not own.
⁷ The Chaldean is dreadful and fearful.
        He makes his own justice and dignity.^[a]
8 His horses are faster than leopards;
        they are quicker than wolves of the evening.
    His horsemen charge forward;
        his horsemen come from far away.
            They fly in to devour, swiftly, like an eagle.^[b]
9 They come for violence,
        the horde with all their faces set toward the desert.^[c]
He takes captives like sand.
¹⁰     He makes fun of kings;
rulers are ridiculous to him.
        He laughs at every fortress,
            then he piles up dirt and takes it.
¹¹ He passes through like the wind and invades;
        but he will be held guilty,
            the one whose strength is his god.