They are fierce and terrifying;
their views of justice and sovereignty
stem from themselves.

Their horses are swifter than leopards
and more fierce than wolves of the night.
Their horsemen charge ahead;
their horsemen come from distant lands.
They fly like an eagle, swooping to devour.

All of them come to do violence;
their faces are set in determination.
They gather prisoners like sand.

They mock kings,
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortress
and build siege ramps to capture it.

Then they sweep by like the wind
and pass through.
They are guilty; their strength is their god.

The Chaldeans pull them all up with a hook,
catch them in their dragnet,
and gather them in their fishing net;
that is why they are glad and rejoice.

That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet
and burn incense to their fishing net,
for by these things their portion is rich
and their food plentiful.

Will they therefore empty their net
and continually slaughter nations without mercy?

Won’t all of these take up a taunt against him,
with mockery and riddles about him?
They will say:

Woe to him who amasses what is not his—
how much longer?—
and loads himself with goods taken in pledge.