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²³How is the hammer of the whole earth

Cut asunder and broken!

How is Babylon become

A desolation among the nations!

²⁴I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,

And thou wast not aware;

Thou art found, and also caught,

Because thou hast striven against the Lord.

²⁵The Lord hath opened His armoury,

And hath brought forth the weapons of His indignation;

For it is a work that the Lord God of hosts

Hath to do in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶Come against her from every quarter, open her granaries,

Cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly;

Let nothing of her be left.

²⁷Slay all her bullocks, let them go down to the slaughter;

Woe unto them! for their day is come,

The time of their visitation.

²⁸Hark! they flee and escape out of the land of Babylon,

To declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

The vengeance of His temple.

²⁹Call together the archers against Babylon,

All them that bend the bow;

Encamp against her round about,

Let none thereof escape;

Recompense her according to her work,

According to all that she hath done, do unto her:

For she hath been arrogant against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰Therefore shall her young men fall in her broad places,

And all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day,

Saith the Lord.

 

³¹Behold, I am against thee, O thou most arrogant,

Saith the Lord God of hosts;

For thy day is come,

The time that I will punish thee.

³²And the most arrogant shall stumble and fall,

And none shall raise him up;

And I will kindle a fire in his cities,

And it shall devour all that are round about him.

 

³³Thus saith the Lord of hosts:

The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together;

And all that took them captives hold them fast;

They refuse to let them go.

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong,

The Lord of hosts is His name;

He will thoroughly plead their cause,

That He may give rest to the earth,

And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord,

And upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

³⁶A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall become fools;

A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.

³⁷A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots,

And upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her,

And they shall become as women;

A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed.

³⁸A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up;

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