And I said, "Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat has never entered my mouth."

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: He shakes arrows, he consults idols, he examines animal livers.

"'Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill every person and every animal.

No human foot will pass through it, and no animal's foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years.

The priests will not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or was torn to pieces by a wild animal.