¹ He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

²⁰ Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

²¹ and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

²² and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;

²³ and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke `of oxen'; and with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

⁸ But if thou wilt go, do `valiantly', be strong for the battle: God will cast thee down before the enemy; for God hath power to help, and to cast down.

⁶ that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.

⁹ behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and `I will send' unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

³ Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

⁴ Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

⁵ Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side, saith Jehovah.

⁶ Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

⁷ Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?

⁸ Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.

⁹ Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰ For that day is `a day' of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

¹¹ Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.

¹² Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

⁹ Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

¹¹ Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah.

¹⁴ Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln.

¹⁵ There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust.