[Hush!] Be silent before the Lord God [there is no acceptable excuse to offer]!
For the day [of the vengeance] of the Lord is near,
For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice (Judah),
He has set apart [for His use] those who have accepted His invitation [the Chaldeans who rule Babylon].

My ears have been open to the bitter words of Moab and the words of shame of the children of Ammon, which they have said against my people, lifting themselves up against the limit of their land.

This will be their fate because of their pride, because they have said evil, lifting themselves up against the people of the Lord of armies.

And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and he will destroy Assur; and he will set Nineveh for a desolation, a dryness as the desert

The flocks and all the beasts of the people shall lie in the midst of it, pelicans and storks shall abide in the upper posts of it, fowls shall sing in the windows, and ravens shall sit upon the balks, for the borders of cedar shall be riven down.

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

Yahweh, hath set aside, thy judgments, hath turned back thy foe, - The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in thy midst, thou shalt not fear calamity, any more.

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

The sad exiles from the appointed meeting, have I gathered, from thee, had they been! but were a burden on thee - a reproach!

Lo, I am dealing with all afflicting thee at that time, And I have saved the halting one, And the driven out ones I do gather, And have set them for a praise and for a name, In all the land of their shame.

At that time I bring you in, Even at the time of My assembling you, For I give you for a name, and for a praise, Among all peoples of the land, In My turning back to your captivity before your eyes, said Jehovah!