Let the slaughter begin! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.

The LORD Almighty says, "I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing---no children, no survivors at all. I, the LORD, have spoken.

But even if they sprouted and blossomed the very morning you planted them, there would still be no harvest. There would be only trouble and incurable pain.

So the LORD says to you, 'I will bring disaster on you. I will do away with you and get rid of every male in your family, young and old alike.

Your family will become like the family of King Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the family of King Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have stirred up my anger by leading Israel into sin.'

Then Jehu put to death all the other relatives of Ahab living in Jezreel, and all his officers, close friends, and priests; not one of them was left alive.

and they will not escape from darkness. They will be like trees whose branches are burned by fire, whose blossoms are blown away by the wind.

Before their time is up they will wither, wither like a branch and never be green again.

Their roots and branches are withered and dry.

They will be driven out of the land of the living, driven from light into darkness.

"This man is condemned to lose his children, to be a man who will never succeed. He will have no descendants who will rule in Judah as David's successors. I, the LORD, have spoken."

This is what the LORD has decreed about the Assyrians: "They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians---they don't deserve to live!"

Grass withers and flowers fade when the LORD sends the wind blowing over them. People are no more enduring than grass.

he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. At his command the people will be punished, and evil persons will die.

Long ago a place was prepared where a huge fire will burn the emperor of Assyria. It is deep and wide, and piled high with wood. The LORD will breathe out a stream of flame to set it on fire.

The LORD will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country, and the LORD will have him killed there."

The floor of the ocean was laid bare, and the foundations of the earth were uncovered when the LORD rebuked his enemies and roared at them in anger.

Like a storm, God destroys them in his anger.

"You hoped for large harvests, but they turned out to be small. And when you brought the harvest home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? Because my Temple lies in ruins while every one of you is busy working on your own house.

The nations advance like rushing waves, but God reprimands them and they retreat, driven away like dust on a mountainside, like straw in a whirlwind.

You will toss them in the air; the wind will carry them off, and they will be scattered by the storm. Then you will be happy because I am your God; you will praise me, the holy God of Israel.

and blow them away like straw in the wind, or like dust carried away in a storm?

Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds; in his fierce anger God will blow them away while they are still living.

when it comes on you like a storm, bringing fierce winds of trouble, and you are in pain and misery.

His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked,

And so these people will disappear like morning mist, like the dew that vanishes early in the day. They will be like chaff which the wind blows from the threshing place, like smoke from a chimney.

Even though Israel flourishes like weeds, I will send a hot east wind from the desert, and it will dry up their springs and wells. It will take away everything of value.

Like a storm I swept them away to live in foreign countries. This good land was left a desolate place, with no one living in it."

The LORD will appear above his people; he will shoot his arrows like lightning. The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms from the south.