This is the divine revelation about the desert by the sea. Like a storm sweeping through the Negev, an invader will come from the desert, from a terrifying land.
Go, sit in the dirt, virgin princess of Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, princess of the Babylonians! You will no longer be called soft and delicate.
I’ll bring the four winds from the four corners of heaven against Elam and scatter its people in every direction. There won’t be a nation where Elam’s refugees won’t go.
Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod. Claim them for me by killing them with a sword,” declares the Lord. “Do everything I commanded you.
“Call together the archers, the soldiers with bows, against Babylon. Set up blockades around it. Don’t let anyone escape. Pay the people of Babylon back for what they have done. Do to them what they did to others. They have disobeyed the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
This is what the Lord of Armies says: All the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed. All their enemies have captured them. They refuse to let them go.
I am going to stir up an alliance of strong nations from the north and bring it against Babylon. Those nations will take up positions against Babylon. Babylon will be captured from the north. Its enemy’s arrows will be like skilled soldiers who don’t come back empty-handed.
The people of Babylon might go up to heaven. They might fortify their strongholds. But destroyers will still come from me against them,” declares the Lord.
The people of Ephraim have become important among their relatives. However, the Lord’s scorching wind will come from the east. It will blow out of the desert. Then their springs will run dry, and their wells will dry up. The wind will destroy every precious thing in their storehouses.