“Though Baḇel should mount up to the heavens, and though she should make the height of her strength inaccessible, ravagers shall come to her from Me,” declares יהוה.
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over all the face of the earth.”
“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes; from the rising of the sun he calls on My Name. And he comes against princes as though mortar, as the potter treads clay.
“The dread for you, the pride of your heart, has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, holding the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, from there I bring you down,” declares the Master.
“Go up against the land of Merathayim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Peqoḏ. Slay and put them under the ban,” declares יהוה, “and do according to all that I have commanded you.
יהוה has opened His armoury, and has brought out the weapons of His displeasure, for the Master Elohim of hosts has a work to do in the land of the Kasdim.
Therefore hear the counsel of יהוה which He has counselled concerning Baḇel, and His purposes He has purposed concerning the land of the Kasdim: the least of the flock shall drag them away! He shall make their pasture a waste before them!
Polish the arrows! Put on the shields! יהוה has stirred up the spirit of the sovereigns of the Medes. For His plan is against Baḇel to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of יהוה, the vengeance for His Hĕḵal.
“See, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth,” declares יהוה. “And I shall stretch out My hand against you. And I shall roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.
“And the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall shout for joy over Baḇel, for the ravagers shall come to her from the north,” declares יהוה.
because the ravager shall come against her, against Baḇel, and her mighty men shall be captured. Every one of their bows shall be broken, for יהוה is the Ěl of recompense, He shall certainly repay.
Thus said יהוה of hosts, “The broad walls of Baḇel are completely demolished, and her high gates are burned with fire, and peoples labour in vain, and the nations weary themselves for fire.”
The sovereign spoke and said, “Is not this great Baḇel, which I myself have built, for the house of the reign, by the might of my power and for the esteem of my splendour?”
“And if they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I shall command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I shall set My eyes on them for evil and not for good.”