I will make the Nile River become dry land.\par Then I will sell the dry land to evil people.\par I will use strangers to make that land empty.\par I, the Lord, have spoken!”\par
Sword, strike the waters of Babylon.\par Those waters will be dried up.\par Babylon has many, many idols.\par Those idols show\par that the people of Babylon are foolish.\par So bad things will happen to those people.\par
So the Lord says:\par “I will defend you, Judah.\par I will make sure\par that Babylon is punished.\par I will dry up Babylon’s sea.\par And I will make her water springs\par become dry.\par
Strangers will treat you like a foreigner {\cf2\super [235]} \par and kill you.\par \{Those things will happen because\}\par I gave the command!’”\par The Lord my Master said those things.\par
Strangers—the most terrible people in the world—cut it down and scattered its branches on the mountains and in the valleys. Its broken limbs drifted down the rivers flowing through that land. There was no more shadow under that tree, so all the people left.
The Lord will speak harshly to the sea,\par and it will become dry.\par He will make all the rivers become dry!\par The rich lands of Bashan and Carmel become dry and dead.\par The flowers in Lebanon fade away.\par
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. The water in the river was dried up. This prepared the way for the rulers from the east to come.
The Lord was angry with the people of Israel. So the Lord let enemies attack the people of Israel and take their possessions. The Lord let their enemies that lived around them defeat them. The people of Israel could not protect themselves from their enemies.