The Lord of Armies has taken an oath on himself: “I will certainly fill you with many enemy armies. They will swarm like locusts. People will shout their victory over you.”
But listen to the Lord’s word, all you people of Judah who live in Egypt. ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that no one from Judah who lives anywhere in Egypt will ever again call on my name and take the oath, “As the Almighty Lord lives.”
I take an oath on myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah will become a pile of rubble. It will become something horrifying, ridiculed, ruined, and cursed. All its cities will lie in ruins permanently.
Shout a war cry against them on every side. They’ll surrender. Their towers will fall and their walls will be torn down. Since this is the Lord’s vengeance, take revenge against them. Do to them what they did to others.
Raise your battle flag throughout the world. Blow the ram’s horn among the nations. Prepare nations to attack Babylon. Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack it. Appoint a commander to lead the attack. Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.
“Then I will repay you for the years that the mature locusts, the adult locusts, the grasshoppers, and the young locusts ate your crops. (They are the large army that I sent against you.)
The Almighty Lord has sworn an oath on himself. The Lord God of Armies declares: I am disgusted with Jacob’s pride, and I hate his palaces. So I will hand over the city and everything in it.
Like swarms of locusts, they came with their livestock and their tents. They and their camels could not be counted. They came into the land only to ruin it.