Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned [with] fire; [As for] your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, like devastation [by] foreigners.

And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a city that is besieged.

If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors, we would have been as few as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like burden, I am not able to bear [them].

"Come now, and let us argue," says Yahweh. "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow; even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

How has a faithful city become like a whore? Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

And I will turn my hand against you; I will purify your dross like lye, and I will remove all [of] your tin.

For you shall be like an oak withering its leaves, and like a garden where there is no water for her.

And the strong [man] shall become like tinder, and his work like a spark. And both of them shall burn together, and there is not one to quench [them]."

For you have forsaken your people, house of Jacob, because they are full from [the] east, and [of] soothsayers like the Philistines, and {they make alliances} with the offspring of foreigners.

The look on their faces testifies against them and they declare their sin like Sodom; they do not hide [it]. Woe to their soul! For they have dealt out evil to themselves.

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down [in the] flame, so their root will become like [the] stench, and their blossom will go up like [the] dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

Therefore {Yahweh's wrath was kindled} against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in [the] middle of [the] streets.

Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.

His roaring [is] like the lion, and he roars like young lions. And he growls and seizes his prey, and he carries [it] off, and not one can rescue [it].

And he will roar over him on that day like [the] roaring of [the] sea, and [if] one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress! And [the] light grows dark with its clouds.

And {even if only a tenth part remain}, {again she will be destroyed} like terebinth or like [an] oak, which although felled, a tree stump [remains] in them. [The] seed of holiness [will be] her tree stump."

When it was reported to the house of David, saying "Aram stands by Ephraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook like the shaking of the trees of [the] forest because of [the] wind.

And [as for] all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, [for] fear of briers and thornbushes. And it will become like pastureland [for] cattle and overtrodden land [for] sheep.

And he will become like a sanctuary and a stumbling-stone, and like a stumbling-rock for the two houses of Israel, like a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Look! I and the children whom Yahweh has given to me [are] like signs and portents in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, the one who dwells on the mountain of Zion.

for teaching and for testimony?" {surely they [who] speak like this have no dawn}.

For wickedness burned like fire; it consumed brier and thorn. And it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward [in] a column of smoke.

The land was burned through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and the people became like fire fuel. {People had no compassion toward each other}.

I send him against a godless nation, and I command him against the people of my wrath, to capture spoil and to carry off plunder, and to make them a trampling place, like [the] clay of [the] streets.

[Is] not Calno like Carchemish? [Is] not Hamath like Arpad? [Is] not Samaria like Damascus?

For he says, "I have done [it] by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, and I have removed [the] boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their stores, and like a bull I have brought down {the inhabitants}.

And my hand has found, like nest, the wealth of the peoples, and like the gathering of forsaken eggs, I myself have gathered all the earth. And [there] was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirp."

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors, and a burning like [the] burning of fire will burn under his glory.

And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his holy one like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard {completely}, and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of it will return. Annihilation [is] determined, overflowing [with] righteousness.

And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle.

Wail, for the day of Yahweh [is] near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai!

and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize [them]; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. {They will stare at one another}, {their faces flushing}.

And this shall happen: like a hunted gazelle or sheep {with none to gather them}, they will each turn to his [own] people, and they will each flee to his [own] land.

And Babylon, [the] glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like {when God overthrew} Sodom and Gomorrah.

All of them will respond and say to you, 'You yourself also were made weak like us! You have become the same as us!'

Your pride is brought down [to] Sheol, [and] the sound of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you like a bed, and your covering is worms.

I will ascend to [the] high places of [the] clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'

who made [the] world like the desert and destroyed its cities, [who] would not let his prisoners go home?'

But [as for] you, you are thrown away from your grave, like an abhorrent shoot, clothed with [the] slain, those pierced [by the] sword, those who go down to [the] stones of [the] pit, like a corpse that is trodden down.

And this shall be: like a bird fleeing [from] a thrust away nest shall be the daughters of Moab [at the] fords of Arnon.

"Bring counsel, make a decision; make your shade like the night in the middle of noonday. Hide [the] outcasts; you must not betray the fugitive.

Therefore my {heart moans} like harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

But now Yahweh speaks, saying, "In three years, like [the] years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and [the] remnant [will be] a few, small, not strong.

And [the] fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and [the] kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.

And it shall be as {when a reaper gathers} standing grain and he reaps grain [with] his arm, and it shall be like one who gathers ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim.

On that day, {its fortified cities} will be like the {abandonment of the wooded place and the summit}, which they deserted because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.

Ah! [The] noise of many peoples, they make a noise like [the] noise of [the] seas! And [the] roar of nations, they roar like [the] roar of mighty waters!

[The] nations roar like [the] roar of many waters, but he will rebuke him, and he will flee far away. And they are chased like chaff of [the] mountains before [the] wind and like tumbleweed before [the] storm.

For Yahweh said this to me: "I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like {clear heat because of light}, like a cloud of dew in [the] heat of harvest."

On that day, Egypt will be like women, and will tremble and be afraid before the waving hand of Yahweh of hosts that he [is] waving against it.

Therefore my loins are filled [with] anguish; pangs have seized me, like [the] pangs of a woman giving birth. I am {too bent to hear}, I am {too dismayed to see}.

For the Lord said this to me: "{In one more year}, like [the] years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.

he will wind a winding tightly around you like ball, to a {wide land}. There you shall die, and there the chariots of your splendor [will be], disgrace to your master's house!

and I will clothe him [with] your tunic, and I will bind your sash firmly about him, and I will put your authority into his hand, and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

And I will drive him in [like] a peg into a secure place, and he will become like a throne of glory to the house of his father.

Cross over your [own] land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.

Look [at] the land of the Chaldeans! {This people no longer exists. Assyria destined} it for wild animals. They erected its siege towers; they demolished its citadel fortresses. It made her like a ruin.

And this will happen on that day: And Tyre [will] be forgotten seventy years, like the days of one king. At [the] end of seventy years, it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute:

For it shall be like this in the midst of the earth, among the nations, like [the] beating of an olive tree, like gleanings when a grape harvest is at an end.

[The] earth staggers to and fro like the drunkard, and it sways like hut, and its transgression is heavy upon it, and it falls and does not rise again.

And they will be gathered [in] a gathering, [like] a prisoner {in} a pit. And they will be shut {in} a prison and be punished {after} many days.

For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in his distress, a shelter from [the] rainstorm, a shade from [the] heat. For [the] breath of [the] ruthless [was] like a rainstorm against a wall,

[the] noise of foreigners like heat in a dry land. You subdued [the] heat with [the] shade of a cloud; [the] song of [the] ruthless was silenced.

On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "{We have a strong city}; he sets up victory [like] walls and ramparts!

Like pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes; she cries in her labor pains. So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

Therefore by this he will make atonement [for] the guilt of Jacob, and this [will be] all of [the] fruit [of] the removal of his sin: {when he makes} all [the] stones of [the] altar like crushed stones of chalk, no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand.

For [the] fortified city [is] solitary, a settlement deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; [the] calf grazes there, lies down there and destroys its branches.

Look! The Lord has mighty and strong [one], like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction, like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters, he will put [them] to the earth with [his] hand.

and [the] withering flower of the glory of its beauty which [is] at [the] head of {the rich valley} will be like its early fig before summer, {which the one who sees it swallows} while it [is] still in his hand.

Yet I will inflict Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation, and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.

Then you shall be low; you shall speak from [the] earth, and your words will be low, from dust. And your voice will be from [the] earth, like a ghost, and your word will whisper from [the] dust.

But the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust, and [the] multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by. And it will happen [in] an instant, suddenly.

And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, all those who fight [against] her and her stronghold, and those who inflict her shall be like dream, a vision of [the] night.

And the vision of all this has become for you like [the] words of sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the document, saying, "{Read} this now!" He says, "I am not able, for it [is] sealed."

therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall, bulging out on a high wall {that breaks} suddenly, [in] an instant.

And he breaks it like a vessel of {a potter} breaks, [that] is crushed; he has no compassion, and no potsherd is found among its fragments {to take fire} from [the] hearth, or {to skim} water from [the] cistern."

One thousand {because of} a threat of one, {because} of a threat of five you shall flee, until you are left like flagstaff on {top} of mountain, and like signal on hill.

And you will defile the plating of your silver idols and the covering of your gold image. You will scatter them like contaminated things; you will say to it, "Filth!"

And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on [the] day [when] Yahweh binds up the breakage of his people, and he heals the wound of his blow.

Look! The name of Yahweh comes from afar, burning [with] his anger and heaviness of cloud. His lips are full [of] indignation, and his tongue [is] like a devouring fire.

And his breath [is] like an overflowing river; it reaches up to [the] neck to shake [the] nations with [the] sieve of worthlessness; and a bridle that leads astray [is] on [the] jawbones of [the] peoples.

{You shall have a song} as [in] [the] night when a holy festival is kept, and a gladness of heart like one who goes with the flute, to go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the rock of Israel.

For Topheth has been prepared from yesterday; indeed, it is made ready for the king. He makes its pile of wood deep and wide; he makes fire and wood {abundant}. The breath of Yahweh burns in it like a stream of sulfur.

Like birds flying [overhead], so Yahweh of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver [it]; he will pass over and rescue [it].

And each one will be like a hiding place from [the] wind and a covering from [the] rainstorm, like streams of water in a dry region, like [the] shade of a large rock in a weary land.

[The] land mourns; it languishes. Lebanon feels abashed; it withers. Sharon is like the desert, and Bashan and Carmel {are losing their leaves}.

And [the] peoples will be burning [to] lime-- they are burned [like] thorns [that have been] cut down in the fire.

and all the host of heaven shall rot. And the skies shall roll up like scroll, and all their host shall wither like the withering of a leaf from a vine, or like [the] withering from a fig tree.

And its streams shall be changed to pitch and its soil to sulfur, and its land shall become like burning pitch.

Wilderness and dry land shall be glad, and desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.

Then [the] lame shall leap like the deer, and [the] tongue of [the] dumb shall sing for joy, for waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

And the parched ground shall become pool, and [the] thirsty ground springs of water. Her resting place [is] in a settlement of jackals; [the] grass [shall become] like reeds and rushes.

until {I come} and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards,

And their inhabitants [are] {weak}; they are dismayed, and they are ashamed; they have become [like] plants of [the] field, and [like] greens of grass, [like] grass on [the] roofs and a cultivated field {before} the standing grain.

My dwelling place is pulled up and removed from me like the tent of my shepherd; I have rolled up my life like weaver. He cuts me off from [the] thrum; from day to night you bring me to an end.

I lie down until morning; like lion, so he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.

Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!