And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.’ Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.
And the Lord will make the splendour of his voice heard and reveal his arm striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one – like a devastating hailstorm, like a storm with strong flooding water. He will bring it across the land with his hand.
For he has humbled those who live in lofty places – an inaccessible city. He brings it down; he brings it down to the ground; he throws it to the dust.
Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, In this way, Babylon the great city will be thrown down violently and never be found again.
The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
You have mocked the Lord through your servants. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its distant heights, its densest forest.
For the fortified city will be desolate, pastures deserted and abandoned like a wilderness. Calves will graze there, and there they will spread out and strip its branches.
For you have been a stronghold for the poor person, a stronghold for the needy in his distress, a refuge from storms and a shade from heat. When the breath of the violent is like a storm against a wall,
For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks, a fortified city into ruins; the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city; it will never be rebuilt.
You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.