It was the Lord All-Powerful who planned this. He decided to make these proud people unimportant; he decided to disgrace those who were greatly respected.
Watch! The Lord God All-Powerful with his great power will chop them down like a great tree. Those who are great will be cut down; those who are important will fall to the ground.
The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil and wicked people for their sins. I will cause proud people to lose their pride, and I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.
Cry for the land of my people, in which only thorns and weeds now grow. Cry for the city that once was happy and for all the houses that once were filled with joy.
So my people will be captured and taken away, because they don’t really know me. All the great people will die of hunger, and the common people will die of thirst.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give praise and honor and glory to the King of heaven. Everything he does is right and fair, and he is able to make proud people humble.
“There is a day coming that will burn like a hot furnace, and all the proud and evil people will be like straw. On that day they will be completely burned up so that not a root or branch will be left,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
In Christ we were chosen to be God’s people, because from the very beginning God had decided this in keeping with his plan. And he is the One who makes everything agree with what he decides and wants.