The LORD says, "People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war.

They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem."

Remember the covenant you made with us. There is violence in every dark corner of the land.

Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us---

who take your babies and smash them against a rock.

The LORD says, "I am stirring up the Medes to attack Babylon. They care nothing for silver and are not tempted by gold.

With their bows and arrows they will kill the young men. They will show no mercy to babies and take no pity on children.

who angrily oppressed the peoples and never stopped persecuting the nations they had conquered.

I was angry with my people; I treated them as no longer mine: I put them in your power, and you showed them no mercy; even the aged you treated harshly.

I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.

"Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

For God will not show mercy when he judges the person who has not been merciful; but mercy triumphs over judgment.

They poured out the blood of God's people and of the prophets, and so you have given them blood to drink. They are getting what they deserve!"

So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths;

even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.

Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken; God thunders, and the earth dissolves.

When that day comes, they will roar over Israel as loudly as the sea. Look at this country! Darkness and distress! The light is swallowed by darkness.

Our enemies are already in the city of Dan; we hear the snorting of their horses. The whole land trembles when their horses neigh. Our enemies have come to destroy our land and everything in it, our city and all its people."

They will hear the hoofbeats of horses, the clatter of chariots, the rumble of wheels. Parents will not turn back for their children; their hands will hang limp at their sides.

Their arrows are sharp, and their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses' hoofs are as hard as flint, and their chariot wheels turn like a whirlwind.

"Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

The armies of heaven followed him, riding on white horses and dressed in clean white linen.

On his robe and on his thigh was written the name: "King of kings and Lord of lords."

Come and eat the flesh of kings, generals, and soldiers, the flesh of horses and their riders, the flesh of all people, slave and free, great and small!"