For Gaza is forsaken, And Ashkelon is for a desolation, Ashdod! at noon they do cast her forth, And Ekron is rooted up.

And crouched in her midst have droves, Every beast of the nation, Both pelican and hedge-hog in her knobs lodge, A voice doth sing at the window, 'Destruction is at the threshold, For the cedar-work is exposed.'

This is the exulting city that is dwelling confidently, That is saying in her heart, 'I am, and beside me there is none,' How hath she been for a desolation, A crouching-place for beasts, Every one passing by her doth hiss, He doth shake his hand!

She hath not hearkened to the voice, She hath not accepted instruction, In Jehovah she hath not trusted, Unto her God she hath not drawn near.

Her heads in her midst are roaring lions, Her judges are evening wolves, They have not gnawn the bone in the morning.

Her prophets unstable -- men of treachery, Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have violated the law.

Jehovah is righteous in her midst, He doth not do perverseness, Morning by morning His judgment he giveth to the light, It hath not been lacking, And the perverse doth not know shame.

I have said: Only, ye do fear Me, Ye do accept instruction, And her habitation is not cut off, All that I have appointed for her, But they have risen early, They have corrupted all their doings.

Mine afflicted from the appointed place I have gathered, from thee they have been, Bearing for her sake reproach.