Jeremiah 50:11-16, 41-43

“You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you? You lived it up, exploiting and using my people, Frisky calves romping in lush pastures, wild stallions out having a good time! Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you. The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased. Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation! Rubble and garbage and weeds! Emptied of life by my holy anger, a desert of death and emptiness. Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled, shaking their heads at such a comedown. Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down! Throw everything you have against her. Hold nothing back. Knock her flat. She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me! Shout battle cries from every direction. All the fight has gone out of her. Her defenses have been flattened, her walls smashed. ‘Operation GOD’s Vengeance.’ Pile on the vengeance! Do to her as she has done. Give her a good dose of her own medicine! Destroy her farms and farmers, ravage her fields, empty her barns. And you captives, while the destruction rages, get out while the getting’s good, get out fast and run for home. * * *

“And now, watch this! People pouring out of the north, hordes of people, A mob of kings stirred up from far-off places. Flourishing deadly weapons, barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless. Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers, they come riding fierce stallions, In battle formation, ready to fight you, Daughter Babylon! Babylon’s king hears them coming. He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag. Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby.