²¹ Attack the land of Merathaim;^[a]
        crush those living in Pekod.
    Ruin and destroy them,
        declares the Lord;
    do all I have commanded you.
²² There’s the sound of war in the land
    and enormous devastation.
²³ How the hammer of the whole earth
    has been broken and shattered into pieces!
How Babylon has become a wasteland
    among the nations!
²⁴ You set a trap for others, Babylon,^[b]
    but you yourself were caught in it unaware;
        you have been found and captured
        because you have defied the Lord.
²⁵ The Lord has opened his arsenal
    and brought out his brutal weapons.
The Lord God of heavenly forces
    has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians.
²⁶ Come against her from every side;
    throw open her granaries;
    pile her up like stalks of grain;
    totally destroy her;
    leave nothing intact.
²⁷ Destroy all her bulls;
    prepare them for slaughter.
How terrible for them!
    Their time has come,
        the day of reckoning.
²⁸ A voice of fugitives and refugees,
        from the land of Babylon,
    declaring in Zion
        the retribution of the Lord our God
            because of what has been done to his temple.
²⁹ Send the archers against Babylon,
    all who draw the bow!
Surround her
    and let no one escape.
Pay her back for her deeds;
    do to her what she’s done to others.
She has acted arrogantly toward the Lord,
    the holy one of Israel!

³⁰ Therefore, her soldiers will fall in the streets;
    all her warriors will be silenced on that day,
        declares the Lord.