“How the hammer
Of the whole earth
Is cut down!
It is broken!
How Babylon has become
A horror
Among the nations!
You set a snare
For yourself!
You were caught!
O Babylon!
But you did not know it.
You were discovered.
You were seized
Because you challenged
Yahweh.
Yahweh has opened
His armory.
He has brought out
The weapons
Of his wrath.
Yahweh,
God of hosts,
Has a task to do
In the land
Of the Chaldeans.”
Babylon has become a broken hammer, a horror to all the countries. They had set a trap, but they themselves fell into it. The other countries found the trapped Babylon and seized it, because the Babylonians had challenged Yahweh by burning down his Temple. Thus Yahweh used all the weapons in his great armory of anger against Babylon. He had a task to do in the land of the Chaldeans. Why did Yahweh not do this sooner?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 