21 Go up to the land of Merathaim;b

go up against her,

and attack the inhabitants of Pekodc

and utterly destroy the last of them,d

says the Lord;

do all that I have commanded you.

22 The noise of battle is in the land,

and great destruction!

23 How the hammer of the whole earth

is cut down and broken!

How Babylon has become

a horror among the nations!

24 You set a snare for yourself and you were caught, O Babylon,

but you did not know it;

you were discovered and seized,

because you challenged the Lord.

25 The Lord has opened his armory,

and brought out the weapons of his wrath,

for the Lord God of hosts has a task to do

in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her from every quarter;

open her granaries;

pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly;

let nothing be left of her.

27 Kill all her bulls,

let them go down to the slaughter.

Alas for them, their day has come,

the time of their punishment!