I said, ¹  “There is no one like you, Lord. ²  You are great. And you are renowned for your power. ³ 

Cries of anguish will arise in Horonaim, ‘Oh, the ruin and great destruction!’

The noise of battle can be heard in the land of Babylonia. ¹  There is the sound of great destruction.

Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength! ¹ 

I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, ¹  people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.

‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious ¹  things which you still do not know about.’

“Look! An army is about to come from the north. A mighty nation and many kings ¹  are stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

Raise a signal flag that tells people to go to Zion. ¹  Run for safety! Do not delay! For I am about to bring disaster out of the north. It will bring great destruction. ² 

“That is because, from the least important to the most important of them, all of them are greedy for dishonest gain. Prophets and priests alike, all of them practice deceit.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Beware! An army ¹  is coming from a land in the north. A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

Listen! News is coming even now. ¹  The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ²  from a land in the north. ³  It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble, places where only jackals live.

I, the Lord, once called ¹  you a thriving olive tree, one that produced beautiful fruit. But I will set you ²  on fire, fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. ³  Then all your branches will be good for nothing. ⁴ 

Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. ¹ 

“‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?”

For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation ¹  too. I will repay them for all they have done!’” ² 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says, ‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. ²  A mighty storm of military destruction ³  is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.’

From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably ¹  prophesied war, disaster, ²  and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.

Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! ¹  There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it. ² 

Then I will reply, ¹  ‘I will bring them back from the land of the north. I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth. Blind and lame people will come with them, so will pregnant women and women about to give birth. A vast throng of people will come back here.