Jeremiah 50:21–29

²¹Attack the land of Merathaim 

and the people who live in Pekod. 

Claim them for me by killing them with a sword,” 

declares the Lord. 

“Do everything I commanded you. 

²²The noise of battle and great destruction fills the land. 

²³The hammer of the whole earth is broken and shattered. 

See how desolate Babylon is of all the nations! 

²⁴I will set traps for you, Babylon. 

You will be caught, but you won’t know it. 

You will be found and captured 

because you have opposed the Lord. 

²⁵The Lord will open his armory 

and bring out the weapons of his fury, 

because the Almighty Lord of Armies 

has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians. 

²⁶Attack them from a distance, 

open their storehouses, 

pile up their corpses like piles of grain, 

claim them for me by destroying them, 

and don’t leave anyone behind. 

²⁷Kill all their young bulls. 

Let them go to be slaughtered. 

How horrible it will be for them when their time has come, 

the time for them to be punished. 

²⁸Listen! Fugitives and refugees from Babylon 

are coming to Zion to tell about 

the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance for his temple. 

²⁹“Call together the archers, the soldiers with bows, against Babylon. 

Set up blockades around it. Don’t let anyone escape. 

Pay the people of Babylon back for what they have done. 

Do to them what they did to others. 

They have disobeyed the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.