Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land--strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary of bearing them.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

If ye are willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.

Thy rulers are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They judge not the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come to them.

For thou have forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled [with things] from the east, and [are] soothsayers like the Philistines. And they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, those who lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

Moreover LORD said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet,

And the harp and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe, and wine, are [in] their feasts, but they do not regard the work of LORD, nor have they considered the operation of his hands.

Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.

And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is debased, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled,

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink,

Therefore the anger of LORD is kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them. And the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all

whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind.

And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up. As a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled, so the holy seed is the stock of it.

Behold, I and the children whom LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from LORD of hosts, who dwells in mount Zion.

The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone, the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.

For those who lead this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed.

Through the wrath of LORD of hosts is the land burnt up, and the people are as the fuel of fire; no man spares his brother.

For he says, Are not my rulers all of them kings?

And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the peoples. And like a gathering of eggs that are forsaken, I have gathered all the earth. And there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and those who are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him who smote them, but shall lean upon LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, [and] the cedars of Lebanon, [saying], Since thou are laid low, no hewer has come up against us.

How thou are fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How thou are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!

But thou are cast forth away from thy sepulcher like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, as a dead body trodden under foot.

Howl, O gate, cry, O city. Thou are melted away, O Philistia, all of thee. For there comes a smoke out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

For the waters of Dimon are full of blood. For I will bring yet more upon Dimon, a lion upon those of Moab who escape, and upon the remnant of the land.

Let my outcasts dwell with thee. As for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land.

We have heard of the pride of Moab, [that] he is very proud, even of his arrogance, and his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.

The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They shall be for flocks, which shall lay down, and none shall make them afraid.

At eventide, behold, terror, [and] before the morning they are not. This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who rob us.

The rulers of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How will ye say to Pharaoh, I am the son of wise men, the son of ancient kings?

Where then are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what LORD of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt.

The rulers of Zoan have become fools. The rulers of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, the chief of her tribes.

Therefore my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail. I am pained so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

and, behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground.

O thou that are full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town. Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor are they dead in battle.

What are thou doing here? And whom have thou here, that thou have hewed thee out here a sepulcher? Hewing him out a sepulcher on high, carving a habitation for himself in the rock!

Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are rulers, whose traders are the honored of the earth?

Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations o

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 they shall be visited.

O LORD, thou are my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name. For thou have done wonderful things, [even] counsels of old, in faithfulness [and] truth.

The way of the just is uprightness. Thou who are upright directs the path of the just.

With my soul I have desired thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me I will seek thee earnestly. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Thou have increased the nation, O LORD, thou have increased the nation. Thou are glorified. Thou have enlarged all the borders of the land.

Has he smitten them as he smote those who smote them? Or are they slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by them?

Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob shall be forgiven. And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten apart, [so that] the Asherim and the sun-images s

When the boughs of it are withered, they shall be broken off. The women shall come, and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion upon them, and he who formed them

Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those who are overcome with wine!

And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They stagger with strong drink; they err in vision; they stumble in judgment.

For all tables are full of vomit, filthiness, no place [clean].

Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?

Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we are at agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hid ourselves unde

For the chick-peas are not threshed with a sharp instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin, but the chick-peas are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

Tarry ye and wonder, take your pleasure and be blind. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink.

Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from LORD, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and, Who knows us?

For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases. And all those who watch for iniquity are cut off,

For their rulers are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes.

They shall all be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them, who are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

One thousand [shall flee] at the threat of one. Ye shall flee at the threat of five, till ye are left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

And therefore LORD will wait, that he may be gracious to you. And therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you. For LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.

Behold, the name of LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire,

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek LORD!

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit. And when LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they shall all be consumed together.

For thus says LORD to me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, [even] if a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him, he will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them, so L

And the instruments of the churl are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.

Rise up, ye women who are at ease. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters. Give ear to my speech.

Tremble, ye women who are at ease. Be troubled, ye careless ones. Strip you, and make you bare, and gird [sackcloth] upon your loins.

Blessed are ye who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey.

At the noise of the tumult the peoples have fled. At the lifting up of thyself the nations are scattered.

And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down that are burned in the fire.

Hear, ye who are far off, what I have done, and ye who are near, acknowledge my might.

The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the profane. Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?

Thy tacklings are loosed. They could not strengthen the foot of their mast. They could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided. The lame took the prey.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come [with] vengeance, [with] the recompense of God. He will come and save you.

I say, [thy] counsel and strength for the war are but vain words. Now on whom do thou trust that thou have rebelled against me?

Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. And speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who sit [above] the cherubim, thou are the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou have made heaven and earth.

Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou are LORD, even thou only.

Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says LORD.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.

All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

[It is] he who sits above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in,

thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said to thee, Thou are my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away.

Behold, all those who are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded. Those who strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.

Let them bring forth, and declare to us what shall happen. Declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them, or show us things to come.

Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods. Yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of naught. An abomination is he who chooses you.

Behold, all of them, their works are vanity [and] nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.

They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, Ye are our gods.

Thou see many things, but thou do not observe. His ears are open, but he does not hear.

But this is a people robbed and plundered. They are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses. They are for a prey, and none delivers, for a spoil, and none says, Restore.