As for Moab's pride, we have heard of it, she is very high-minded. I know her stoutness, her boasting, her arrogance, and the pride of her stomach, sayeth the LORD.

For her furiousness may neither uphold her with strength nor deed.

Moreover, I will make Moab cease, sayeth the LORD, from the offerings and censing that she hath made unto her gods in high places.

O how fearful is she? O how mourneth she? O how doth Moab hang down her head, and is ashamed? Thus shall Moab be a laughingstock, and had in derision of all them, that be round about her.

Behold therefore, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that I will bring a noise of war into Rabbah of the Ammonites. And it shall be laid on a desolate heap, and her cities burnt up: and the Israelites shall be lords over those that had them in possession afore, sayeth the LORD.

For why? I have sworn by myself, sayeth the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a wilderness; an open shame; a laughingstock and cursing; and her cities shall be a continual desert.

Moreover Idumaea shall be a wilderness: whoso goeth by it, shall be abashed, and wonder at all her miserable plagues.

Behold, like as the Lion cometh up from the pleasant meadows of Jordan unto the green pastures of Etham, so will I drive him, and make him run against her. But who is the young man that I will ordain thereto? Who is like unto me? What is he that will strive with me? What shepherd may stand in my hands?

Damascus shall be sore afraid, and shall flee; trembling shall come upon her. Sorrow and pain shall overtake her as a woman travailing of child.

Hear, therefore: her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be taken away in that time, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

For out of the north there shall come a people against her, which shall make her land so waste that nobody shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast; for they shall flee and depart from thence.

No man shall be able to dwell there, for the fear of the LORD, but she shall be whole desolate. All they that go by Babylon, shall stand still, and be abashed, and shall wonder at all her plagues.

Go forth in your array against Babylon round about, all ye that can handle bows: shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the LORD.

Cry out: upon her, upon her, against her round about: she shall yield herself, her foundations shall fall, and her walls shall come down, for it shall be the vengeance of the LORD. Yea vengeance shall be taken of her, and as she hath done, so shall she be dealt withal.

These things shall come upon her at the last: they shall break into her privy chambers, they shall leave her as bare as stones that be laid together upon heaps. They shall so destroy her that nothing shall be left.

They shall slay all her mighty soldiers, and put them to death. Woe be unto them, for the day and the time of their visitation is at hand.

'Call up all the archers against Babylon! Pitch your tents round about her, that none escape!' Recompense her, as she hath deserved: and according as she hath done, so deal with her again. For she hath set up herself against the LORD, against the holy one of Israel.

Therefore shall her young men fall down in the streets, and all her men of war shall be rooted out in that day, sayeth the LORD.

Behold, like as the Lion cometh up from the pleasant meadows of Jordan unto the green pastures of Ethan, so will I drive them forth, and make them run against her. But whom shall I choose out, and ordain to such a thing? For who is like me, or who will strive with me? Or what shepherd may stand against me?

Thus hath the LORD said, "Behold, I will raise up a perilous wind against Babylon and her citizens, that bear evil will against me.

I will send also into Babylon fanners, to fan her out, and to destroy her land: for in the day of her trouble they shall be about her on every side.

Moreover, the LORD hath said unto the bowmen, and to them that climb over the walls in breastplates: He shall not spare her young men; kill down all her host.

Fly away from Babylon; every man save his life. Let no man hold his tongue to her wickedness, for the time of the LORD's vengeance is come; yea, he shall reward her again.

"Babylon hath been in the LORD's hand a golden cup, that maketh all lands drunken. Of her wine have all people drunken, therefore are they out of their wits.

But suddenly is Babylon fallen and destroyed. Mourn for her; bring plasters for her wounds, if she may peradventure be healed again.

'We would have made Babylon whole,' say they, 'but she is not recovered. Therefore will we let her alone, and go every man into his own country. For her judgment is come in to heaven, and is gone up to the clouds.'

Therefore will I reward the city of Babylon and all her citizens the Chaldeans, with all the evil which they have done unto Zion. Yea, that ye yourselves shall see it, sayeth the LORD.

Set up a token in the land, blow the trumpets among the Heathen, provoke the nations against her, call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz against her: set the prince against her, bring as great a sort of horses against her, as if they were grasshoppers.

"For thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon hath been in her time like as a threshing floor, but shortly shall her harvest come.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, I will defend thy cause, and avenge thee: I will drink up her sea, and dry up her water springs.

The sea is risen over Babylon, and hath covered her with his great waves.

Her cities are laid waste, the land lieth unbuilded and void: it is a land where no man dwelleth, and where no man traveleth through.

And lo, the time cometh that I will visit the images of Babylon, and the whole land shall be confounded; yea, and her slain shall lie in the midst of her.

Heaven and earth, with all that is therein, shall rejoice over Babylon when the destroyers shall come upon her from the North, sayeth the LORD.

Like as Babylon hath beaten down and slain many out of Israel, so shall there fall many, and be slain, in all her kingdom.

Though Babylon climbed up into heaven, and kept her power on high: yet shall I send her destroyers, sayeth the LORD.

For the destroyers shall come upon her, even upon Babylon, which shall take her worthies and brake their bows: for God is disposed to avenge himself upon them, and sufficiently to recompense them.

"Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The thick wall of Babylon shall be broken, and her proud gates shall be burnt up. And the thing that the Gentiles and the people have wrought with great travail and labour shall come to naught and be consumed in the fire."

and say, 'Even thus shall Babylon sink, and be thrust down with the burden of trouble that I will bring upon her: so that she shall never come up again.'" Thus far are the preachings of Jeremiah.

{Beth} She weepeth sore in the night, so that the tears run down her cheeks: for among all her lovers, there is none that giveth her any comfort. Yea, her next friends transgress against her, and are become her enemies.

{Gimel} Judah is taken prisoner, because she was defiled: and for serving so many strange gods, she dwelleth now among the heathen. She findeth no rest: all they that persecuted her, took her in strait places where she could not escape.

{Daleth} The streets of Zion mourn, because no man cometh to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate; her priests make lamentation; her maidens are careful; and she herself is in great heaviness.

{He} Her enemies have been rulers over her, and have prospered: because the LORD hath chastened her for her great wickedness. Her children are led away captive before their enemy.

{Vav} All the beauty of the daughter of Zion is away, her princes are become like harts that find no pasture. They are driven away before their enemy, so that they have no more power.

{Zayin} Now doth Jerusalem remember the time of her misery and disobedience, yea the joy and pleasure that she hath had in times past: seeing her people is brought down through the power of their enemy, and there is no man for to help her. Her enemies stand looking at her, and laughing her Sabbath days to scorn.

{Khet} Jerusalem sinned ever more and more, therefore is she come in decay. All they that had her in honour, despise her: for they have seen her filthiness. Yea she sigheth and is ashamed of herself.

{Tet} Her skirts are defiled, she remembered not what would follow: therefore is her fall so great, and there is no man to comfort her. O LORD, consider my trouble, for my enemy hath the upper hand.

{Yod} The enemy hath put his hand to all the precious things that she had, yea even before her eyes came the Heathen in and out of the Sanctuary: whom thou, nevertheless, hast forbidden to come within thy congregation.

{Khaf} All her people seek their bread with heaviness, and look: what precious things every man hath, that giveth he for meat to save his life. Consider, O LORD, and see, how vile I am become.

{Pe} Zion casteth out her hands, and there is no man to comfort her. The LORD hath laid the enemies round about Jacob, and Jerusalem is as it were a menstruous woman in the midst of them.

{Beth} The LORD hath cast down all the glory of Jacob without any favour: all the strong places of the daughter Judah hath he broken in his wrath, and thrown them down to the ground: her kingdom and her princes hath he suspended.

{Vav} Her tabernacle - which was like a garden of pleasure - hath he destroyed; her high solemn feasts hath he put down. The LORD hath brought it so to pass, that the high solemn feasts and Sabbaths in Zion are clean forgotten. In his heavy displeasure hath he made the king and priests to be despised.

{Tet} Her ports are cast down to the ground, her bars are broken and smitten in sunder: her king and princes are carried away to the gentiles. They have neither law nor Prophets, nor yet any vision from the LORD.

{Zayin} Her abstainers were whiter than the snow or milk: their colour was fresh red as the Coral, their beauty like the Sapphire.

{Mem} Which nevertheless is come to pass for the sins of her prophets, and for the wickedness of her priests that have shed innocents' blood within her.

{Samekh} But they cried unto every man, "Flee the staining! Away, get you hence, touch it not! Yea," say they, "ye must be burnt: ye must dwell among the Gentiles, and bide no longer here."

{Tsadi} They lay so sharp wait for us, that we can not go safe upon the streets: for our end is come, our days are fulfilled, our end is here.

Moreover, thus said the LORD God, "This same is Jerusalem. I set her in the midst of the Heathen and nations that are round about her:

but she hath despised my judgments more than the Gentiles themselves, and broken my commandments more than the nations that lie round about her. For they have cast out mine ordinances, and not walked in my laws.

The end is here: The end, I say, that waiteth for thee is come already.

Behold: the day is here, the day is come, the hour is run out, the rod flourisheth, willfulness waxeth green,

And he said unto me, "Hast thou seen this thou son of man? Thinketh the house of Israel that it is but a trifle to do these abominations here? Should they fill the land full of wickedness, and undertake to provoke me unto anger? Yea, and purposely to cast up their noses upon me?

He cried also with a loud voice in mine ears, saying, "Come here, ye rulers of the city; every man with his weaponed hand to the slaughter."

Building thy stews at the head of every street, and thy brothel houses in all places? Thou hast not been as another whore, that maketh boast of her winning;

but as a wife that breaketh wedlock, and taketh other instead of her husband.

Thou art even thy mother's own daughter, that hath cast off her husband and her children. Yea, thou art the sister of thy sisters, which forsook their husbands and their children. Your mother is a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

Thine eldest sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell upon thy left hand. But thy youngest sister that dwelleth on thy righthand, is Sodom and her daughters.

As truly as I live, sayeth the LORD God, Sodom thy sister with her daughters hath not done so evil as thou and thy daughters.

Behold, the sins of thy sister Sodom, were these: Pride, fullness of meat, abundance and Idleness: these things had she and her daughters. Besides that, they reached not their hand to the poor and needy,

As for their captivity, namely the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters: I will bring them again. So will I also bring again thy captivity among them:

Thus thy sisters, namely Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters, with thyself and thy daughters, shall be brought again to your old estate.

But you will say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal.' Here I pray you, ye house of Israel. Is not my way equal?

and say, "Wherefore lay thy mother, that lioness, among the lions, and nourished her young ones among the lion's whelps?

One of her whelps she brought up, and it became a lion: it learned to spoil, and to devour folk.

Now when the dame saw, that all her hope and comfort was away, she took another of her whelps, and made a lion of him.

"As for thy mother, she is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waterside: her fruits and branches are grown out of many waters,

her stalks were so strong that men might have made staves thereof for officers, she grew so high in her stalks. So when men saw that she exceeded the height and multitude of her branches,

she was rooted out in displeasure, and cast down to the ground. The East wind dried up her fruit; her strong stalks were broken off, withered, and burnt in the fire.

And there is a fire gone out of her stalks, which hath burnt up her branches and her fruit: so that she hath no more strong stalks, to be staves for officers. This is a piteous and miserable thing."

"Thou son of man, tell her, 'Thou art an unclean land, which is not rained upon in the day of the cruel wrath:

The eldest of them was called Oholah and her youngest sister Oholibah. These two were mine, and bare sons and daughters. Their names were, Samaria, and that was Oholah: and Jerusalem, that was Oholibah.

As for Oholah, she began to go a whoring, when I had taken her to me. She was set on fire upon her lovers the Assyrians,

which had to do with her: even the princes and lords, that were decked in costly array: fair young men, lusty riders of horses.

Thus through her whoredom, she cleaved unto all the young men of Assyria: Yea she was mad upon them, and defiled herself with all their Idols.

Neither ceased she from the fornication, that she used with the Egyptians: for in her youth they lay with her, they bruised the breasts of her maidenhead, and poured their whoredom upon her.

Wherefore, I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, even the Assyrians, whom she so loved.

These discovered her shame, took her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: An evil name gat she of all people, and they punished her.

"Her sister Oholibah saw this, and destroyed herself with inordinate love, more than she, and exceeded her sister in whoredom:

she loved the Assyrians, which also lay with her: namely, the princes and great lords, that were clothed with all manner of gorgeous apparel, all lusty horsemen and fair young persons.

Now when the Babylonians came to her, they lay with her, and defiled her with their whoredom, and so was she polluted with them. And when her lust was abated from them,

her whoredom and shame was discovered and seen: then my heart forsook her, like as my heart was gone from her sister also.

Nevertheless, she used her whoredom ever the longer, the more; and remembered the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, therefore will I give thee her cup in thy hand.

Then was there great cheer with her: and the men that were sent from far countries over the desert, unto these they gave bracelets upon their hands, and set glorious crowns upon their heads.

And they went into her, as unto a common harlot: Even so went they also to Oholah and Oholibah those filthy women.

And therefore have I letten her pour her blood upon a plain dry stony rock, because it should not be hid, and that I might bring my wrathful indignation and vengeance upon her.

These shall break the walls of Tyre, and cast down her towers. I will scrape the ground from her, and make her a bare stone.

Yea, as the drying place, where the fishers hang up their nets by the seaside. Even I have spoken it, sayeth the LORD God. The Gentiles shall spoil her:

her daughters upon the field shall perish with the sword, that they may know how that I am the LORD.

and speak, 'Thus sayeth the LORD God Behold O Sidon, I will upon thee, and get me honour in thee: that it may be known how that I am the LORD, when I punish her, and get me honour in her.