I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

[Is] Israel a slave? Or {a slave born in a house}? Why has he become plunder?

For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, 'Woe to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'

They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

Thou didst plant them, yea they took root, They have gone on yea they have borne fruit, - Near, art thou, in their mouth, But far off from their affections,

She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been put to shame and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith Jehovah.

Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them doth curse me.

Thou, Thou hast known, O Jehovah, Remember me, and inspect me, And take vengeance for me of my pursuers, In Thy long-suffering take me not away, Know -- I have borne for Thee reproach.

For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who gave birth to them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land:

Cursed be [the] day [on] which I was born, let not the day [on] which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.

Cursed be the man who brought the news [to] my father, {saying}, "A child is born to you, a son!" and he made him very glad.

And I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you to another country where you were not born, and there you will die.

therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He will not have anyone [born] to live among this people, nor will he see the good that I am about to do to My people,” says the Lord, “because he has spoken and preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”

They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.

For after my turning back I repented, And after my being instructed I struck on the thigh, I have been ashamed, I have also blushed, For I have borne the reproach of my youth.

Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and her neighbours, Saith Yahweh, - There shall not dwell there - a man, Nor sojourn therein - any son of the earth-born.

So shall Hazor become A habitation of jackals An astonishment unto times age-abiding: There shall not dwell there - a man, Nor sojourn therein - a son of the earth-born.

But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.

Like the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and her neighbours, Declareth Yahweh, - There shall not dwell there - a man, Nor sojourn therein - a son of the earth-born.

Her cities have become, an astonishment, A land parched up, and a waste plain, - A land wherein shall no man dwell, Nor pass through them a son of the earth-born!