Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,
    like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
² I see a terrifying vision:
    I see the betrayer betraying,
    the destroyer destroying.
Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes,
    attack and lay siege.
I will make an end
    to all the groaning Babylon caused.
³ My stomach aches and burns with pain.
    Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,
    like those of a woman in labor.
I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;
    I am too afraid to look.
⁴ My mind reels and my heart races.
    I longed for evening to come,
    but now I am terrified of the dark.

⁵ Look! They are preparing a great feast.
    They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.
    Everyone is eating and drinking.
But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.
    You are being attacked!

⁶ Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,
“Put a watchman on the city wall.
    Let him shout out what he sees.
⁷ He should look for chariots
    drawn by pairs of horses,
and for riders on donkeys and camels.
    Let the watchman be fully alert.”

⁸ Then the watchman^[b] called out,
“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.
    Night after night I have remained at my post.
⁹ Now at last—look!
Here comes a man in a chariot
    with a pair of horses!”
Then the watchman said,
    “Babylon is fallen, fallen!
All the idols of Babylon
    lie broken on the ground!”
¹⁰ O my people, threshed and winnowed,
    I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,
    everything the God of Israel has told me.