Alas! thou plunderer when, thou, hadst not been plundered, And thou traitor when they had not betrayed thee: When thou hast ceased plundering, thou shalt be plundered, When thou hast left off betraying, they shall betray thee.

Now, are they created, and not in time past, And, before to-day, thou hadst not heard of them, - Lest thou shouldest say, Lo! I knew them!

Nay! thou hadst not heard, Nay! thou hadst not known, Nay! in time past, thine ear, was not opened, - For I knew that thou, wouldst be treacherous, Yea a transgressor from birth, hast thou been called.

Oh! that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, - Then had been, like a river, thy prosperity, And, thy righteousness, like the waves of the sea:

Shout in triumph, O barren one, Who hadst not borne, - Break forth into shouts of triumph - and trill thy voice, Who hadst not travailed in birth, For, more, are the children of the Desolate Than the children of Her who had the husband, Saith Yahweh.

Whom then hadst thou been anxious about and feared that thou shouldest speak falsely, When me, thou rememberedst not, caredst not for me? Did not, I, keep silence even from age-past times, Although me, thou wouldest not fear?

Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down,

And there was none To call upon thy Name, To rouse himself to lay firm hold on thee, - For thou hadst hidden thy face from us, And hadst made us despond, by means of our iniquity.