Why is your mighty one swept away? They did not stand, because Jehovah thrust him down.

He made many fall; yea, one fell on another. And they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressing sword.

They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is a noise; he has passed the chosen time.

Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation.

Its sound is like a serpent's going, for they shall go in force and come against her with axes like woodcutters.

They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts and cannot be counted.

There shall be no more praise of Moab. In Heshbon they have plotted evil against it, saying, Come and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also you shall be silenced, O madmen; the sword shall pursue you.

I know his wrath, says Jehovah, it is not so; his boast, but they have not done so.

O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea; they reach to the sea of Jazer. A ravager has fallen on your summer fruits and on your grape crop.

From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh, and to Jahaz, they have uttered their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a heifer three years old. For the waters of Nimrim also shall be deserted.

They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! How has Moab turned the back with shame! So Moab shall be a cause of scorn, and he shall be a terror to all those around him.

If the gatherers of grapes come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves come by night, they will destroy until they have enough.

The earth is shaken at the noise of their fall; when they cried, its noise was heard in the Red Sea.

Concerning Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard bad news. They are melted; anxiety is in the sea; it cannot be quiet.

They shall take away their tents and their flocks. They shall take their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels to themselves. And they shall cry to them, Fear is on every side.

For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land a desert, and none shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall depart, both man and beast.

In those days, and at that time, says Jehovah, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek Jehovah their God.

They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces there, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.

My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.

All who have found them have devoured them. And their enemies said, We do not offend, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.

For, lo, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon a company of great nations from a northern land. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there. Their arrows shall be as those of a skillful, mighty man; none shall return in vain.

Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the pressing sword they shall turn, each one to his people; and they shall flee, each one to his own land.

In those days, and at that time, says Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and it shall not be found; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah were oppressed together. And all who captured them held them fast; they refused to let them go.

A sword is on the liars, and they shall become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be afraid.

A sword is on their horses and their chariots, and on all the mixed people in her midst; and they shall become as women. A sword is to her treasuries, and they shall be robbed.

A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act madly with idols.

They lay hold on a bow and spear; they are cruel and will not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses arrayed like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon.

And I will send aliens to Babylon who will sift her and will empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her all around.

Jehovah of Hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they shall lift up a shout against you.

They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their judgment they shall perish.

And I will give to Babylon, and to all the people of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Jehovah.

And they shall not take a stone from you for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be a waste forever, says Jehovah.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they have remained in strongholds; their might has failed. They became like women; they have burned her houses; her bars are broken.

and that the fords are stopped. And they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war are frightened.

They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions' cubs.

In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunk so that they may rejoice and sleep a never-ending sleep, and never awaken, says Jehovah.

And I will make her rulers drunk, also her wise ones, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a never-ending sleep and not awaken, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be completely broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the people shall be in the fire, and they shall be weary.

And you shall say, In this way shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her. And they shall be weary. So far are the words of Jeremiah.

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. (And the Chaldeans lay around the city all around.) And they went by the way of the plain.

And they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgments against him.

They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they served.

She bitterly weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt deceitfully with her; they became her enemies.

And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty has departed. Her rulers have become like bucks: they find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and her wandering Jerusalem remembered all her desirable things from previous days; when her people fell into the hand of the foe; and there is no ally for her. The foes saw her; they laughed at her annihilation.

Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has been removed. All knowing her despise her because they saw her nakedness; yea, she sighs and turns backward.

The enemy has spread out his hand upon all her desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her holy place, whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation.

All her people sigh; they seek bread. They have given their desirable things for food to relieve the soul. See, O Jehovah, and look on me, for I have become vile.

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they intertwine; they rise on my neck. He has made my strength to falter; Jehovah has delivered me into their hands. I am not able to rise up.

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food for them to bring back their life.

They hear that I sigh; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard my evil; they are glad that You have done it. You will bring the day that You have called, and they shall be like me.

Jehovah has cast off His altar; He rejected His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hater's hand. They gave a noise in the house of Jehovah, as a day of meeting.

Jehovah purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from swallowing, and He made rampart and wall lament; they languish together.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and are silent; they send up dust on their heads; they gird on sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

They say to their mothers, Where are grain and wine? In their fainting they are like the wounded in the streets of the city, in their pouring out their lives to their mothers' bosom.

Your prophets have seen false and foolish things for you, and they have not uncovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but they have seen false oracles and seductions for you.

All who pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city which they called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?

All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen.

They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

They have cut off my life in the pit, and cast a stone at me.

The precious sons of Zion are weighed against pure gold; how they are counted as earthen vessels, the work of a potter's hand!

Even the jackals draw out the breast; they suckle their young ones. The daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

Her Nazarites were purer than snow, whiter than milk; they were redder of bone than corals; their cuttings as lapis lazuli, azure blue.

Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.

The hands of the pitying women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the ruin of the daughter of my people.

they reeled blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood, so that not any can touch their clothes.

They cried to them, Depart! Unclean! Depart, depart! Touch not! Indeed they fled and reeled; they said among the nations, They will not continue to live there.

The face of Jehovah has shared them out; He will no longer look on them; they did not respect the persons of the priests; they did not favor the elders.

They hunted our steps from going in our streets; our end was near, our days were fulfilled, for our end has come.

Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

They raped the women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

They took the young men to grind, and the youths stumbled at the wood.

Also out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was how they looked; they had the likeness of a man.

And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like the color of burnished copper.

joining each one to the other by their wings. They did not turn in their going; each one went toward the front of their face.

And each went toward the front of their faces. To where the spirit was to go, there they went; they did not turn in their going.

And the likeness of the living creatures: they looked like burning coals of fire; like the appearance of torches. It was continually circling among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

When they went, they went on their four sides; and they did not turn when they went.

And their rims: they were even high; they were even awesome. And their rims were full of eyes all around the four of them.

Wherever the spirit was to go, there they went; there the spirit was to go, and the wheels were lifted up along with them. For the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

And I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, in their going was the sound of tumult, like the sound of an army. In their standing still, they let down their wings.

And there was a voice from the expanse which was over their heads, in their standing still, and they let down their wings.

And He said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to the nations, the rebelling ones who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have sinned against Me, to this day.

And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; for they are a rebellious house. Yea, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, and of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words, nor frightened by their faces, though they are a rebellious house.

And you shall speak My Words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are rebellious.

not to many people of a deep lip and of a difficult language, whose words you cannot hear. Surely, if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.

But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are strong of forehead and hard of heart.

I have made your forehead as an adamant harder than flint. Do not be bowed down by their faces, though they are a rebellious house.

And go! Go to those of the captivity, to the sons of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, So says the Lord Jehovah; whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.

Then I came to the exiles at Tel-at-abib, who lived by the river Chebar. And I sat where they sat; and I also dwelt seven days, being stricken dumb among them.

But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands on you and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them.

And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and shall not be one who warns them. For they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: He who hears, let him hear; and he who stops his ears, let him stop; for they are a rebellious house.

And He said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. And they shall eat bread by weight, and with care. And they shall drink water by measure, and in silence,

so that they may lack bread and water, and be stricken dumb with one another, and waste away in their iniquity.

And she has changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and defiled My Laws more than the countries that are all around her; for they have rejected My judgments and My Laws; they have not walked in them.

So My anger shall be fulfilled, and I will cause My fury to rest on them, and I will be comforted. And they shall know that I Jehovah have spoken it in My zeal, when I have fulfilled My fury in them.

And those of you who escape shall remember Me among the nations where they shall be exiled, because I was broken by their whoring heart which has departed from Me, and with their whoring eyes which go after their idols. And they shall despise themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.