Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is destroyed. O remnant of their valley, {how long} will you cut yourself with a blade?

How can you be quiet when Yahweh has given an order to it? Against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea, there he has appointed it."

And [the] destroyer will come to every town, and a town will not escape. And the valley will be destroyed, and the plain will be destroyed, as Yahweh has spoken.

Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has been quiet on his dregs, and he has not been poured out from vessel to vessel, and he has not gone into exile. {Therefore} his taste has remained unchanged, and his fragrance has not changed.

Come down from glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your fortifications.

Stand by [the] road and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer. Ask [the man who is] fleeing and [the woman who is] escaping, say, 'What has happened?'

Judgment has also come to the land of the plain, to Holon, and to Jahaz, and on Mephaath,

More than the weeping of Jazer I weep for you, O vine Sibmah. Your branches cross over [the] sea, up to the sea of Jazer they reach. Upon your summer fruit and upon your vintage [the] destroyer has fallen.

{Therefore} my heart moans for Moab like the flute. It moans for the people of Kir-heres like the flute. {Therefore} [the] wealth they gained has perished.

"How it is filled with terror! [How] they wail! How Moab has turned [his] back! He is disgraced! So Moab has become as a derision, and as a terror for all his surrounding [peoples]."

"In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stand without strength, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, and a flame from Sihon. And it has eaten the forehead of Moab, and the skulls of the people of tumult.

Concerning the {Ammonites}: Thus says Yahweh, "Are there no sons for Israel? Or is there no heir for him? Why has Milcom taken possession of Gad, and his people dwelled in its towns?

Concerning Edom, thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel become lost from [those who] understand? Is their wisdom rotting?

I have heard a message from Yahweh, and a messenger has been sent among the nations. "Gather and come against her, and rise for the battle."

Your terror has deceived you, the pride of your heart, [O you who] dwell in the clefts of the rock, [you who] seize [the] height of [the] hill. Though you make your nest high like the eagle, from there I will bring you down," {declares} Yahweh.

{Therefore} hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Edom, and his plans that he has planned against the inhabitants of Teman. {Surely} they will drag them away, the little [ones] of the flock. {Surely} he will cause to be desolated over them their grazing place.

Damascus has grown slack. She has turned away to flee and panic. Anxiety has seized [her], and labor pains have grasped her, like a woman in labor.

How [the] city of praise has not been abandoned! The city of my joy!

Flee! Wander far away! {Get down low}! O inhabitants of Hazor," {declares} Yahweh. "For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has planned a plan against you. And he has schemed a scheme against you.

For look, I [am] going to stir up, and I [am] going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from [the] land of [the] north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows [are] like a warrior [who has] achieved success, he does not return without success.

Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around, all those who bend [the] bow, shoot at her. You must not spare arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.

Raise a war cry against her on all sides. {She has surrendered}. Her towers have fallen, her walls are ruined. For this [is] the vengeance of Yahweh. Take revenge on her. As she has done [to others], [so] do to her.

How the blacksmith's hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!

Yahweh has opened his armory, and he has brought out the weapons of his wrath, for it [is] a word for my Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of [the] Chaldeans.

Massacre all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughtering. Woe to them, for [their] day has come, the time of their punishment.

Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend [the] bow. Encamp all around her, there must not be for her an escape. Take revenge on her according to her deeds. According to all that she has done, [so] do to her. For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently, against the Holy One of Israel.

"Look, I [am] against you, arrogant [one]," {declares} Lord Yahweh of hosts, "for your day has come, [the] time [when] I will punish you.

The king of Babylon heard their report and his hands grew slack. Anxiety has seized him, fear and pain like the [woman who] gives birth.

{Therefore} hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Babylon, and his plans that he has planned against the land of [the] Chaldeans. {Surely} they will drag them away, the little [ones] of the flock. {Surely} he will cause [their] grazing place to be desolate over them.

At [the] sound, 'Babylon has been captured,' the earth will quake, and a cry for help among the nations will be heard."

Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her wounds, perhaps she may be healed.

We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens, and it has been lifted up to [the] skies.

Yahweh has brought forth our vindication. Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.

Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. Because his plan concerning Babylon [is] to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance for his temple.

Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; {post a strong watch}, post watchmen, prepare the ambushes, for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

[O you who] live by mighty waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, {the measure of your life}.

Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, "Surely I will fill you [with] troops like the creeping locusts, and they will sing over you a war cry."

The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they remain in the strongholds, their power has dried up, they have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire, her bars are broken.

[one] runner runs to meet [another] runner, and [one] messenger to meet [another] messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, {from end to end}.

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me [and] sucked me dry; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like the sea monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies; he has rinsed me.

How Sheshach is captured, and the glory of all the earth is seized! How Babylon has become as an [object of] horror among the nations!

The sea has risen over Babylon, she has been covered by the roar of its waves.

And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will wrench out from his mouth {what he has swallowed}. And [the] nations will not stream towards him [any] longer {what's worse}, the wall of Babylon has fallen.

How desolate the city sits [that] was full of people! She has become like a widow, [once] great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forced laborer.

She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears [are] on her cheeks; she has no comforter among all her lovers. All her friends have been unfaithful to her; they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile with misery and under hard servitude; she lives among the nations, she has not found a resting place; all her pursuers have overtaken her amidst [her] distress.

Her foes have become [her] {master}, her enemies are at ease; Yahweh has made her suffer because of the greatness of her transgressions. Her children have gone away, captive before the foe.

All her majesty has gone away from the daughter of Zion; her princes have become like young stags that have not found pasture; they have gone away without strength, before the pursuer.

Her uncleanness [was] in her skirts; she did not remember her future, she has descended beyond understanding, there is no comforter for her. See, O Yahweh, my persecution! [My] enemy has been made great!

The enemy has stretched out his hand over all her treasures; for she has seen the nations, they entered her sanctuary, those whom you commanded not to enter in your assembly.

The Lord has rejected all my mighty ones in my midst. He called an assembly against me, to crush my young men; [like in] a wine press, the Lord has trodden [on] the virgin daughter of Judah.

For these [things], I am weeping, {my eyes flow with tears}; because a comforter is far from me, one to restore my life. My sons are desolate because [the] enemy has prevailed.

Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded against Jacob, [that] those surrounding him [should be] his enemies; Jerusalem has become a defilement among them.

See, O Yahweh, that {I am in distress}; {my stomach} is in torment, my heart has turned inside me because I have certainly rebelled. From outside a sword brings bereavement, inside the house [it is] like death.

How, {in his anger}, the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens [to] earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of {his anger}.

The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy to all the dwellings of Jacob; he has broken down in his wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah; he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored the kingdom and its commanders.

He has cut down {in fierce anger} all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn his right hand from the faces of [the] enemy, and he has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, it has consumed all around.

He has bent his bow like an enemy; he has set his right hand like a foe, and he has slain all [the] treasures of [the] eye; in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his anger like fire.

The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses; he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah.

He has broken down {his dwelling} place like the garden; he has ruined his appointed feasts; Yahweh has made [them] forget in Zion {festival} and Sabbath, and he has despised in his anger king and priest.

The Lord has rejected his altar; he has rejected his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hands of the enemy the walls of its citadel fortresses. They have cried out in the house of Yahweh like a day of an appointed feast.

Yahweh has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured [with] a line; he has not restrained his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to mourn; together they have languished away.

Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes [are] among the nations; there is no more law. Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.

Yahweh has done what he has planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he ordained from the days of old; he has demolished and not shown mercy; he has made an enemy rejoice over you, he has exalted the {might} of your foes.

You have summoned my horror from all around, as if for a feast day; no one on the day of Yahweh's anger [is] a fugitive and a survivor; whoever I have cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed.

I am a man who has seen misery, under the rod of his wrath.

He has driven me along, he brought darkness and not light.

Surely he has turned his hand against me, all day long.

He has worn out my flesh and skin, he has broken my bones.

{He has besieged} and engulfed me with bitterness and hardship.

In darkness he has let me dwell like [the] dead of long ago.

He has built a wall around me, I cannot go out; he has made my bronze fetters heavy.

He has blocked my ways with dressed stones; he has made my paths crooked.

He has forsaken my way and torn me to pieces; he has caused me desolation.

He has bent his bow and set me as the target for the arrow.

He has filled me with bitterness, he has drenched me [with] wormwood.

He has broken my teeth on grit, he has trampled me down in ash.

My life has been removed from peace, I have forgotten goodness.

Let him sit alone and be silent when he has laid it on him.

For even though he causes grief he has compassion according to the greatness of his royal love.

to subvert a person in a legal dispute --the Lord has not found delight [in these things].

{Who can speak} and it will happen [if] the Lord has not commanded [it]?

Water has flown over my head, I said, "I am cut off."

How [the] gold has grown dim, the pure gold has changed. The stones of holiness are scattered at the head of every street.

Even the jackal bears the beast and nurses their cubs; [but] the daughter of my people has become ruthless, like ostriches in the wilderness.

[Now] their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood.

Yahweh has completed his anger, he has poured out {his fierce anger}; he has kindled a fire in Zion, it consumed her foundations.

The presence of Yahweh has scattered them, he will no longer watch over them; {they did not honor the priests}, they did not show mercy [to] elders.

They hunted our steps, from walking in our streets; our end has come near, {our days are finished}, our end has come.

Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us; take note, and see our disgrace!

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses, to foreigners.

The joy of our hearts has stopped; our circle-dancing has changed to a mourning ceremony.

The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

Because of this, our heart has become faint, because of these, our eyes have become dim.

And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and {unclean meat} has not come into my mouth!"

But she has rebelled against my regulations to the point of wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that [are] around her; for they rejected my regulations, and [as for] my statutes, they did not walk in them.

[The] end comes, comes the end! It has awakened against you! Look! [It] comes!

Violence has grown to [become] a staff of wickedness; {none} from them [will remain], and {none} from their abundance nor from their wealth; and prominence [will] not [be] among them.

The time has come, the day has arrived; let not the buyer rejoice, and let the seller not mourn, for anger [is] on all their multitude.

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel [are] doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for [they are] saying, 'Yahweh [is] not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.'"