The Hebrew Prophets

they are nothings, ridiculous objects; when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

Ya'akov's portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, including the tribe he claims as his heritage. ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name.

"[Bavel] you are my war club and weapons of war - with you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms;

with you I shatter horses and their riders; with you I shatter chariots and their drivers;

with you I shatter husbands and wives; with you I shatter old and young; with you I shatter young men and virgins;

with you I shatter shepherds and their flocks; with you I shatter farmers and their teams; with you I shatter governors and deputies.

"But I will repay Bavel and all living in the land of the Kasdim for all the evil they did in Tziyon," says ADONAI, "before your eyes [, Y'hudah]."

"I am against you, destructive mountain, destroying all the earth," says ADONAI. "I will stretch out my hand against you, to send you tumbling down from the crags and make you a burned-out mountain.

No one will make cornerstones or foundation-stones from you again; but you will be desolate forever," says ADONAI.

Raise up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the nations. Prepare the nations for war against her. Summon kingdoms against her - Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint an officer against her; bring up horses like bristling grasshoppers.

Prepare the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, his governors and deputies, and all the land he controls.

The earth quakes and writhes, as ADONAI's designs against Bavel are fulfilled, to make the land of Bavel a ruin, with no one living there.

Bavel's warriors have given up fighting; they remain in their fortresses; their courage has failed; they are now like women. Her homes are on fire, her gate-bars broken.

One runner runs to meet another, messenger to meet messenger, to report to the king of Bavel that every part of his city is taken,

the fords have been occupied, and the swamp thickets set on fire, while the warriors are seized with panic.

For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "The daughter of Bavel is like a threshing-floor at treading-time. Just a little while longer, and the time for harvesting her will come."

N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel has devoured me, crushed me. He left me like an empty pot. Like a monster, he swallowed me whole. With my delicacies he stuffed his belly; then he rinsed me out.

But one who lives in Tziyon will say, "May my torn flesh be avenged on Bavel"; and Yerushalayim will say, "May my blood be avenged on the Kasdim."

Therefore here is what ADONAI says: "I will plead your cause. I will take vengeance for you. I will dry up her river and make her water sources dry.

Bavel will become a heap of ruins, a place for jackals to live, an object of horror and hissing, with no one living there.

Together they roar like young lions, growl like lion cubs.

When they are hot with desire, I will prepare them a drink. I will make them so drunk they will have convulsions, sleep forever and never wake up," says ADONAI.

"I will drag them down like lambs to be slaughtered, like rams and male goats."

Sheshakh has been captured, the pride of the whole earth seized! Bavel has become an object of horror throughout the nations!

The sea has flooded Bavel, overwhelmed her with its raging waves.