And he crieth -- a lion, 'On a watch-tower my lord, I am standing continually by day, And on my ward I am stationed whole nights.

And behold, there cometh a chariot of men; horsemen by pairs. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor.
What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom):

Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom),
“Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]?
Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]”

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
Caravans of Dedanites.

For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Valley of Vision:

What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,

{noisy}, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain [are] not slain by [the] sword, nor [are they] dead from battle.

All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.

For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people.

For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

There shall ye see the rifts in the walls of the city of David, whereof there shall be many. Ye shall gather together the waters of the lower pool,

And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before.

And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

For the Lord God of hosts says this, “Go to this [contemptible] steward,
To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [but is building himself a tomb worthy of a king, and say to him],

Who are you, and by what right have you made for yourself a resting-place here?

He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.

And I will thrust thee from thine office; and from thy station shalt thou be pulled down.

And in that day it shall be, even I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.

And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he shall open and no one [will be able to] shut; and he shall shut and no one [will be able to] open.

And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

And all the glory of his father's family will be hanging on him, all their offspring, every small vessel, even the cups and the basins.

In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Tyre:

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house, without harbor;
It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus (Kittim).

Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.

As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

By whom was this purposed against Tyre, the crowning town, whose traders are chiefs, whose business men are honoured in the land?

Overflow your land like [the overflow of] the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;
There is no more restraint [on you to make you pay tribute to Tyre].

He stretched out His hand over the sea;
He made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has commanded
that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.

And he said, "You will not {continue} to exult, crushed one, {virgin} daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over [to] Cyprus! There will be no rest for you even there."

Mourn, ye ships of Tarshish, for your power shall be thrown down.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.

Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

And it will be after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will have mercy on Tyre, and she will go back to her trade, acting as a loose woman with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.

The earth shall be heavy and decay: The face of the earth shall perish and fall away, the proud people of the world shall come to naught.

The earth also is polluted by its inhabitants, because they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people.

The sweet wine shall mourn, the grapes shall be weak, and all that have been merry in heart, shall sigh.

The mirth of tabrets shall be laid down, the cheer of the joyful shall cease, and the pleasure of lutes shall have an end:

They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

Broken down is the city of desolation, - Shut up every house that it cannot be entered.

In the streets shall there be lift up a cry because of wine, all men's cheer shall vanish away, and all joy of the earth shall pass.

Desolation shall remain in the cities, and the gates shall be smitten with destruction.

When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

But those will be making sounds of joy; they will be crying loudly from the sea for the glory of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

And it shall be in that day, That Yahweh will bring punishment Upon the host of the height in the height, - And upon the kings of the ground on the ground.

And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

For this cause will the strong people give glory to you, the town of the cruel ones will be in fear of you.

Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine -- tender meat and choicest wine.

And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

And it will spread out its hands in the midst of it, just as the swimmer spreads out to swim, and its pride will be brought low with the movement of its hands.

The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
thrown to the ground, to the dust.

In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

Let the doors be open, so that the upright nation which keeps faith may come in.

Let your hope be in the Lord for ever: for the Lord Jah is an unchanging Rock.

It will be crushed under the feet of the poor and the steps of those who are in need.

The way of the good man is straight; the road of the upright is made smooth by you.

In the night the desire of my soul has been for you; early will my spirit be searching for you; for when your punishments come on the earth, the people of the world will get the knowledge of righteousness.

Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

Again, thou increasest the people, O LORD, thou increasest the people. Thou shalt be praised and magnified in all the ends of the world.

As she conceiving will draw near to bring forth, she will be pained and cry out in her pangs, thus were we from before thee, O Jehovah.

Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.

In that day there shall be a vineyard of pure wine; sing concerning it:

My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together.

In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will put out buds and flowers; and the face of the world will be full of fruit.

Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

In measure, in sending it forth, thou strivest with it, He hath taken away by His sharp wind, In the day of an east wind,

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Ho! crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim, and the dead flower of his glory which is on the head of those who are overcome by strong drink!

The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

Unto the lowly, he shall be a spirit of judgment; and unto them that drive away the enemies from the gates, he shall be a spirit of strength.

But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are they gone astray. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are overpowered by wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they have erred in vision, they have stumbled in judgment.

By whom doth He teach knowledge? And by whom doth He cause to understand the report? The weaned from milk, the removed from breasts,

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Nay, but by men of'strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people;