See, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you neither know nor understand what they say.
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah replied, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
“Declare it among the nations and proclaim! Raise a banner, announce, hide nothing! Say: ‘Babylon will be captured, Bel put to shame, Merodach dismayed, her images disgraced, her idols shattered!’
Now when Jerusalem was captured, in the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all his army advanced against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
Both great and small will die in this land; they will not be buried; neither will anyone lament for them, or cut themselves or shave his head for them.
Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them. A desert wolf will ravage them. A leopard watches over their cities. Everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces, For their rebellion is great, their backslidings frequent.
Behold! I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “So they will come and each will set up his throne at the entry of the gates of Jerusalem, against all her surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah.
Listen, the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people —a voice from a distant land— “Is Adonai no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer in her?” “Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?”
They are armed with bow and spear, cruel and with no compassion. They sound like the roaring sea— as they ride on horses as men in battle formation, against you, Daughter of Zion!”