¹¹ Sharpen your arrows;
    prepare your shields.
The Lord is stirring up
    the spirit of kings from Media.
    He intends to destroy Babylon;
    this is the Lord’s retribution,
        a day of reckoning for his temple.
¹² Set up a flag on the walls of Babylon,
    fortify the guards,
    post watchmen,
    prepare an ambush,
        because the Lord has a plan
        against the inhabitants of Babylon.
He will accomplish it,
    just as he said he would.
¹³ You live beside a great river,
    and you are rich in treasures.
But your time has come;
    your cruelty has caught up with you.^[a]