1:5 耶和華說：你們要向列國中觀看，大大驚奇；因為在你們的時候，我行一件事，雖有人告訴你們，你們總是不信。
1:6 我必興起迦勒底人，就是那殘忍暴躁之民，通行遍地，佔據那不屬自己的住處。
1:7 他威武可畏，判斷和勢力都任意發出。
1:8 他的馬比豹更快，比晚上的豺狼更猛。馬兵踴躍爭先，都從遠方而來；他們飛跑如鷹抓食，
1:9 都為行強暴而來，定住臉面向前，將擄掠的人聚集，多如塵沙。
1:10 他們譏誚君王，笑話首領，嗤笑一切保障，築壘攻取。
1:11 他以自己的勢力為神，像風猛然掃過，顯為有罪。
“Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
Then they sweep past like the wind and go
on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
***********
當人驕傲起來的時候是非常可怕的，常常忘記自己只不過是人，卻常常自以為是「神」，然後盡其所能為所欲為。雖然起初是上帝使其興起，但是發展到極致時，卻忘記自己不過是人，並非是上帝。
就像上帝興起巴比倫來，巴比倫卻恣意地破壞個地方的文化，滅各民族的種，所以後來受到上帝嚴嚴的處罰。而後繼的波斯王朝就有所調整，猶大人就可以回去重建聖殿。
第二次世界大戰時德國納粹黨的暴行，和巴比倫有點類似，上帝最後真的施行祂的審判，令人感動是德國人後來真的悔改，感謝上帝！
