Punish Egypt, the beast in the tall grass along the river. Punish the leaders of nations, those bulls among the cows. Defeated, they will bring you their silver. Scatter those nations that love war.
The people roar like the waves, but when God speaks harshly to them, they will run away. They will be like chaff on the hills being blown by the wind, or like tumbleweeds blown away by a storm.
A third of you will die by disease or be destroyed by hunger inside your walls. A third will fall dead by the sword outside your walls. And a third I will scatter in every direction as I chase them with a sword.
Then the Lord will scatter you among the nations—from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known.
“Let all your enemies die this way, Lord! But let all the people who love you be as strong as the rising sun!” Then there was peace in the land for forty years.